By NTD.la Staff
(Editor's note: Through the archives of our friends at NTD.la, we returned to football and music, all through a wonderful character, the Salvadoran Jorge "El Mágico" González. His stories and his attitude towards life are incredible, and honestly, having access to this archive, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to pay him a joyful tribute, including another football playlist, with music from bands in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay.).
Jorge "the Magician" González, the best player in the history of football. An undisputed star at Cádiz in Spain., admired by Diego Maradona himself and a hero of the 1982 El Salvador national team, He lived his career between two unconditional loves: football and nightlife. In the eighties, Mágico's image was that of a night owl, a friend of revelry and bars that stayed open until dawn. He liked to sleep in. A talented player whose indiscipline was even forgiven by many football officials because of his good results on the field.
Atlético de Madrid, Cádiz, Aurora FC, Los Angeles Aztecas, among many others, were interested in his services. Paris Saint-Germain almost signed him, but González couldn't handle the pressure., or with his nightly schedule. Five minutes before finalizing his transfer to the French team, claiming it was too much of a commitment, he failed to show up for the meeting and chose to continue playing for Cádiz despite their relegation to the second division. He had his own philosophy about football.
"I admit I'm no saint, that I love the nightlife, and that not even my mother can take away my desire to party. I know I'm irresponsible and a bad professional, and I might be wasting the opportunity of a lifetime. I know that, but I have this silly idea in my head: I don't like to think of football as a job. If I did, I wouldn't be me. I only play for fun."
He was a party animal who loved football, and there were quite a few clubs that tried to get him to settle down. But the financial penalties had no effect on the footballing magician, nor did losing his starting position in matches following his endless nights of partying, nor the fact that a club employee took on the specific task of waking him up in the morning for training. They even went so far as to bring in his friends and former Salvadoran managers to try to make him reflect on his festive behavior and free spirit.
In 1984, Mágico González joined a tour of the United States with Diego's Barça., that once: “Jorge ”the Magician’ González is better than me, he’s from another galaxy.”. But even so, Barça decided not to sign him after his experience in the United States. Some say it may have been due to the incident at a California hotel where they were staying, after the fire alarm was triggered. Jorge González was the only one who would have stayed inside the room with a maid.
