It could be the last chance to play in the team of the city where he was born. Striker Lucas Pérez, 34, wanted to return to La Coruña, but there was a problem. The club that challenged the European giants at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st is today in the Spanish third division and without money.
The player solved the problem. He paid 435,000 euros (R$2.4 million at current exchange rates) for the termination of his contract with Cádiz in early 2023 and returned home. In his first game, he scored two goals in a 3-0 victory over Unionistas de Salamanca.
“I understand Lucas Pérez’s effort and desire to return to La Coruña, as it is a club with tradition, history, titles and, above all, has a passionate crowd that welcomes you so well”, says former midfielder Mauro Silva, current vice-president of the FPF (São Paulo Football Federation).
He played for 13 years in the Spanish association and was part of its golden phase. He arrived in 1992 and only left when he retired, in 2005. It marked a time in which the club also had other Brazilians, such as Donato, Bebeto, Rivaldo and Djalminha.
For almost two decades, La Coruña was a football phenomenon in the Old Continent. A previously irrelevant team, from a municipality of 250,000 inhabitants in the Galicia region, was capable of routinely beating Real Madrid and Barcelona and fighting for titles.
It could have conquered more leagues than the lone and historic victory of 2000. Two years later, the Spanish Federation booked the Copa del Rey final at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium so that Real could win a title at home on its centenary. La Coruña won 2-1.
In the 2003/04 season, they eliminated Juventus (ITA) in the round of 16 of the Champions League. He starred in one of the biggest upsets in the history of the competition in the quarterfinals. After being beaten 4-1 by Milan in Italy, he scored 4-0 at home and advanced. After drawing in Portugal the first clash of the semifinals with Porto, it was 90 minutes away from reaching an improbable decision. It lost by 1-0 in what would be José Mourinho’s business card, commander of the champion Lusitanian formation.
It was a bonanza that seemed to have no end. But it did. Constantly present in the main European tournament and on the list of favorites for the Spanish title, La Coruña entered a downward spiral that Lucas Pérez, best remembered in Brazil for his brief spell at Arsenal (ING), is trying to reverse.
“If you have to explain all this to a neutral person, they won’t believe it,” wrote journalist Ivan Antelo of the newspaper La Voz de Galicia. “The club has had a president for 25 years. In the last three years, it has had three.”
The majority of the club’s shares (80%) are with the Abanca bank. When the command was taken over by the institution, in 2021, the financial situation was described as “precarious.”
A team that spent most of its history in the second division, La Coruña began to change its level with the arrival of businessman Augusto Cesar Lindorio to the presidency, in 1988. Born in the city, the leader sought to create a mentality of unity in the local community. The number of partners increased from 5,000 to over 20,000.
When La Coruña returned to the elite after 18 years in 1991, Lendorio increased the football department’s budget. The choice became to assemble casts that were a mix of experienced names and promising young people. The team finished third in 1993. Bebeto was the top scorer in La Liga with 29 goals.
The national title became an expectation, but it was only achieved in 2000. In the last 30 years, La Coruña was one of five clubs to win the first division trophy.
The financial formula did not hold, and expenses were much greater than revenues, despite qualifications for the Champions League, the most lucrative club cup in the world. The fall to the second division took place in 2011. The following year, Lendorio agreed not to run and leave the presidency.
“My biggest mistake was not selling players when I should have because of the illusion of winning more titles”, he later confessed.
The most controversial relegation would occur in 2020. The team ended up in the third division after seeing its game against Fuenlabrada postponed due to cases of Covid-19 in the opponent. The other matches were held normally, and, with the results, the team had no chance of escaping. The leaders appealed to the Spanish Federation, pointing out that all the clashes should have been transferred, without success.
Two and a half years later, Lucas Pérez made the decision to pay his fine, reduce his salary and return to La Coruña. Others who passed through the club also expressed the desire to see it well. Lionel Scaloni, world champion coach with Argentina, played in the team nicknamed Super Depor in the golden days and has already said that he intends to manage it one day.
“They have a motto that says that in La Coruña no one is an outsider. You really feel at home, with a great quality of life. Many players stay in the city to live. It really makes an impression on anyone who passes by. me that being in La Coruña or Brazil was the same thing. I felt at home in the same way”, says Mauro Silva.
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