Jesús María Pereda (Medina de Pomar, Burgos, 1938 – Barcelona, 2011) was better known to the fans as ‘Chus’, although his teammates used to call him ‘Gunpowder’ because of his temperament on the pitch. He was one of the all-time Barça greats, and along with the similarly skilful Josep Maria Fusté, he formed one half an extraordinary midfield partnership in the sixties, while also displaying plenty of ability in front of goal, scoring 111 times in his 317 appearances in the famous jersey.
He left Sevilla to sign for Barça in 1961 and stayed for eight seasons, winning one Fairs Cup and two Copa del Rey, a surprisingly meagre collection for a player of such quality, but those were hard times at a club that seemed to be going from one crisis to the next. As he used to say, he was born too early.
He had fifteen international caps for Spain, where he was especially noted for his contribution to the 1964 European Championship. It was he who scored the opener and then supplied the cross for Marcelino to score the winner in the 2-1 win over the Soviet Union in the final.
Career
- Seasons at the Club: 1961-69
- Games played: 317
- Goals scored: 111
Honours
- 2 Copa el Rey (1962/63 and 1967/68)
- 1 Fairs Cup (1965/66)
