Former player of Spanish football club Real Madrid Amancio Amaro Varela gestures next to the trophy of the UEFA Champions League during an official presentation at the Rotes Rathaus city hall in Berlin. File.
| Photo Credit: AFP
Amancio Amaro, who helped Real Madrid win the European Cup and nine Spanish league titles in the 1960s and 70s, died on Tuesday. He was 83.
Real Madrid, where Amaro was an honorary president, announced the news without giving a cause of death. It called Amaro “one of the greatest legends of our club and of world football. Always an example for Real Madrid and for the whole sporting world.”
Amaro was a midfielder who also played for Spain when it won its first European Championship in 1964. He made 42 appearances for his country.
He arrived from Deportivo La Coruña in 1962 and played 14 seasons for Madrid. In his 471 games, he scored 155 times and was the Spanish league top scorer twice.
He starred when Madrid won the European Cup in 1966, scoring in the first round, quarterfinals, and the decider in the semifinals at Inter Milan. In the final, Amaro scored the equalizer as Madrid came from behind to beat Partizan 2-1.
In 1984, Amaro coached Madrid B to the second division title, the only reserve team in Spanish soccer to achieve the feat. He also briefly coached the first team in 1984-85.
Amaro is survived by a wife and six children.
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