ALL
HE COULD HAVE BEEN AND NEVER WAS
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| Zahovic celebrating a goal with Juan Sánchez |
This story goes back to the spring of 1999. In La Liga, Valencia CF had a great chance to get a Champions League spot and, in Copa del Rey, they had to face a thrilling tie against John Benjamin Toshack’s Real Madrid in the semifinals. Meanwhile, Javier Subirats, the then director of football, started working for the following season’s squad and one of the first names made public was that of the Slovenian Zlatko Zahovic. He was a skillful attacking midfielder, with an obvious goalscoring ability and, aged 28, he was in the prime of his career.
But there was a major problem to deal with the
negotiation. The footballer belonged to FC Porto and its president was, and
still is, a hard nut to crack: none other than Pinto da Costa. Valencia CF had
already suffered in their own flesh previous negotiations in the past with him,
mainly when they tried to sign FC Porto star Jardel. FC Porto’s president
demanded an exorbitant amount of money to let Zahovic go to Valencia CF but
everything changed when the Slovenian tried to pressure his club to go to
Spain. At that moment, Pinto da Costa, with a remarkable anger, said that
Zahovic would never play for Valencia and, afterwards, transferred the player
to Greek giants Olympiakos.
The player experienced a tough year in Greece. His
irregularity and his wayward personality didn’t help very much. In June, 2000,
he played a remarkable UEFA Euro, co-hosted by Belgium and Netherlands, as part
of the Slovenian squad. Valencia CF never lost its interest and, in the summer
of that year, they managed to sign him in exchange of 6 million euros (about
1.000 millions pesetas at the time).
He was one of the most exciting additions for the
European runners-up alongside Carew, Baraja, Ayala, Diego Alonso or Deschamps.
But his nature soon clashed to that of the coach, the Argentine Héctor Cúper. The
Chabás-born trainer didn’t give many minutes to the Slovenian and didn’t have
much confidence in him in the first months of the season. Zahovic eventually
lost his patience when Valencia decided to sign, in the winter transfer window,
River Plate wonderkid Pablo Aimar, for whom the club paid more than 20 million
euros. His minutes decreased even more but he was still part of Cúper’s plans
and an example of that was the evening of May 23, 2001.
Valencia CF reached the Champions League final for
the second time in a row. This time the game would take place at San Siro
Stadium, in Milan, and the opponent would be Bayern Munich. In the 66
minute, Héctor Cúper decided to introduce the Slovenian into the game,
replacing Juan Sánchez. That was the moment when Zahovic had the chance to
become the most important player in the history of Valencia CF. It happened during
the extra time, 1-1 on the scoreboard, and with the golden ball rule (whoever
scored, would win the game); in a jumbled play in Kahn’s penalty area, the ball
came to him from a teammate and he had the opportunity to introduce the ball
into the empty net, which would have brought the big Cup to Valencia. But he
failed. He stumbled on the ball and Kahn eventually grabbed it. Later, he had
another chance in the penalty shootout. With Valencia CF leading the series,
Zahovic decided to shoot the team’s third attempt. If he had scored, Valencia
would have cherished the Cup. But he failed again. He took a short run-up and
Kahn saved the shot.
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| Zahovic missing his penalty in the 2001 Champions League final shootout |
He spent the rest of his career in Benfica, with
unnoticed performances. He took part in the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South
Korea, where he was expelled from the player’s meeting by his national team
coach, Srecko Katanec, after insulting him due to being substituted in the
opening game for Slovenia. He retired in 2005 and he’s currently working as a
director of football at NK Maribor, in his home country.
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| Zahovic in the present |
