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IVAN SÁNCHEZ RICO SOTO 'RIKI'
Date of Birth: 11 August 1980
City of Birth: Aranjuez, Madrid
Nationality: Spain
Contract: 2006 - 2011
Transfer: €4.6 million (2006, from Getafe)
Previous Clubs: Getafe (2004-2006), Real Madrid Castilla (2002-2004), Real Madrid C (2001-2002)
Buy-out Clause: ?
Height: 186 cm
Weight: 80 kg
Position: Attacking Midfielder (right/central/left)/Striker
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 There are few players in Deportivo’s squad who are as technically gifted as Riki or have his shooting skills. Besides, Riki is a strong player who is capable to play on all attacking positions and who has a proven goal scoring record in the Primera División with 18 goals behind his name. But still he hasn’t become a feared name in Spain and at the age of twenty-eight has to regain the starting position he had one year ago at Deportivo. Many say that he lacks determination and only does well when feels mistreated, that is if he comes off the bench. But will he repay in 2008/2009 the big amount that Deportivo donated for him to Getafe?
It was no coincidence that Riki’s career started at Real Madrid as he was born in the city of Aranjuez (50,000 inhabitants), which lies 48 kilometres south of the city of Madrid. Aranjuez is well-known for the Palacio Real de Aranjuez, one of the Spanish royal sites, and its vast gardens and also is the place-of-birth of Spanish striker Javier Portillo. Being twenty-three years old, Riki scored twenty goals for Real Madrid’s B-team (Real Madrid Castilla) which awoke the interest of more important teams. It were the years when Raúl González, Luis Figo, Beckham, Zidane, Ronaldo, Guti, Santiago Solari, Cambiasso, Morientes and Portillo were some of the names in Real Madrid’s squad and there was no much room for a player like Riki. German club 1.FC Nürnberg were related to him, but neighbours Getafe eventually snatched him for €300.000. This small, but ambitious, club seemed perfect for Riki as he could stay in the Madrid area and play in the Primera División. The other club from the area, Atlético, were of a different standard.
 Signing Riki appeared to have been a smart move. He made his Primera debut on 12 September 2004 against Real Mallorca and quickly became a starting player. His team was nothing spectacular, as they never were situated higher than twelfth and eventually finished thirteenth, but it was a valuable season. Getafe survived its first year at the highest level and Riki reached playing twenty-nine matches (of which twenty-one as a starter) and he scored two goals: the first he scored in December 2004 during the 2-0 home win against Racing de Santander and the second he scored in March 2005 during a 2-1 home win against… Real Madrid. Albiol gave Getafe a lead in that match after which Riki doubled it after the break. In that season 2004/2005 his goals didn’t save his team, but his performances did. Overall he was considered as one of the best players of his team which played very compact. After one year at Primera level, it was already rumoured that Lendoiro was after Riki with a €3 million bid for the player. But Getafe’s president Ángel Torres seems to have rejected that offer mainly because Riki had a certain clause in his contract. That stated that until June 2007, fifty percent of the income would go to Real Madrid. Ángel Torres decided to wait, to get more out of a deal, and pointed to Riki’s €6 million buy-out clause, and in the mean time Riki extended his contract at Getafe until 2009.
In his second year in Primera (2005/2006) Riki only confirmed his reputation as fast and skilful player. His contributions were vital to Bernd Schuster’s team (with Pernía and Guïza) which shocked Spain in the first weeks as they were first on three occasions and still fourth when November started after a 1-0 defeat at Deportivo. After it, Getafe always was placed between positions eight and eleven and eventually finished ninth. Riki’s numbers improved a lot. Now he was an undisputed starter and he played thirty-two matches of which twenty-eight as a starter. At the start of the season, when Getafe did so well, he was a sensation. He scored four goals in the first six Liga matches including two at Alavés (a 3-4 win) and one against Valencia (a 2-1 win). He added another goal in December against Villarreal and scored two goals against Racing de Santander in April. He finished the season with eight goals after he scored against Cádiz in May 2006, and these numbers could have been better if he hadn’t been out injured for six weeks. During the winter season, clubs like AC Parma (Italy) and Liverpool (England) approached Getafe for a deal but once again Ángel Torres rejected the approach. Once more Riki had been one of Getafe’s best players, and when the summer arrived it was time for the Getafe president to make a profit from this €300.000 signing who been noticed by national coach Luis Aragonés.
