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Full name: José María Gutiérrez Hernández

Date of birth: October 31, 1976 (age 30)

Place of birth: Madrid, Spain

Height: 185cm

Nickname: Guti, Gutiérrez

Playing position: Centre Midfielder, Left Midfielder, Second Striker

Current club: Real Madrid

Number: 14

Guti, full name José María Gutiérrez Hernández (born October 31, 1976 in Madrid) is a Spanish football player who currently plays for Real Madrid. He began his career there in the Cantera and later moved up to the senior side where he is one of three captains. He wears number 14 after scoring 14 goals in the 2000/01 season. At first, his jersey said "J.M. Guti", but since he estabilished himself as one of the team leaders, it changed to "Guti H."

Personal profile

As a child Guti was interested in tennis and books on sports. He began playing for Real Madrid in 1994 in the Cantera. He set goal scoring records there that have yet to be broken. In 1995 he was called up to the U-18 and won the Eurocup with them. The same year he debuted for the senior side on December 21st against Seville, Real Madrid won 4-1. He finished the season off with 1 goal in 9 appearances.

Then in 1997 Guti added two trophies to his cabinet, La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup. He only played 17 games that season and scored 1 goal as well. Guti was again called upon to help the U-21 side lift the Eurocup in 1998. This capped off a brilliant season with Madrid as well after they won the UEFA Champions League and the Intercontinental Cup.

The 1999-2000 season started badly for Guti: struggling with the responsibility of replacing Clarence Seedorf, and was sent off at FIFA Club World Championship against Raja Casablanca for kicking a fallen adversary. But then Guti recovered and helped Madrid tremendously when they raised the UEFA Champions League Cup, he scored 6 goals in 28 games. The following year he had his best scoring season for Madrid, 14 goals in 31 games. The goals contributed to Madrid's 27th league title and Spanish Super Cup.

After the purchase of Ronaldo, Guti was placed in the midfield and his goalscoring rate went down drastically. During the next two seasons he only scored 4 goals in 29 games and 4 goals in 34 games. Along with the goals came another UEFA Champions League Cup, UEFA Supercup, and Intercontinental Cup. Then in 2003, he won the League and Spanish Super Cup.

During 2004-05, Guti had his lowest season in terms of goal scoring, as he failed to score for the first time in seven seasons with the first team. He only managed to score a goal in the international against San Marino in February 2005.

In 2005-06, he played 43 games and scored 6 goals (4 in Spanish league and 2 in Champion League).

With the election of Ramon Calderon as President of the club and his subsequent vow to bring AC Milan's Brazilian star Kaká to Real Madrid, Guti's future at the Bernabeu appeared insecure. He was linked with a move away from The Merengues, and cross-town rivals Atlético Madrid showed a keen interest in getting his services. In the end, Guti decided to stay with Real while Kaka stayed with AC Milan.

Real Madrid's new coach, Fabio Capello, well aware of Guti's playmaking abilities, has placed more trust on the Real Madrid fan's favourite. Capello declared that Guti would be the team's playmaker. During the early part of the 2006-07 season, Guti's threat as a creative playmaker for Real Madrid's strike force led to his being singled out for rough treatment by opposition players. Most notably, against Atlético Madrid in late September, he was fouled repeatedly and had to be substituted in the second half due to an ankle injury.

Guti is married and has also recently became a father.

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Guti press conference

"Those who want to win the League must win every home game"

Guti's 300th League game this weekend was, according to the player, one of his best. The playmaker once again showcased his quality and leadership against Barcelona. The second captain has faith in his team but knows that the key to the League is winning at the Santiago Bernabéu.

You played a great game against Barcelona.

Every game is different. I think that was a great match and that I did things well. It was one of my best games, but I always work to play that well, although sometimes you simply can't pull off such a good performance.

The team also played at a very high level.

Every opponent is different, as well as every game. We try to do our best in every match, but playing against Barcelona, who know how to play very well, is different to playing against a team that mainly focus on defending and rely on counterattacking.

Is the tactical scheme used at Barcelona the one you feel most comfortable with?

We used our usual tactical scheme on Saturday with different players. We only used a different system against Bayern Munich. We always play a game based on ball control and touch. That's how we play best and we have proved that we can defeat anybody with that system.

