Spain says goodbye to Luis Aragones

Luis Aragones died at the age of 75, he had apparently been ill for some time but had not publicised it.

A minutes silence was held at football matches across Spain as the nation said farewell to the manager who led the national team to their first major international success for over 40 years at Euro 2008.

Aragones introduced the hugely successful ‘tiki taka’ style of playing, laying the groundwork for Spain to become one of the world’s best teams; going on to win the World Cup in 2010 and Euro 2012 with his successor Vicente del Bosque.

His footballing career began in 1957 with Getafe, before joining Real Madrid and then moving on to Atletico Madrid between 1964 and 1974, scoring 172 goals in 372 games for the club and playing for Spain in 11 matches.

Aragones went on to manage Atletico and take them to the top of the league in 1977, as well as winning the Copa del Rey three times. He spent the 1987-88 season managing Barcelona, again winning the Copa del Rey.

He controversially hit the news when he was caught on camera making a racist remark about Thierry Henry; he was fined for the incident, but later had it overturned. He insisted he was not a racist.

A statement has been posted on the Atletico Madrid website saying “One of the greatest Rojiblancas legends has left us. There have been condolences from around the footballing world.”

Enrique Cerezo, Atletico’s president, stated “Luis Aragones was a great player and coach, but above all a great person and a friend. On behalf of the whole club, I want to express our condolences to his family.”