 Many names were related to Deportivo that summer and eventually seventeen(!) would arrive. Riki admitted that he was ambitious “and it’s clear that I would love to play for one of Spain’s biggest clubs”. At the end of June he passed a medical test at the club after Getafe and Deportivo apparently had reached an agreement. Riki was becoming the fourth signing until then, but there was confusion about the money involved. Sources in La Coruña claimed that it was €4 million while Getafe president Ángel Torres maintained his position that the €6 million buy-out clause had been paid. “Maybe Deportivo are interested in publicly minimizing the numbers”, he said. The same could apply to Getafe too though. Just a few days before, the Getafe president copied Lendoiro’s words of ten years before that “we are a buying club and not a selling club. We already lost Pernía to Atlético and won’t let someone else go if an interested club doesn’t pay the buy-out clause”. Lendoiro had been in Madrid personally to negotiate for Riki but it remained a mystery why Riki already had done a medical test before the deal eventually was done. This was resolved quickly, as Riki got married on 23 June 2006 and had the test done a day before. Canaldeportivo wrote on 25 June that the club had paid €4,64 million to the Spanish FA as a guarantee.
Riki had become Deportivo’s most expensive signing between 2002 (the arrival of Jorge Andrade, Albert Luque and 'Toro' Acuña) and 2007 (when Guardado was signed). Such an amount indicates that a player is ready to play in Primera and expectations of him were high when the season started. Riki would later be joined by Arbeloa and both players knew each other From Real Madrid’s B-team. Riki explained that he picked Deportivo “because it’s one of the biggest Spanish clubs and will be fighting for an European spot. And that’s where we deserve to be. And Deportivo showed most interest in signing me”. Asked about the amount that Deportivo paid for him, he said: “If they really paid that it’s probably because they think I’m worth it. I will try to demonstrate that on the pitch”. Riki added that he had started at Getafe’s left wing and later was used by Schuster in the striking zone. “I felt comfortable on all these positions, as the most important aspect is to help the squad”. Riki started as left winger during a friendly against Benfica (a 1-0 win) and also in the 2006 Teresa Herrera match against Nacional de Montevideo, in which he finished the match as striker. Being Deportivo’s left winger, he scored from a free-kick during the final against AC Milan. In the first match of the Primera División against Real Zaragoza (a 3-2 win), Riki occupied the left wing, Arizmendi the right wing and Bodipo was the striker. Out of Riki’s cross the first goal of Deportivo was scored and there was renewed optimism, and relief, at the club after this win. Riki said that he felt comfortable playing at left wing but that he’s preferred position was still in the striking zone. “Last year, at Getafe, I played behind striker Guïza or Paunovic and I felt really comfortable with that freedom. And they took some advantage of the shots I fired from there. A winger needs to work hard in defence too which makes it more difficult to get close to the opponent’s goal. You need to be in pretty good shape for that”.
 Despite that the season 2006/2007 evolved in a more difficult way than many would have expected, Riki was a stable figure in the line-ups of Caparrós. He didn’t miss a single match of the first round (nineteen matches) and only didn’t start on two occasions. Despite the good results, coach Caparrós was disputed from the start of the season. Not only because of his difficult relationship with the media and certain players, but also because he was converting Deportivo into a team playing physical football and handling a long-ball style. Of course, that’s not the best solution for technically gifted players like Riki, Arizmendi, Cristián and Verdú but Caparrós even tried it without a pure striker at Mallorca (a 0-0 draw). When asked about that, Caparrós said that he even had used two strikers with Riki and Arizmendi but that both players had been reconverted to the wings. Against Villarreal, the wings were occupied by Cristián and Arizmendi with play maker Juan Rodríguez playing behind striker Riki who took the role of the injured Bodipo. As a result, Riki delivered two fine passes to Capdevila and the Catalan defender scored both goals of Deportivo during the 2-0 win. Had Caparrós found his formula? He repeated it during the away match at Levante (a 2-0 loss), but the team was innocent from the start. Riki didn’t want to look for excuses: “Away from home we simply aren’t giving good performances but we have get points from these matches”. The first goal of Riki arrived in his fifth match at the club. Against Real Sociedad (a 2-0 win) he was the striker, for a third consecutive time, with Filipe, Juan Rodríguez and Arizmendi playing behind him. Riki’s goal (news papers compared it to a ‘Houdini-act’) was scored near the end when minutes before Barragán had given Deportivo the lead. He did so coming from right wing as Taborda’s entry had moved Riki to the wing. Riki was satisfied that the work of the team had been rewarded: “Real Sociedad played like Levante and they closed down all spaces. Besides, their players are really strong. But we simply have to improve our game against Betis Sevilla”.
