Few players in Barça’s history have made such an impact on the fans in such a short time. In just one year, that of his great season as a Blaugrana, that of the 0-5 at the Bernabéu, that of the first League in 14 years, Hugo Cholo Sotil (Ica, 1949) left a mark as deep as it was unexpected in Barcelona. The idyll, however, did not last long, his subsequent years as a Barcelona fan being blurred by the arrival of Johan Neeskens and the promise of a nationalization that was delayed. The first foreign signing of the entity, thanks to the opening of borders in 1973, died in his native Peru at the age of 75, but his memory lives on among those who were able to enjoy his magic at the Camp Nou.
Since his dazzling debut at Gamper, the forward dazzled with his ability, a technically privileged man, and his strength, without fear of defenders despite the harshness, even violence, with which they lavished themselves. It was the icing on the cake of that Blaugrana team of the 1973-74 season led by Rinus Michels. The perfect complement for the Rexach, Marcial, Asensi and the great star Johan Cruyff. “He was brave with everything in life. First level. When people talk about Romário or Ronaldinho, Sotil was also that type of player. He did things that no one did in the seventies,” recalls former soccer player Carles Rexach for La Vanguardia.
Sotil, an area player “quick in short spaces and good with his head for how small he was,” kept the defenders busy while his teammates had spaces to shine, especially Cruyff. His contribution was essential for Barça to sing the praises on April 7, 1974 after beating Sporting in El Molinón (2-4) with five games left. On the return from Gijón, the team spent the night at the Barajas hotel in Madrid, where Cholo telephoned his family in Peru and uttered his famous phrase: “Mommy, we are champions!”
“He was brave. When you talk about Romário or Ronaldinho, Sotil was that type of player,” says Rexach
“People loved him very much. One of the best foreigners in the club. A player of his quality had never been seen in Spain,” former player Juan Manuel Asensi explains to this newspaper. For Pere Valentí Mora, the forward was also “outstanding.” “I went to enter him and he knocked me down without him barely moving,” the former goalkeeper recalls about a training session. All his former teammates speak wonders of his virtues as a footballer, but there is no less praise for a “cheerful” Sotil who was “a very good teammate” and who “almost didn’t speak,” very reserved. “He had never had a car and he bought a yellow Ferrari. I think it was the only yellow car in Barcelona. When the car passed you said, ‘there goes Cholo,'” explains Asensi about the Peruvian, who came from “a very different culture.” “We went to a suit factory and they suggested Cholo try one on, but he refused because he didn’t usually have ‘lining’, which was what he called underwear,” Mora recalls a curious situation.
After that great first year, Sotil’s Via Crucis arrived. At that time there could only be two foreigners per team, at that time Cholo and Cruyff, but Barça, chaired by Agustí Montal, ventured to sign Neeskens believing that they could quickly obtain the Peruvian’s nationalization. “The club tells us that there is an agreement by which Peruvians have the same rights as Spaniards. The Minister of the Interior, Arias Navarro, later replied to us saying that the agreement does not apply to soccer players,” Josep Maria Minguella, one of those who, along with Michels, discovered Sotil in Lima, told La Vanguardia. “The negotiation with Deportivo Municipal was not complicated,” says the former representative, also in charge, going “from here to there,” of controlling Sotil during the year he was not playing while waiting for infinite bureaucracy. “They tangled him,” says Rexach. “An injustice,” adds Mora.
“I accompanied him to some friendlies, but by not playing official matches he lost interest and was no longer an important player,” says Minguella. The nightlife and no obligation to train, absent many days, caused Sotil to be a shadow of what he was when he returned to the team in the 1975-76 season. In 1977 he returned to Peru, where he relaunched his career until his retirement in 1986. Then came economic hardships.
“People loved him very much. A player of his quality had never been seen in Spain,” remembers Asensi.
On the occasion of Barça’s 125th anniversary, Sotil returned with his family to Barcelona in November, where one of his children, who lives in the city, was already waiting for him. Staying at the Plaza hotel, he went up to Montjuïc for the duel with Las Palmas along with former teammates such as Rexach, Asensi and Mora, with whom he shared experiences from his Blaugrana years. “He spoke magnificent things about Barça and his teammates. I was happy in Barcelona. He never dreamed of experiencing something like this. He happily showed me his new Spanish passport,” says Minguella of the last time he saw the Peruvian, proud of a Spanish nationality that arrived too late. Those efforts that should have lasted a few months were ultimately the beginning of the decline in Barcelona of Cholo, a legend forever of Barcelona fans.
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