When Giannis Kyrastas passed away on April Fool’s Day 2004 at the age of just 52, many “linked” the announcement of the sad news to the traditional April 1st lie to give strength to the tragedy of the moment, even though it was clear that this was not such an event as it could have been a farce.

It was the end of a long struggle to survive on terms that could have been much better for him if he had paid more attention to the early warning signs in the form of a yellow card. But he set to work at first resolutely, lost precious time, and when the danger bell rang finally, it was too late to win the battle.

Giannis Kyrastas suffered from the rare Fournier disease, a disease that causes necrotizing gangrene and disruption of many basic functions of the human body, especially when treatment is not started immediately at the first symptoms. He entered the hospital in early March, underwent a complex operation on the 11th, it was difficult for him in intensive care at first, but he was strong, endured, restored contact with the environment, disconnected from the machines and seemed to be winning the battle. A sudden deterioration, however, sent him back to intensive care on March 29, and at 5:30 pm on April Fool’s Day, dozens of his anxiously waiting friends in the hospital were the first to hear the mournful cries.

This news caused shock in the football community. Kyrastas was an iconic footballer figure, the head coach of Greece at the time and, above all, a very special person, a charismatic personality that, if you came into contact with him, it was impossible to get past him – something pulled you to throw him and have a second look. to hear him speak to you one more time. He “left” before he was 52, with a bitter feeling that he still had too much to give to the world of football, which had fascinated him since childhood.

Kirastas took his first steps in football in an Olympiacos shirt, although childhood friends say that he liked Panathinaikos from an early age, perhaps because his father was a fanatical supporter of the red-whites, and he himself was a reactionary as a child. wanted to go against the current, grew up in Piraeus, in an area that was the heart of a large port group.

He himself played football for fun and did not imagine that he would connect his life with this sport when a friend took him to try out for the Olympiacos club. He liked it, and they held him without making much noise with their presence, until out of nowhere an opportunity appeared that he did not miss. In a double-head of a training nature, the first team of Olympiacos played with the “kids”. Kyrastas was not a starter in a small team, but there was a vacancy in defense that day, and he came to fill the squad.

Olympiacos coach Alan Ashman was impressed and asked him to train with the big team the very next day, even though there were many others ahead of him in the “small” team. That’s all! The water went into the ditch and never came back. Kyrastas, who previously worked as an oil painter and therefore had the nickname “painter”, put his father’s work on the back burner, devoted more time to football, worked harder to improve his weaknesses and waited for his opportunities.

His first appearance was in a friendly match against Manchester City in April 1972, when he was not yet 20 years old. He played right back in front of 35,000 fans in Karaiskakis and performed satisfactorily. His official debut took place almost 8 months later, in December of the same year. He played in the match against Kavala for the championship and, in fact, has since taken the shirt … home, having won the position of the team’s main right-back.

Together with Olympiacos, Kirastas established himself and lived the days of glory. He wore his jersey for almost 9 years, was his captain and a very influential player in the dressing room, where due to his strong character he made an impression from a young age, although he had teammates with much more brilliance and “name”. Around him. He played 223 games with Olympiacos, winning 5 championships and 3 cups, in a decade of red-and-white dominance over the eternal rival.

The decision to cross the Rubicon was not easy for Giannis Kirasta when, after working for eight years as a professional at Olympiakos, he received the right to change teams, accepted a very tempting offer from Panathinaikos. Although he was sympathetic to the Greens from a young age, he was attached to Olympiacos, in whose jersey he won titles as captain and reached the national team.

These were the first years of professional football in Greece, and the fermentation of that time allowed for moves that were previously considered unimaginable: Domasos moved to AEK, Antoniadis and Grammos to Olympiakos, Delikaris to Panathinaikos. There was a new mentality, the money offered by Giorgos Vardinogiannis was much more than the offer to renew Olympiacos, and so he decided to cross the river, hand in hand with another symbol of Olympiacos of the time, Mike Galakos.

In Panathinaikos, Kirastas was reborn. He started out as a right back, but Jacek Gmoch’s inspiration to become a libero breathed new life into his career. He played with the Greens for five years until December 1986, when he decided to hang up his boots at 34 after a 2-0 win over Aris, in order to devote more time to three women in his life: his wife Rula (who had “donated” a promising acting career to the family) – she started as a child with the role of the daughter of Lakis Komninos and Elena Nathanael in the film “One Summer”) and his daughters Evelina (wife of Michalis Konstantinou) and the Wedding Ring.

With Panathinaikos, Giannis Kirastas won two championships and three cups, but he had the greatest adventure of his career when he reached the semi-final of the Champions Cup with them in 1985 against Liverpool. He intensely lived moments with him, so in 1987, when he retired from football, he publicly stated for the first time that emotionally he now belongs to the Panathinaikos family.

The football sprout could not leave him alone, and soon he began the process of becoming a coach. To his credit, he never tried to cash in on his big name as a player to get to higher floors without climbing stairs. Although he could have started much higher and even led a professional team, he chose to take his first steps in the modest Greek National Championship in 1987-88. He then carried out his… agricultural work in Messolonghi, Proodeftia, Panionios, Ethnikos, Panargeiakos and Panileiakos, until in the summer of 1999 he accepted the offer of Giorgos Vardinogiannis to take over the management of Panathinaikos.

This was the time when the Greens conceded the championship to Olympiakos and the move of the captain to choose the inexperienced at this level Giannis Kyrastas instead of a recognized foreign coach was considered by the entire press to be a big mistake, with the characterization of the first page of the very influential newspaper Filatlos, which spoke of “WHITE TOWEL”. The sequel, of course, solemnly refused Cassandra. Panathinaikos from Kirasta played amazing football and although they didn’t win the title for reasons that even small children can understand, they were voted the best team in the championship and their best coach himself.

Despite all this, the new internal balances in Panathinaikos led him through the exit door of Paania, along with Giorgos Vardinogiannis, to continue working for one year in Heraklis, where he received a “blank check” from Vangelis Mytilinaios to help the “old” rise to the new level and compete with the “greats”. It was a time-consuming project in a country with no patience, so a year later, in the summer of 2001, Kirastas decided to return to his beloved Panathinaikos, who was trying to find a starting point to restore the championship.

His second term with the Greens was very short. With very sharp and constant references to the “hut” system that still controlled everything, Kirastas retired from Panathinaikos in December 2001 after losing to PAOK at Leforos, stating it was time to enjoy his family and the fishing he loved so much. .

And this time he said it and did it. He was out of football for two seasons and once he started setting the stage for a big comeback, life took a different turn. He had no better plan for him than the parting slogan of the Panathinaikos fans when, a few weeks after his “journey”, the team won the championship after seven years of drought: “Let this cup reach the stars for Giannis Kyrastas”!