Caparrós kept Riki as striker in the team during the matches against Betis (a 1-1 draw), Atlético (a 1-0 win), Getafe (a 2-0 loss) and Barcelona (a 1-1 draw) and Riki’s contribution was vital when Deportivo secured a pass to the next Copa round at Racing de Santander. But Riki didn’t do one thing: scoring goals. His contribution in nine Liga matches and two in the Copa had been one goal, and he was the striker in most of those games. Caparrós tried it with 18-year old Adrián at Gimnástic (a 0-0 draw) but replaced him with Riki during half-time because, although Adrián did fine, the attacking zone of Deportivo was almost inexistent. The issue of Deportivo’s attacking problems became more crucial now. After the Gimnástic match the team was still eighth in the table at two points of UEFA Cup football. Riki was going to reclaim his spot, but he admitted that he wasn’t in his best form but also lacked occasions to score. He, once more, indicated that he prefers to play behind a striker, mentioned Atlético’s Kiko as his idol and Craioveanu as best colleague on the pitch. But during a 0-1 home defeat against arch-rival Celta de Vigo, with Riki as Deportivo’s striker (and later moving to the left), Deportivo quickly started to handle the long-ball game which ended up in nothing. Riki also was Deportivo’s striker at Osasuna, and one of his efforts hit the post, but that match was lost 4-1. He admitted that not scoring was becoming an obsession for him and he welcomed the addition of a pure striker to the squad. “I don’t have any problem with that if a new player adds something to the squad”. Riki was Deportivo’s striker against Racing de Santander (a 0-0 draw) and Valencia (a 4-0 defeat), and the team was harmless in both matches. With Riki at the left wing, Cristián at the right wing, Verdú as play maker and Arizmendi up front, Caparrós tried something completely different against Bilbao but a negative result wasn’t avoided: a 0-2 defeat. Riki lost his starting place for the second time this season, this time against Sevilla, as Filipe covered the left wing and Arizmendi was the striker. All seemed hopeless though as the team lost 4-0 and was having its worst series of matches since the promotion to Primera in 1991.
 Now Real Madrid were going to visit Riazor, and for the first time in many years a defeat against Spain’s best team seemed inevitable. Riki tried to explain the situation of Deportivo by pointing to the players’ attitude: “That one is poor and we have to fix that together. We aren’t aggressive right now and we aren’t feared for that anymore”. But at least three players were going to be fully motivated to face Real Madrid: ex-Real Madrid players Riki and Arbeloa and ex-Atlético player Arizmendi. First it was Arbeloa who criticized the handling of young players at Real Madrid, and Riki confirmed that. “I understand that they want to have the best players in the world, but they also have many good players in the youth teams who’re doing a great job. Now they are betting on many foreign players, but the youth system always has delivered qualities. I’m confident that local players can do the same job, or even better, as Higuaín, Gago or Marcelo. Players like Soldado and De la Red could be very useful”. But Riki added that “I don’t have any resentment against Real Madrid, I simply am thankful to them because now I am able to play at Deportivo. I became too old for their youth team”. Fortunately, it became a fiesta in Riazor. Cristián and Estoyanoff covered Deportivo’s wings, and Riki finally got his opportunity as second striker behind Arizmendi. Especially Riki and Arizmendi were all over the place and a nightmare to Real Madrid. After ten minutes it was Riki who earned a free-kick which was converted by Capdevila, and Madrid never got into the match. News papers wrote that the score could have been double, but the three points were all that mattered. In the next match, at surprising Recreativo (a 1-1 draw), Caparrós maintained this system and Riki provided Arizmendi with the equalizer. Riki once more saved Deportivo in the Copa del Rey when he earned a penalty kick against Mallorca and opponent Ballesteros was sent-off.
