셀타의 역사 파트2 : 모든 것이 바뀌던 때

If someone’s asks me when did Celta’s history changed I would say it was the moment one player arrived at Celta from Bosnia, Vladimir Gudelj.

After years spent in Second division, and with no link between the team and the supporters, Celta signed Vlado Gudelj from Velez Mostar. This relatively unknown striker had an inmediate impact, and changed Celta Spirit forever. That year Celta achieved promotion and Gudelj was top goalscorer with 26 goals, but there is story that explains why and when all this changed.

On the April 4^th 1992 celta was playing against top ranked and neighbor Compostela, and Celta was already wining 3-1, when the referee whistled for penalty in the 70 minute of the game. Vadimir Gudelj started the season shooting penalties, but he had missed the last two costing Celta some points. At that moment, all the crowd starting chanting his name, and his team mates encouraged him to shoot the penalty. He firmly took the ball and net another goal making a hat trick that game. That moment, the legend of Vlado Gudelj started, and later on he became a legend at Celta.

From that team, two players are still involved with the first team, Goalkeeper trainer Patxi Villanueva was the starter goalkeeper in that team. Now he takes care of the sessions with Ruben Blanco, Javi Varas and protegee, and last match hero, Sergio Alvarez.

Vlado Gudelj is now the delegate of the team, in charge of communications with the fourth referee and the other Club. He also has been playing an important role on the team spirit now, and last season, his first as delegate. Paco Herrera clearly stated that Vlado’s contribution to the team goes beyond delegate’s task, as he built a strong link with the players and transmitted his experiences as a player to the squad.

Vlado Gudelj played for 8 seasons at Celta, 7 of them consecutive in the first division. He never netted the same amount of goals in the first division, being his best mark the 17 goals he scored in the 94-95 season. Despite this fact, Gudelj established himself as one of the top strikers in the division, and despite transfers rumors, he stayed at Celta until he was 32 years old, when he moved to Compostela to play the last two years of his career. His highest achievement was to drive Celta to the King’s Cup final in 1994 against Zaragoza, where Celta lost on penalties. Although we will talk about this on a later chapter, Gudelj made his dream come true achieving Uefa qualification for Celta on the 1997 – 1998 season, and playing his last season at Celta with the team playing in Europe.

He came back to Celta to help them achieve promotion, as he helped the team before as a player. Even Iago Aspas stated last season that Vlado Gudelj was a mirror to look to, and was one of his childhood heroes.

Other important players on that team:

Goran Juric: he played for Celta until a kidney disease forced him retiring from football. He promoted and stayed at Celta with Gudelj, forming with Milorad Ratkovic a trio of Yugoslavian players that amazed the Spanish football.

Fabiano Soares: Brazilian midfielder with an exquisite touch of the ball. He played for Celta in the first divisin, being Valdo Gudelj main assistant. He was fan favourite.

Francisco Salillas: If you ask Gudelj who was his best partner, he will probably talk about Salillas. The small forward and Gudelj forged a deep relationship that could be seen on the field, as the pair could communicate without even talking.

In this team also played Jorge Otero, player of whom we talked yesterday.