Do you see yourself playing for Spain after this great game?

No.

Your best games this season have been against Barcelona. Are they a good opponent?

Barcelona aren't an easy team to face. They are an excellent side with great players and every team in the world would be worried if they had to play against them. On Saturday they proved capable of scoring with only ten men. I'm not very happy with the result because a victory at Camp Nou would have given us more prestige and would have cut differences short between both teams on the League table. We would be very strong contenders to the title at this stage if we had won. We still have options of winning, so we must remain calm and prepare well.

You must stop losing points at home.

That's essential. Those who want to win the League must win every home game. We aren't doing well at home and we would in fact be leading the table if we hadn't lost so many points at the Bernabéu. If we win the next twelve games we will win the League.

Do you think Luís Aragonés will call up Raúl?

I can't say. I hope he returns to playing for Spain because he is a symbol of both Real Madrid and the national team. Spain have very important games ahead of them in which they risk not qualifying to play for the Euro 2008 and I think the captain should be there. I normally don't play for Spain and there ar great players playing in my position. Iniesta, Cesc and Xavi have the spot well covered.

Do you think you will benefit from the fact that the other strong contenders for the title are still playing in other competitions?

That's no doubt in our favour. We can't excuse ourselves with exhaustion and the fact of being in other competitions any more. On the other hand, Barcelona, Valencia and Sevilla can. Let's hope that home victories combined with their exhaustion help us win the League.

Does Capello have faith in you?

What happened in Munich was an isolated case. He wanted to try a different system, but I'm very happy with the faith he has in me and with the fact that he usually counts on me.

Have you spoken to Emerson?

There are people in the Club in charge of talking to players. We don't judge our teammates. We are very happy with Emerson. He is going through a rough time because his adaptation to the team and Madrid is being very complicated. We all support him.

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Real Madrid vs. Nàstic

GOALKEEPERS: Iker Casillas, Diego López.

DEFENDERS:Michel Salgado, Iván Helguera, Pavón, Marcelo, Cannavaro, Torres, Miñambres.

MIDFIELDERS: Emerson, Diarra, Guti, De la Red, Robinho, Raúl.

FORWARDS:Van Nistelrooy, Cassano, Higuaín.

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REAL MADRID2: Casillas; Salgado, Cannavaro, Helguera, Torres; Diarra, Guti, Raúl (De la Red, 88'), Higuaín (Marcelo, 79'); Cassano (Robinho, 45') and Van Nistelrooy.

GIMNASTIC TARRAGONA0: Bizarri; Calvo, César Navas, David García, Marco; Chabaud, Juan (Matellán, 79'), Cuellar, Campano (Merino, 74') ; Pinilla (Irurzun, 61') and Rubén Castro.

REFEREE: Iturrialde González. Booked David García (29'), Míchel Salgado (32'), Cannavaro (34'), Juan Díaz (48'). César Navas was sent off with a straight red card (7').

GOALS:

1-0: Robinho

2-0: David garcía, own goal

HIGHLIGHTS: Matchday 27 of La Liga. Venue: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. Attendance: 72,109.

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Being José María Gutiérrez Hernández

In cynical old Britain, it doesn't take much to become a universal hate figure. As poor Joss Stone recently found out, you only have to possess the mid-Atlantic whine of Lloyd Grossman to have the tabloids banishing you to the ninth circle of hell.

However, it's all very different in Spain. Because of the unpalatable nature of the majority of the country's pop culture cretins, it can take years of graft to reach the level of infamy where strangers want to pee in your paella.

Not unlike the fierce battle being fought to be Spain's footballing top dog, there exists a parallel scrap where contenders are fighting for the honour of being the nation's top tosser. A strong frontrunner is true Queen of the Harpies, Belén Esteban - an odious but omnipresent figure, famous only for her passion for shagging bull fighters and wearing outsized sunglasses.

Cretinous crooner David Bisbal is enemy number one for many, due to his talent for making innocent bystanders jam coathangers into their eardrums whenever one of his records is played. These two have been recently joined in the fray by Andrés Montes - a football commentator so mindblowingly irritating you genuinely miss the crave and wisdom of Ian Wright. However, this trio of terrors have a long way to go before they unseat a certain José María Gutiérrez Hernández from his throne.

