By Manolo Rodríguez

In June 1979, Real Betis had returned to the top division after a previous year in purgatory and the atmosphere demanded strengthening the team to avoid the same to happen again after winning Copa del Rey.

For this reason, the Administration Board made two signings that were much more expensive than what the Club was accustomed to spend. The quick Sporting de Gijon winger Enrique Morán was immediately signed for 30 million pesetas. A quite respectable figure.

That was just the beginning. That was what the directors said, although they wouldn't reveal any more clues. Rumours began to be shared and eventually, in July, it was announced that the big star to come was the Portuguese Antonio Luis Ribeiro de Oliveira, the best player in that country, the star at FC Porto, club that had just become League champion.

The Green and White institution paid 48 million Pesetas, the highest amount paid by Real Betis so far. A fortune back then. The fans welcomed him but things started to get strange from the very beginning. The player arrived several days late to the trainings. He justified his delay saying that he had had three tire punctures during the journey, and he always acted distant, weird, aloof.

However, once the preseason began, he showed some of those skills he had. He was good in the Concepción Arenal Trophy in Ferrol; he performed well against Beveren from Belgium and, even if he didn't shine in the Ciudad de Sevilla tournament, there were no worrying signs.

Real Betis coach León Lasa used to play him on the left wing and in that position he made his debut in LaLiga on the 8th of September 1979. The rival was Rayo Vallecano, a team that was playing their third season in the top division and that had just signed Uruguayan goal scorer Fernando Morena.

A highly-expected night at Heliópolis that, unfortunately, didn't end well. Many spectators in the stands, and these were the line-ups:

Real Betis: Esnaola; Bizcocho, Richard, Peruena (Alex, m.30), Gordillo; Ortega, Alabanda, Benítez; Morán, Hugo Cabezas (Anzarda, m.65), Oliveira.

Rayo Vallecano: Mora; Anero, Tanco, Uceda, Rocamora; Custodio, Nieto, Robles, Salazar (Francisco, m.65); Morena, Alvarito (José Mari, m.76).

Oliveira started the game in style. He was the guide of the team and he conducted the game during the first half. He even opened the score. It was the 17th minute and he scored a penalty that had been committed on himself. It was his only goal with Betis shirt.

Then, he began to fade away as minutes went by (Rayo won at the end 1-2) and that night was just a warning of what happened during his team in the team.

He barely played in the first six games and he was constantly on and off the team until he played his last game at Mestalla (just one minute) when the first round of the league finished. Just one goal. Barely nothing for 48 million.

It was said that Oliveira, who was an excellent number '10', had the bad luck of signing for a team that had an even better number '10'. A leader called Julio Cardeñosa who was a demigod for the béticos.

Also, the Portuguese began to lose eagerness as months went by. He was homesick and he used to travel to his country every weekend when he was not called up. For this reason, he requested to go back to FC Porto.

An so it happened. On February 1980 he was swapped with fellow countryman Francisco Antonio Lucas Vital, a pure striker with a quite different profile compared to Oliveira. Vital played 13 League and 2 Cup games and scored just one goal.

Oliveira and Vital were the first Portuguese to ever play at Real Betis. Since then, Calado, Joao Tomás, Ricardo, Nelson, Miguel Lopes, Agra and, currently, the excellent William Carvalho.

As it is well known, Antonio Luis Ribeiro de Oliveira returned to Real Betis in August 1998, this time as head coach. He came to replace Luis Aragonés, who, unexpectedly, had resigned three days before. This time, things did not work either. In fact, they got worse.

The players were confused from the beginning with him, as they didn't understand what he wanted. They didn't feel represented by a coach that, clearly, could not control the dressing room. Also, his differences with the chairman also seemed to be evident. And the results (with big failures at Colombino and Carranza trophies) made the rest.

Actually, he was on the job? for 23 days! An awful record that got even worse when the coach and the directors began to blame each other.

This badly is how Antonio Oliveira's second spell at Betis was. The same person who, once, was the most expensive signing in Real Betis history. The just-one-goal scorer. The one he did against Rayo Vallecano on a hot 1979 Summer night.