Ex-Barcelona star Quini dies of a heart attack
By Laieke Abebe
Former Sporting Gijon and Barcelona striker Enrique Castro Gonzalez aka Quini has sadly passed away due to a heart attack at the age of 68.
Former Barcelona and Sporting Gijon player Enrique Castro Gonzalez also known as Quini died on Tuesday afternoon after suffering a heart attack near his home in Gijon, Spain. According to Cadena COPE, Quini was walking near his house and was taken to a local hospital. Unfortunately, people in the ambulance were trying to revive him but it was too late. He was 68 years old and one of the most prominent strikers in Spanish football when he played.
Although he is more known for being one of the top scorers in La Liga with Sporting Gijon in the 1970’s, he also had a run with Barcelona in the early 1980’s. He finished as the Pichichi winner (top scorer in La Liga) five times and led the second division in goals scored on two other occasions. He played for Spanish National team at the 1978 and 1982 World Cups. In addition to that, he also represented Spain at the Euro’s in 1980.
Sporting Gijon has never won the top flight of Spanish football, but with Quini they came very close to doing so. In the 1979 and 1980 seasons, Quini led his local team to second and third place finishes respectively in La Liga. Since then, Sporting hasn’t finished higher than fourth place in La Liga. However, when playing for Barcelona he was at the center of one of the craziest and darkest stories in the history of the sport.
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The 1981 season was looking good for the Blaugrana and they had just signed one of the best strikers in Spain. They looked poised to win La Liga once again with Quini leading the way. Then came March 1st, 1981, a night in which his life changed. He got back home from a game against Hercules in which he scored two goals in a 6-0 win. Then, he was set to head to the airport to get his wife and children who were on a holiday.
However, two men in the group known as “Batallon-Catalan-Espanyol” kidnapped him. He was held hostage for 25 days by these two men. They didn’t want Barcelona to win La Liga that year calling the league a “separatists league”. Barca was set to face the league leaders at the time, Atletico Madrid the next week. The Blaugrana went into that match two points behind Atletico (two points counted for a win back then). They came in on good form, but without one of their most important players.
Not only did Barca lose the match, but they fell completely out of the title race even when Quini was released by the kidnappers. Quini didn’t even press charges against the kidnappers despite them being sentenced to 10 years in prison. What is even more crazy is that Barca won the Copa Del Rey that year against Quini’s former team Sporting Gijon. In addition to that, he still finished as the top scorer that season.
Overall, this was one of the craziest stories in football at the time and his unfortunate death is a really big loss for Spanish football. The fact that he did forgive his kidnappers should tell you all you need to know about this great striker. Barcelona is currently working on a way to pay homage to their former striker potentially during the Atletico Madrid match in March. The football world, especially in Spain, will miss Quini. He was 68 years old.