To much of outside the world, Guti is known as a stunningly average Real Madrid midfielder (of which there are many) with bad hair. But in Spain, Guti is much, much more. Guti isn't just a footballer - he's a concept. And a man about whom just about everyone has an opinion.

His club president Ramon Calderon referred to him sneeringly as the most promising 30-year-old in world football. Fabio Capello implied that his vice-captain had wasted his career. His own supporters regularly yell all kinds of unmentionables at him from

the stands. Non Spanish-speaking visitors to the Bernabeu might easily assume his full name was 'Guti-cabrón'. A scientific word association game conducted by your correspondent in a bar produced the responses of 'arsehole', 'thick', and 'arrogant' to the word 'Guti'.

The route cause of this almost pathological hatred of all things Guti is twofold. Firstly, the peroxide prince has a certain way about him that drives his own and especially opposition fans, nuts. A Michel Gondry-style journey into the midfielder's head would uncover an empty wasteland littered with bottles of hair bleach and nightclub tickets. For years, Guti was a walking tabloid headline and the very epitome of the fancy pants, galactico image of his club. "He is a fundamental part of Real Madrid," claimed Raul last week.

He is nothing less than brutally honest in his dealings with everyone - something quite endearing in an age when players are reaching Norah Jones levels of blandness. Guti dislikes all opposition teams, but especially Barcelona, who he once confessed to wanting to lose every game they ever played.

All opposition teams are happy to return this disdain in kind. This season, the sight of Guti being booted in the air - and while on the ground - has been fairly regular. A grand total of 21 yellow cards have been issued to players for fouls on Guti this season, including two for Barcelona's Oleguer Presas in the recent 'classico'.

It's perhaps Guti, the footballer, that is a root cause of many people's ire. He is a player with undoubted talent - filthy tacking aside - but his years at Real Madrid have been punctuated by inconsistency, lethargy and frequent ineptness. 'Marca' wrote recently of Guti's 'brilliant highs and annoying lows' - and they were all on display this week.

The Guti conundrum has returned to being the main topic of conversation in Spain after what was a decent display against Barcelona in the derby from the midfielder. The eternal question being raised was whether Guti could carry this elevated performance into the rest of the season, something the midfielder has never been able to do in the past - "if he played like that in every game, there would never be a discussion", claimed former Real Madrid bigwig Jorge Valdano.

The chance for Guti to grab the campaign by the horns arrived on Sunday night against lowly 'Nastic, in the first of the club's '12 finals' that would supposedly see them win the league. Throughout the week, the talk had been of 'together, we can do it' and how the fans were going to be given a spectacle they would never forget. In a way, this is exactly what happened, as Real Madrid produced a first-half performance that supporters will remember forever, despite any attempts to bludgeon it from their skulls with bricks.

The insipidness of Real Madrid on Sunday was perfectly encapsulated by Guti, who had apparently decided that one good performance this season was more than enough. The midfielder was back to his misplaced passing, lazy-arsed refusal to run, appalling set-pieces worst. When it came to the crunch, Real Madrid and Guti could talk the talk - but nothing more.

Although Real scraped a 2-0 win against their ten-man opposition after a second-half effort from Robinho and an own goal, there was no indication to suggest that they will be overhauling the five-point deficit on Barcelona, any time soon, especially after the Catalans' 4-0 away trouncing of Recreativo the previous evening. Real still appear to have

'psychological problems at home' as director of sport Pedja Mijatovic claimed after the win.

Like Guti, the side are two slow, too lazy and lack creativity. When 'Nastic didn't simply roll over, like Andrew Flintoff on a pedalo, the Real Madrid were bereft of ideas. "In the first half we did nothing, we were bad," confessed Fabio Capello.

This week, the Guti debate is sure to rage on in Spain - and until he makes the decision to leave the country, it will continue to do so. Real's vice captain has spoken in the past about his desire to play in the Premiership and it would surely be the best place to display the ferocious fighting and rampaging running of which he is capable.

However, any potential club would have to be prepared to accept more off-the-field baggage than they could possibly imagine.