Deportivo were now building up an unbeaten run. At home against Espanyol (a 0-0 draw), the striking duo of Riki functioned reasonably well. First, Arizmendi connected to a cross from Riki but his effort hit the crossbar (and seemed to have entered the goal). Later, a pass of Riki found Arizmendi but the goal was disallowed for (non-existing) offside. Riki would have to miss the match at Zaragoza for having received his fifth yellow card, but he had delivered a great performance. Riki now was becoming a central figure, and statistics indicated that he was making most shots, was caught offside most and was Deportivo’s player suffering most fouls. Taborda replaced Riki at Zaragoza (a 1-1 draw), and immediately scored a goal. Riki retook his spot for the Copa home match against Valladolid (a 4-1 win), but only when he was replaced (after Riki had wasted several opportunities) did Deportivo come back to life. Meanwhile, the tandem Riki-Arizmendi upfront remained quite effective in the Liga. Now Mallorca (a 1-0 win) and Villarreal (a 0-2 win) were beaten and Deportivo extended its unbeaten Liga run to five matches. The good results covered up the fact that Riki’s goalless period was becoming absurd. His goal against Real Sociedad was scored four month earlier and Riki hadn’t missed a lot of minutes since then. An injury would extend his record to at least three more weeks as he limped off injured at Villarreal. Rubén Rivera, and later Adrián, couldn’t make Riki forget though during a 0-0 draw in Riazor against Levante. Taborda replaced Riki during the away match at Lotina’s Real Sociedad (a 0-1 win), but the performance wasn’t convincing at all.
 The team lost its magic during the 0-1 defeat against Betis Sevilla. The attacking line-up, with Cristián, Estoyanoff, Riki and Arizmendi had been the same as during several successful matches before, but also included Verdú now. It might have been too much, as the news papers heavily criticized the ‘English approach’ of Deportivo with balls flying over them. Verdú was dropped for the match against Atlético, but this time Riki was heavily criticized for his poor performance and diving to the grass. Slowly the season was coming to its end, with Deportivo being ten points away from UEFA Cup football and having an important gap with the relegation zone. Caparrós started to experiment again and placed Arizmendi at the right wing with Adrián being the partner of Riki upfront. The opponent was familiar to Riki, as it was Getafe (a 1-0 win). While Adrián was a nightmare to their defence, Riki played one of his worst matches at Deportivo. He never assisted his colleagues nor tried a short. But he wanted just too much or simply hadn’t the best form. But now he not only didn’t score goals, he also had been performing badly since his return to the team. It was rumoured that Adrián was going to start the match at FC Barcelona (a 2-1 loss), but in the end it was Riki being Deportivo’s sole striker upfront supported by Verdú. His game was decent, but people will only remember the moment when Adrián replaced him and almost earned Deportivo a point after having been 2-0 down. Riki started to call his season “unfortunate” and added that “I am not a happy man. I miss confidence and I really need some goals to make the season somewhat more decent”. Riki was asked about the facial gestures he made after being substituted against Barcelona: “Well, nobody likes to be substituted. But the decision of the coach ended up well. I give my best effort in every match, and when things aren’t working they aren’t simply working. My gesture was for everything. I wanted a better result and to return to the situation before I got injured. I admit that I’m not doing a good job”.
