âI was always very competitive and once I had left football, I thought I wasnât going to have those feelings I had before,â he says. âI still enjoy football, still play seven-a-side with my friends â every Saturday at 10am, Los Jareños Club de Futbol â but I thought I had lost that and it wasnât coming back. In fact, I was trying to avoid it; I didnât want it. So when it happened, it surprised me. I didnât expect football to give me that again. But there I was, crying.â
It was mid-February in Iskandar Puteri, Malaysia, and the players GarcĂa was watching celebrating a historic win were his, the feeling shared. âWhen I saw them jumping with joy, having been with them every day, sharing the long journeys, from Malaysia to Vietnam and back, on to Japan, and then saw them win I got that emotion again.â For the first time in their history, the Malaysian club Johor Darul Taâzim had reached the quarter-finals of the Asian Champions League, defeating Sanfrecce Hiroshima 3-2 on aggregate. On Friday, they face Al-Ahli or Al-Duhail in Jeddah. GarcĂa will be with them. He is their chief executive.
Istanbul is always there, too. Asked about his goal against Chelsea in the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2005, the response is immediate: âYes, it went in.â And when heâs reminded of the half-time team-talk in the final when Rafa BenĂtez wrote the names up on the board and someone said: âBoss, thatâs 12,â he starts laughing.
Luis GarcĂa celebrates his (in)famous goal against Chelsea in the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2005
Luis GarcĂa celebrates his (in)famous goal against Chelsea in the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2005. Photograph: Phil Noble/PA
âSomeone told you that one, eh? Itâs true, but there was a lot going on,â GarcĂa says. âWhat most sticks with me is how Rafa handled it all. There was frustration at 3-0 down, but seeing how calm he was, how he reorganised us, bringing on Didi Hamann to give us balance and push Stevie further forward.
âThat was how the first goal came and we believed. The second arrived quick and after the third we breathed. And Jerzy Dudek had the most fantastic night of his life. I was down for the sixth penalty. Stevie was fifth. I asked for one, kept insisting, but Rafa didnât let me.
âWhen I retired, I was relaxed, welcomed the pause, but I had also spent years getting ready for other opportunities that might arise in football. I did a masterâs with Uefa, a sporting directorâs course, my coaching badges. Any qualification that was on the table, I took it. But I didnât want to coach. I always preferred the business side of it to the on-pitch stuff because I suffered a lot on the pitch.â
GarcĂa nods towards the pitch. âTell me I can play now and Iâm out there,â he says. âBut the idea of being a coach, being the other side of the line, all that pressure without being able to personally impact the game, didnât appeal. Coaches always tell me: âNo, but, you canât imagine the feeling when it comes off.â Sure, but I didnât want to have that feeling. Or more to the point, I didnât feel the call, the pull.â
âI had always been curious about things. I donât know if I was different, but I played the piano, the guitar. I had started guitar at 15 and always liked it: acoustic, then electric in a band.â
Any good? âDecent. Less so on the piano, although I got better during the pandemic. There were always things to do, learn. I was fascinated by gadgets, new technology, the explosion of the internet.
âI did magic. With [former forward] Santi Ezquerro at Barcelona we learned to do tricks together. Proper tricks, not just cards: practising in front of the mirror, making sure you do the movements right so you donât get detected. I had just always been curious about things. So, whatever comes ⊠â
Of his move to Johor Darul Taâzim, GarcĂa says: âI was cool, relaxed working with ESPN, but last year I got a call to go and meet Tunku Ismail Idris, the crown prince of Malaysia, who is the owner of the club.â
Johor Darul Taâzim revel in a 3-1 victory against Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the first leg of their Asian Champions League last-16 tie
Johor Darul Taâzim revel in a 3-1 victory against Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the first leg of their Asian Champions League last-16 tie, which they went on to win 3-2 on aggregate. Photograph: Ashok Kumar/Getty Images
âI just like new challenges, trying new things, something different, and this was one,â he says. âI went to see the prince and listen to his ideas. It was spectacular. Heâs very active, inquisitive. Heâs pretty good at football. I saw him in a game with [Robert] Pires and [Ludovic]Giuly, some other former players, and he scored a belting goal. An assist to me, too. He genuinely knows the game, what he wants.
