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There’s no doubt about it. As Enrique Castro Gonzalez, known as Quini, turns 60 on Wednesday, we can look back at the career of arguably the greatest-ever Spanish born-and-bred centre-forwards.
This is the first in a series on four fine footballers from Spain who turn 60 in the next couple of months.
The record speaks for itself. Not only is he Sporting Gijon’s all-time top scorer, he also won five Pichichi trophies as La Liga’s top score; three with Gijon and two with Barcelona.
Quini made his Sporting Gijon debut in 1968, and by 1970 they were promoted to the Primera Liga after an 11-year absence.
Aided and abetted by Tati Valdes in midfield and Churruca on the wing, Quini was an outstanding all-round centre-forward, not only scoring goals, but often scoring stunning goals of which players like Marco van Basten would have been proud of.
Remember van Basten’s volley in the Euro ’88 final? Quini scored a few of those!
The club enjoyed its Golden Age in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, punctured only by relegation in 1975/76 (and even in that season, Quini picked up his second Pichichi trophy; and also won two Segunda Division Pichichi trophies!).
The late 70’s saw Gijon finish in the top three; runners up in 1979 after challenging Real Madrid for the title. The following year, he would move to Barcelona, and while Barcelona fell short he was league top scorer for two years running with them; in fact, three years running in all.
As he got older and less prolific, he would return to Gijon to see out his career, retiring in 1987- but not before taking them into Europe once more.
At international level, Spain was typically underachieving at the time (in fact, Spain failed to qualify for 1970 and 1974 World Cups- although England later equalled that “feat”), although Quini was in the 1978 and 1982 World Cup squads and the 1980 European Championship squad.
Only two players – Telmo Zarra and Alfredo Di Stefano – won the Golden Boot more times than Quini did. He remains among La Liga’s top five scorers of all time, at the last count.
But as centre-forwards go, there are very few, if any, Spanish centre-forwards who could ever match Quini.
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