Caparrós was thinking the same, as Adrián and Arizmendi were Deportivo’s strikers against Gimnástic (a 1-0 win) and Riki didn’t even get minutes. A suspension of Cristián moved Riki to the left wing for the match at Celta de Vigo, where Deportivo’s line-up was unrecognizable. Riki, as said, played at the left and Pablo Álvarez was given a rare opportunity at the right wing. Iago was Deportivo’s play maker and Adrián the central striker. This team was pretty harmless upfront, and now the only target for the season remained to avoid relegation. Caparrós once more puzzled with his team and used wingers Cristián and Estoyanoff, play maker Verdú and striker Adrián for the match against Osasuna (a 1-0 win). Riki and Arizmendi only entered the match in the second half. The ex-Getafe player though that, now with the team being safe from relegation, it would finish the team in a good style because it could play “calm and with a fresh mind”. A ‘calm’ end of the season it wasn’t going to be. First, Deportivo washed an opportunity against Sevilla to reach the final of the Copa del Rey. And the final seven matches of the season were all but encouraging. Riki was Deportivo’s left winger at Racing de Santander (a 0-0 draw) and hit the post. Against Valencia (a 1-2 defeat) he also started at the left wing but Deportivo improved when Adrián replaced him. Being, again, Deportivo’s left winger Riki achieved at Bilbao what he had lacked so much before: scoring a goal. It was 13 May 2007, almost eight months after his goal against Real Sociedad, when a free-kick of Riki equalized the match at San Mamés (1-1). It must be said that goalkeeper Aranzubia, who moved to Deportivo one year later, didn’t look good at this effort. Riki called it “an enormous satisfaction and I haven’t felt like this since a long time ago”. Then he was struck by another injury, this time against Sevilla after just fifteen minutes. It made him miss the away match at Real Madrid (a 3-1 defeat), something which he will have regretted. The season now was coming to its end, and Riki formed a tandem with Adrián against Recreativo (a 2-5 loss) in a match which was a disaster. It caused Riki being benched for the final match of the season at Espanyol (a 1-3 win), in which Arizmendi and Cristián covered the wings, Iago was the play maker and Bodipo the striker. Riki replaced Arizmendi near the end, and eighty-seven minutes after his goal at Bilbao he scored his third Liga goal of the season at Espanyol with a superb volley.
 When Lotina arrived at Deportivo, there wasn’t the slightest indication that Riki would leave. The player himself had something to fix, while Deportivo didn’t want to lose their huge investment of the year before. Lotina quickly hinted that he was going to use a 4-4-2 system and that Riki was going to be a additional striker. “I want him upfront, because I will play with two strikers. I believe that Riki needs freedom, open spaces and that he can play without obligations”. Riki himself welcomed Lotina as coach and hoped that the style of Deportivo would change: “Last year’s style wasn’t proper to bring spectacle, this year the first assignment coming from the new coach is to have control over the ball”. Riki also commented on Lotina’s words about his position in the team: “Being a second striker has always been my best position at which I yielded most. As a second striker I have more space compared to being a winger and I can contribute more”. Lotina called Riki “a powerful and fast player with good shooting abilities. It’s difficult to stop him for his physical presence. And he’s more dangerous in the centre than at the sides”. Riki, as second striker close to Rubén Castro, played an excellent second half against Paços de Ferreira and scored a goal from a free-kick. Lotina once more praised him and said that he wanted to see Riki “in he zones where he is most dangerous. Sometimes he goes to places where he wastes his energy”. Riki and Xisco were Deportivo’s attacking duo against Atalanta Bergamo in the 2007 Teresa Herrera tournament, and he admitted that he felt better than the year before: “Because we have started a new season, this is different that last year when the pressure was eating me. But now I feel fine”. Riki accompanied Taborda in the final of the tournament against Real Madrid (a 2-1 win), and he was unstoppable in the first half. He scored a goal (like he did in the final of 2006), hit the post and saw one effort being cleared of the goal line. Now Lotina called him “an animal. He possess an enormous strength, but we must control him now. I don’t want to see him losing his virtues, but he must improve on some aspects that are important for a second striker”.
Adrián and Riki were the two strikers facing Almería on 26 August 2007, but this went completely wrong: 0-3. Deportivo’s midfield was lost and the strikers couldn’t be reached. Lotina immediately reacted for the match at Valladolid and placed three offensive midfielders (Lafita, Verdú and Guardado) behind striker Taborda. The team did improve on the previous performances, but mainly tried it with long balls towards Taborda. The Uruguayan striker equalized the match for Deportivo, but the Galicians needed substitute Riki (who had been on the pitch for ten minutes) to earn them a point: 2-2. Lotina had stepped down from his plans to use Xisco and Riki in a 4-4-2 system, but now Riki saved the day for the new system. Lotina denied that he had changed the system: “What has changed is that Verdú played instead of Riki. Against Almería we didn’t play football between midfield and attack and our problems arrived. Riki isn’t the problem, but we solved this with Verdú. Our intention was to have the ball in our team. But with Taborda on the pitch, we must take advantage of that. In the end it are the players who determine how we play”. Riki and Taborda played in the friendly against Vitória Guimarães and the ex-Getafe player provided the striker with a goal. Lotina changed his team for a third consecutive time Betis Sevilla visited Riazor. Now Riki was the striker with Verdú behind him and Guardado and Lafita at the wings. It was back to the first half of the previous season when Riki was used to cover the injury of Bodipo. Together with Guardado, Riki was the most dangerous man on the pitch and he had it clear what was the difference compared to the Almería match: “I already said that we are a vulgar team if we don’t play with agressivity. Today we showed compromise and determination and we played a very complete game”.