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Guti on Marca

"Barcelona, Sevilla and Valencia could falter"

The second captain of Real Madrid, José María Gutiérrez ‘Guti’, talked to Marca about the team's chances of winning the League title.

Should the fans believe that the team has chances of winning the title?

Of course they should. We have the obligation of thinking we can win the League. We have options of winning and we are going to fight to the end while we still have a mathematical chance of winning. Incredible things have happened in the League's history, such as the two Leagues Real Madrid lost against Tenerife. I remember the League we won with Del Bosque when Real Sociedad were leaders and it seemed we would never catch up with them. Barcelona, Sevilla and Valencia could falter and we must take advantage of that.

What's the key to winning?

We are constantly thinking about the calendar and we always tell ourselves that we must win the games against Sevilla and Valencia at the Bernabéu. They are two of our strongest contenders and we have to prevent them from winning points. We must improve at home and we must try to win every game. We are still a good competitive team away from the Bernabéu.

Are Barcelona favourites to winning the competition?

Barcelona are the team with the best chances of winning, but that doesn't mean they will be the champions. I think they aren't playing as well as in past seasons and we can take advantage of that. We were better than them in our games against them and I was annoyed when we failed to defeat them in Barcelona. If we had done this, I'm sure our other rivals would fear us.

Did you give one of your best ever performances at the Camp Nou?

I liked my performance, but I was disappointed with not winning. Playing at the Camp Nou motivates me and I wanted to win.

If you keep playing like that it will be rare for the Club to want to let you go.

I don't know where the rumour of me leaving the Club because they want to sell me comes from. It simply isn't true, or at least I have no intention of leaving and no one at the Club has said anything about it to me. I recently signed a contract extension and I want to end my career at Real Madrid.

There's talk of a change of era. Are you tired of being at Real Madrid?

No. I'm still very excited about wearing this shirt. I still have to win another League and another Champions League at this Club. I'm in good form and I am a more experienced player now. That's my own personal challenge.

Capello

The coach has been heavily criticised and I don't like that. He came here to try to make us a winning team again and he shouldn't be blamed for everything. He is a great coach and he deserves to be successful here, especially after all the criticism he's received. We support him and together we will try to be champions again.

Positioning

I play better as an attacking midfielder. That's the position in which I can deliver good passes for the strikers to finish off.

Bernabéu

If we hadn't lost so many points at the Bernabéu we could probably be champions by now. The League is wide open because we have failed to win more games at home.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka

The Club has to sign the best players. Real Madrid must have players capable of making the team win while delighting the fans with their football. The last genius on our ranks was Zidane and I'm sure the fans want someone like him on the team again. We understand the fans' need for spectacle. It is being rumoured that Cristiano Ronaldo or Kaka may join us and I like both players. I'd love to play with them. The best players should play on this team.

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Guti Invites Ronaldo And Kaka In Marca Interview

Real Madrid midfielder Guti spoke to Marca about the team's title prospects, manager Fabio Capello, and the future.

"The club have to sign the best players," Guti told the Spanish daily recently. "Real Madrid must have players capable of making the team win while delighting the fans with their football.

"The last genius in our ranks was Zidane and I'm sure the fans want someone like him in the team again.

"We understand the fans' need for spectacle.

"It is being rumoured that Cristiano Ronaldo or Kaka may join us and I like both players. I'd love to play with them.

"The best players should play on this team."

He also defended Capello once again: "The coach has been heavily criticised and I don't like that. He came here to try to make us a winning team again and he shouldn't be blamed for everything.

"He is a great coach and he deserves to be successful here, especially after all the criticism he's received. We support him and together we will try to be champions again."

As for Madrid's title prospects, he said: "We have the obligation of thinking we can win the League. We have options of winning and we are going to fight to the end while we still have a mathematical chance of winning.

"Incredible things have happened in the League's history, such as the two Leagues Real Madrid lost against Tenerife. I remember the League we won with Del Bosque when Real Sociedad were leaders and it seemed we would never catch up with them.

"We are constantly thinking about the calendar and we always tell ourselves that we must win the games against Sevilla and Valencia at the Bernabéu. They are two of our strongest contenders and we have to prevent them from winning points."

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