“Valdano was found to have intimidated Iturralde; He approached him and kicked him out” | Relief
To the great… or to the fatal, but it will never go unnoticed. That’s all Christopher Soriaone of the most relevant media characters – although he does not play any role, in everyday life he is exactly the same -. Although this is not a matter of one day. The same Cristobal Soria who stars in viral moments every time he speaks in public, especially in Chiringuito, He was one of the most important people in football at the beginning of the century. He did this as a delegate to Seville, where he practically “invented the profession.” “He was more than just a delegate,” said Relevo Javi Casquero, who met him in Nervión.
“He solved problems or solved situations where he could help us players. In today’s professional football there are already departments that help the player in any situation, but at that time Cristobal did everything. “He was more than just a field delegate.”continues. Casquero lived through the time when the future champion of Seville began to take shape, in which Soria himself continued to occupy a more than special position. In this dressing room was also Antonito, who remembers with particular fondness the meeting with the delegate and José Antonio Reyes: “He’s from La Macarena, and every Sunday when we played at home, he would pick Reyes and me up before training camp to bring a bouquet of flowers to the Virgin.”
And that’s what Homegrown players have always been Cristobal Soria’s weakness. In conversation, he told me that what “one player needed, whether he played more or less,” always took precedence over any player on the team. A striking example of this was Besareswho remembers with great affection a gesture he could never have imagined: “I was invited to the Seville-Barcelona match. It could have been my debut, and of course no one in my family wanted to miss it… and 30 people told me to go. I talked to him about it and he advised me to take up football and leave it to him. On the day of the game, I turned around and saw everyone in the stadium. “He was a model delegate and got everything we needed.” He also had a more than special relationship with Reyes. He became his “little right eye” and had a very difficult time when he left Sevilla.
However, if we talk about delegate Cristobal Soria, 99% of people will think about the famous chapters he collected in the group. He controlled the balls… and left several anecdotes for posterity. “In the Sevilla-Atlético game I saw him pass the ball to his opponent Sergi for a throw-in… and the ball was half empty.. The group formed a good team, but in the end the game was won by Sevilla, recalls Manolo Aguilar, one of the journalists (Cadena SER) who lived closest to his time.
He arrived at Sevilla thanks to Joaquín Caparrós. and experienced something he “couldn’t imagine in five lifetimes.” With Utrerano he formed a pair that understood the “other football” better than anyone. An aggressive team, always at the limit of their capabilities… but with special caution towards the judges. And that’s what Cristobal Soria respected this profession more than anyone else on the field, mainly because he was also a member – although he left it to join the coach at Recreativo de Huelva –. “He was very respectful. The person who tried to help and make the work of the refereeing team easier, I can’t say anything else. Caparros had a second coach who played the role of the bad guy in the film, the one who protested, the one who complicated everything… but He acted as a mediator and tried to redirect controversial or potentially conflicting situations.“, admits Fernando Carmona Mendez, then judge in Relevo.
The treatment of arbitrations, according to various people from that world, was invincible. Always respectful. Something that, like everything he did, ultimately benefited Sevilla. But not because they called for it. The fact that he knew all the referees allowed his players to know how to act: “He even analyzed the referee who was your turn at the time. He also brought his experience to it. “He knew very well how to talk to them, how to address them… and notice later on on the touchline he didn’t stop moving and doing things, but I don’t remember the referees ever treating him badly him.” “– recalls Casquero. Although, of course, one of his best qualities was winning points from the flank: “There was always a problem with the balls. He knew very well how to behave in such matches, always looking out for the good of his team and respecting the limitations of the rules, which was one of his phrases. “We must improve the regulatory margins in all aspects”– he told us.”
In short, someone special. With a star. They all agree on one thing: “What name of the opposing team’s delegate do you know? Well, it was Cristobal. Another main character of the game. The one who “gave everything for Sevilla.” Always for your team,” and in the end it was demoted from his position during the last years of the reign of José María del Nido Benavente. “He did a great job in every way with the players, not only in terms of the antics that Sevilla were having at the time, but also in dealing with the problems of the players, being on top of the players, knowing them perfectly… They had any problem, more or less complex, and they always called Cristobal. And usually Cristobal found a solution, right? And this is very important,” Manolo Aguilar finally reflects on him.
However, if there is one thing that Cristobal Soria regrets, it is the tension that arises in every derby played. Serra Ferrer, the Betis coach, even kicked him after Sevilla beat him, and the delegate himself went to remind him. Although things got out of hand in the 2007 derby, in which Juande Ramos had to leave Benito Villamarin on a stretcher after he was hit by a bottle and knocked unconscious. “There were first and last names in this bottle. It was intended for Cristobal”– say some people in Relevo who witnessed that fateful episode.
Although every time he faced Madrid, he did not regret an inch of his performances. A sentiment against this team that he continues to promote today in his public appearances, but which he instilled even stronger on the field. The most famous anecdote on this matter was with a very current figure from Real Madrid. “It was during halftime. Cristobal Soria went to the referees’ dressing room and found Valdano intimidating Iturralde. He quickly walked up to him and kicked him out of there.. “He didn’t argue with anyone,” says one witness to this chapter. “Something that went beyond the media… and it was rumored that the delegate himself was responsible for secretly telling about it.” Football also reached the press. The smartest person in the class was always Cristobal Soria.