 There was no doubt that Riki would start against his ex-club Getafe. The question was on which position. Lotina repeated the offensive line-up of the Betis match with Riki in front of Verdú, Guardado and Lafita but this match was one to be forgotten quickly: 0-0. Deportivo appeared to play without offensive power, and once more Lotina changed his team for the home match against Recreativo. This time he coupled Riki to Taborda with Guardado and Lafita at the wings. It was back to the classical 4-4-2, but this time the defensive midfield was completely overrun and the strikers were isolated. Lotina explained that he was counting on Taborda to win the aerial game, but “this time he had more difficulties compared to the Valladolid match. But we kept on sending crosses in towards him”. The next match, at Espanyol, saw a revolution. Adrián López, Filipe, De Guzmán and Xisco entered the line-up and Lotina tried again with the offensive line of three (Guardado, Verdú, Lafita). The team was very unlucky not to score several goals that night, and Riki’s entrance was refreshing. He replaced Lafita and went to the right side, with Guardado moving to the right wing and Bodipo replacing Xisco upfront. The good game of Deportivo had its consequences for Riki. Lotina found a formula with Xisco, or Bodipo, as striker and with three men behind them. As Riki was not considered a winger, he had to compete for the role as attacking midfielder/second striker with Verdú and lost it for the moment. Riki’s starting place against Recreativo was only repeated nine weeks later against Osasuna. In the mean time he was Deportivo’s pinch hitter against Sevilla, Valencia, Real Madrid, Mallorca, Racing and Athlétic de Bilbao. It quickly became evident that Riki appeared to be performing better as a substitute than as a starting player. At Sevilla he replaced Xisco with thirty minutes remaining and scored the only goal of the match in an exceptionally cool manner: 0-1. It was the start of October, but Riki already had produced two Liga goals by now.
In the previous year, a goal seemed a ‘miracle’ to any player and probably would have earned the responsible one a starting place. Not this season. Lotina had found the formula in which Deportivo played decent games with passing football and created opportunities to score goals. Now it only needed to finish those chances. Lotina started with Guardado, Verdú, Juan Rodríguez and Xisco against Valencia (a 2-4 loss), and substitute Riki (at right wing) hit the post near the end. Lotina tried the same against Real Madrid, when Riki was given half an hour to do something as central striker and later as right winger. But that match was going to be lost in midfield after an intense first hour, and there was nothing that Riki could change. One would have expected Riki in the mid-week match against Mallorca when Lotina didn’t use Xisco and Lafita. But this time the attacking line was Guardado, Verdú and Cristián with Bodipo as striker, and Riki’s entry (again) was as right winger replacing Cristián. It was a rare moment when Riki wasn’t even used in the Murcia match (a 0-2 win), but Riki was called again to save the day when Racing de Santander were winning 0-1 at Riazor. That had been one of the best matches of Deportivo during the first part of the season, with Guardado, Verdú, Cristián and Xisco playing. But the ten minutes for Riki at right wing weren’t enough to do anything. Lotina once more refused to count on Riki for the match at Bilbao as his right winger of the moment, Cristián, was out injured and he picked Juan Rodríguez for his physical presence. The others were, not surprisingly, Verdú, Guardado and Xisco. But things weren’t working out. After the match it appeared that half of Deportivo’s players were affected by a virus. Barragán scored a clumsy own goal, and when Bilbao scored their second just after the break the match seemed lost. Lotina brought Riki for Juan Rodríguez, and he immediately converted a marvellous free-kick, which he had earned himself, into a goal. With more heart and passion than precision, Deportivo achieved the equalizer in injury-time: 2-2.
