Paco Gento will always be in the history of the most important and difficult club competition in the world: the Champions League. He can boast of being, to date, the only player who has managed to win the tournament six times. Five of them were consecutive, between 1956 and 1960, and coincided with the first editions of the tournament, which at that time was called the European Cup. The sixth and final came in 1966. A milestone that no one has been able to match in more than 60 years.
In the top five, Gento was part of a legendary squad along with other myths of the stature of Di Stéfano, Marquitos, Rial or Santamaría. A team that established a tyranny in Europe until Benfica arrived to nip it in the bud. The Spaniard started in all those finals.
He scored his first goal in a final match of the second, against Fiorentina (2-0). He was the second of the team, already close to the end. But nevertheless, the most special came in the third, against Milan (3-2) at the Stade du Heysel in Brussels. Madrid and the rossoneri they were forced to play extra time to tie the tie. In a very hot and tremendously disputed game, in the 107th minute, when the legs weighed more, Gento appeared to give the white team the victory. He retired having scored 32 goals in the top continental competition.
In the list of top Champions League winners, Gento only has one threat: Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese is the only active footballer with five, having raised four of them with Madrid. Too they have five Di Stefano, Rial, Alonso, Santiesteban, Marquitos, Lesmes, Zárraga, Costacurta and Maldini, all of them already retired. With four, the list is already 17 and 11 of them are still playing. Among them there are many footballers of the white team who have lived the last golden stage of the club with four Champions in five years. But nevertheless, the only king of the competition is still the Galerna del Cantábrico.
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