â The club has grown massively since [he re-established it in] 2013. He took Johor to 12 league titles. Opta ranks us No 1 in south-east Asia.
âWhy me? I donât know. He wanted someone with a past in football and a different vision, based on what I have lived in three different continents. There is work to do, real work. I go every month for 10 days, two weeks. Iâve been learning for the last year, understanding the structure, have an input. I try to find ways of implementing the vision. How do we get there? What do we do?
âWeâre getting 13,000 or so in league games, more like 30,000 in the Champions League, the biggest in Asia, and weâre growing that, building the connection, the community. We want people to come and be part of it. There are school visits, hospitals. Sponsors: Nike, Toyota. The sporting director looks at players, we travel a lot together. I liaise with the operations manager. Thereâs that view from the places I have been.â
What is the most important lesson from Europe? âOne of the things done well in England, which we have tried to emulate, is the intensity of the work. We have 37 players, which is a huge number, but we play 70 games a year; two cups, the league, the Champions League. No one plays as many. You need practically three teams when you work on that intensity, the pace. Weâre very methodical. People think: âMeh, youâre in Malaysia ⊠â But we have the full structure: coaches, analysis, assistants, fitness staff, dead ball, digital. The vision was in place; I said these are the things we have to do to get there.
âWe play 3-5-2 and that doesnât change, although you maybe have to adapt in the Champions League, where the level is higher and you canât press the same. At most places a CEO wouldnât be involved in those conversations but, as a former player, I am. Xisco Muñoz, who was at Watford and gets the philosophy, is coach. The team is international, with Malaysians who are playing very well and an academy that is winning practically every title.â
There are Australians, New Zealanders, Americans, Koreans, Portuguese, Spaniards, Argentinians, Brazilians, a Colombian, and the former Wolves midfielder Hong Wan, from Croydon. Plus Arif Aiman â âthe pearl of Malaysiaâ, GarcĂa says. âQuick, good one on one, strong, scores goals, he could play in Europe easily.â
Johor drew at the weekend. It was the first time they had dropped points, 21 games into the Malaysia Super League season, but they maintained their long unbeaten league run: 105 games now, three off the world record.
âMalaysian football is taking big steps,â GarcĂa says. âItâs still a long way behind Europe, but Kuala Lumpur are working well, Kuching, Selangor ⊠we all need those teams to improve. Malaysia only has one Champions League place. We have won the league every year for a decade.
âWeâre four games from the longest run in history, we hope to reach the cup final again and the big challenge for us this year was the Champions League. We got through, the first time a Malaysian team got this far. Vietnam, Japan, Malaysia, now Saudi: the effort the players make is titanic and when I saw what that meant to them, to everyone, I could feel the tears.â
Q&A
What historic achievement did Johor Darul Taâzim accomplish in the Asian Champions League?
Johor Darul Taâzim reached the quarter-finals of the Asian Champions League for the first time in their history by defeating Sanfrecce Hiroshima 3-2 on aggregate.
How did Luis GarcĂa feel about football after retiring?
Luis GarcĂa initially thought he had lost the emotional connection to football after retiring, but he was surprised to feel intense emotions again while watching his team celebrate a victory.
What is Luis GarcĂa's current role in football?
Luis GarcĂa is the chief executive of Johor Darul Taâzim, where he also shares in the team's journey and successes.
Which former clubs does Luis GarcĂa still follow in the Champions League?
Luis GarcĂa continues to follow his former clubs, Barcelona and Liverpool, in the Champions League, despite his current commitments in Malaysia.
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