 It was Riki’s third goal of the season after just 540 minutes on the pitch. The year before it had taken him 2233 minutes to do that. It became clear that Lotina now couldn’t avoid him anymore, and Riki himself said that “I want to demonstrate to Lotina that I can be a starter. As long as he counts on me, I’m fine with coming from the bench as long as I get minutes. The difference compared to last season is, maybe, the pressure is lower. Now I’m enjoying more”. Lotina picked Riki over Cristián to take a wing spot, but the strange aspect was that it concerned left wing as Guardado was moved to the right. Verdú and Bodipo completed the offensive part. Again, Riki wasn’t playing at his preferred position (as second striker). And this time Deportivo played a crappy game. Lotina explained his decision: “Riki always struggles on the right because he isn’t a specific winger. That’s why I wanted to give him freedom and to change back positions if they weren’t feeling comfortable. But they didn’t do it, and so I did it during half-time”. Riki had waited nine weeks for this opportunity, and had to wait another six weeks. He missed the Barcelona match (a 2-1 loss) because of an injury, and against Zaragoza (a 1-1 draw) he watched how Guardado, Verdú, Cristián and Xisco occupied the offensive spots. Twenty-four minutes for Riki as a striker weren’t enough to show something decent. During the Copa match at Espanyol it was back to the left wing with Lafita as play maker and Cristián at the right side. The season started to resemble the one under Caparrós as Riki constantly was moving from the striking position, to the play maker’s role and from left wing to right wing. At Levante (a 0-1 win), Riki was given just a few minutes to play.
Maybe Riki and Deportivo weren’t a good marriage after all. Under Caparrós he played, but didn’t score goals. Under Lotina he had become a substitute who added some goals, but his minutes became less and less. Sports paper AS claimed that Bolton Wanderers and Everton were after him during the winter market, and Riki didn’t reject the option right away. Riki was Deportivo’s left winger during the Copa match against Espanyol when the team was eliminated. Against Atlético he was given seventeen minutes as replacement of Lafita, but that match (a 0-3 loss) was hopeless. Lotina had to do without Cristián for the match at Villarreal and had lost faith in Verdú. Because Juan Rodríguez was needed in midfield, Guardado and Riki were going to occupy the wings. But Lotina repeated the ‘trick’ of the Osasuna match, and it worked better this time. Deportivo, including Riki, played a decent match under the circumstances and the ex-Getafe player was involved at Pablo Amo’s goal. But the final result, a 4-3 loss, was the same as usual and now Lotina was almost out of the club. Riki stepped forward to defend him: “We as players are the ones that can solve this situation and we have nineteen matches to do that. We support Lotina and are at his side until the end. I believe that we can reach our goal with sacrifice and a humble attitude”. Riki started his second consecutive match at Almería, this time as right winger with Guardado at the left and Juan Rodríguez behind striker Adrián. In this difficult match, without much football from both sides, an effort of Riki hit the crossbar while Almería used one of its rare opportunities to take three points: 1-0. All that was left was frustration. Riki assured that Deportivo needed to “change this monotony, we need fresh air to gain confidence”.
 Lotina was given a final chance against Valladolid, and it’s well-known that the new system of 5-3-2 would start to deliver great results in the remaining matches of the season in which Deportivo eventually qualified for the Intertoto Cup and reached the UEFA Cup. The disadvantage of Riki was that Lafita, Xisco and Wilhelmsson were vital players in that system who rarely didn’t play. Riki had started four matches when September wasn’t even over yet, but only played his eighth match as a starter in May at Zaragoza when the competition was almost done. In the mean time he returned to his role as substitute in twelve matches. Riki had his contributions though. Against Valladolid he provoked their goalkeeper being sent-off and, as a striker, launched Guardado to score Deportivo’s third goal. Riki wasn’t used at Betis Sevilla (a 0-1 win) and an injury kept him sidelined for the match against Getafe (a 1-1 draw). He occupied new headlines when, at Recreativo, he equalized the match for Deportivo with ten minutes remaining, almost scored a second with a header only to see the match being thrown away near the end (a 3-2 loss). He received a yellow card for celebrating his goal, which was his fifth and he had to miss the Liga match against Espanyol. That was precisely the match in which Lafita had his final breakthrough which blocked his spot for Riki. Upfront, Bodipo was preferred over Xisco against Sevilla and Riki only substituted him with ten minutes remaining. Riki was given seventeen minutes against Valencia and twenty-five against Real Madrid. At Mallorca he managed to receive two yellow cards as a substitute and was sent-off, and therefore was suspended for the Murcia game. Suspensions and injuries were taking its toll now from Riki. Fortunately for him, he was involved in the eight matches remaining. At Racing de Santander he had opportunities to play, but in the end Lotina picked Juan Rodríguez for the right wing.
It’s not that Riki’s role was over in the final phase of the season. He looked sharp during most entries, like against Bilbao on 13 April 2008. He replaced Wilhelmsson after an hour with the score being 1-0, and a few minutes later earned a decisive penalty-kick. Near the end he, playing at left wing as Lafita had moved to the right, launched Filipe who scored Deportivo’s third goal: 3-0. Sometimes it’s assumed that Riki is a phlegmatic player who doesn’t give all, but when Lotina was asked about his players working hardest he mentioned Coloccini, Barragán and Riki. For example, Riki was given about twenty minutes at Osasuna (a 0-1 win) when he replaced Xisco, and he refreshed the striking zone. The same during his entry in the Barcelona match (a 2-0 win), and Riki had earned his eighth starting place for the match at Zaragoza. Lafita, according to his contract, wasn’t allowed to play at La Romareda and Lotina picked Riki for left wing when he had to choose between him, Juan Rodríguez and Cristián. It became a routine that, being a starter, Riki wasn’t as valuable as a substitute. He wasn’t seen in the match and replaced by Cristián. The positive aspect of the routine was that as a substitute he had been very effective and he would be exactly his during the home match against Levante. Deportivo were safe from relegation and the team had become very relaxed after the win against FC Barcelona. Three points against little Levante would almost assure the team of Intertoto football, but the determination was gone. The striking line of Wilhelmsson, Lafita and Bodipo couldn’t score a goal and it was time for Valerón, Riki and Taborda together with the Swedish winger. With three minutes remaining, Valerón passed to Manuel Pablo on the right wing and he found Riki who back heeled the ball into the net. It was one of the most beautiful goals in Riazor that season and a sigh of relief went through the stadium. Riki finished the season with two fine entries against Atlético (he should have been rewarded a penalty kick) and Villarreal.
 Riki had been among the players with most matches behind his name in the years 2006-2008: 55 Liga matches which means that he only missed eleven in two full seasons. But the strange aspect remains that as a starting player in the season 2006/2007 he was less effective than as a substitute one year later. Under Caparrós he was used on all positions, including many as central striker, and only scored 3 goals in 2233 minutes. He started 29 matches, completed 10 of them and only had 4 entries. One year later he started only 8 matches, completed just 2 of them and his 24 entries were his main aspect. He scored 5 goals in 1091 matches, an important average of one goal every 218 minutes which is comparable to Xisco scoring every 181 minutes. Riki scored all of his five goals as a substitute. A coach knowing this might be delighted with having such a player. Riki himself accepted this role for the season 2007/2008, but it’s unlikely that he’ll do so for another year. Riki remains one of the most technically gifted players in the squad with a great shot, determination, physical appearance and the ability to be decisive. That’s worth something, and his agent threatened that Riki needs “a bigger role at Deportivo. And if he can’t have that at Deportivo, we must search for a solution. He wants to play more”. It was rumoured that Bolton Wanderers offered €2 million, something that Lendoiro immediately rejected. Riki’s five goals had earned the team six points and Deportivo had needed those to secure Intertoto and UEFA Cup football. But later his agent admitted that there wasn’t a firm offer on the table, while Riki started to count for Lotina during the matches against Bnei Sakhin. He formed Deportivo’s attacking line in both matches with Valerón and Lafita. He scored a goal in Israel (a 1-2 win) and provided Valerón with the decisive goal in Riazor (a 1-0 win). Is 2008/2009 finally going to be Riki’s year?
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