Jose Antonio Reyes, 1983-2019

Someone had to be the 1st member of Arsenal's "Invincibles" to die. But I didn't expect it to happen this soon, or while he was still an active player.

José Antonio Reyes Calderón was born on September 1, 1983 in Utrera, in the Province of Sevilla (usually written as "Seville" in English-speaking countries), Spain. His parents were Romani, which is what the people popularly known as "Gypsies" prefer to call themselves. At age 10, he was signed to local soccer team Sevilla FC.

In 1999, just 16 years old, he made his senior debut, and helped them reach promotion to La Liga, Spanish soccer's 1st division. Over the next 4 seasons, he scored 22 goals for Sevilla, and helped Spain win the UEFA Under-19 European Championship.

That got the attention of North London team Arsenal, who paid £17 million for him, considered a huge sum for the time. He was 20 years old, and it seemed like he had a great future ahead of him. At first, he did, scoring 2 goals to knock Chelsea out of the 2004 FA Cup, and against them again in the Quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League, though Arsenal ended up losing. He scored key goals to save Arsenal's unbeaten Premier League season, earning them the nickname "The Invincibles." He made enough appearances in half a season to earn a Premier League winner's medal.

He kept going at the start of the 2004-05 season, scoring in each of the team's 1st 6 League games, helping them to break the record for longest unbeaten run in England's top flight, a streak that reached 49 games. He was named Premier League Player of the Month in August 2004.

But on October 20, 2004, everything changed. Arsenal went to Old Trafford to play Manchester United, with whom they had battled for League supremacy for years: One or the other had won the League every season since 1996.

But United were a dirty team, and they proved it this time: Their English players Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, and the brothers Gary and Phil Neville, and their Irish captain, Roy Keane, thought the Spanish Reyes was "soft," and targeted him, kicking him in the shins, calves, ankles. United should have been down to 8 men. Instead, the only punishments from referee Mike Riley were 1 yellow card for each of the Neville brothers.

It was a disgusting display, but it worked: Reyes spent most of the game in pain, and was completely intimidated. When Rooney made an obvious dive for a penalty in the 73rd minute, Riley awarded it instead of correctly sending Rooney off with a straight red card. Rooney would add a 2nd goal at the end, closing Arsenal's run at 49 games.

The FA should have fired Riley on the spot. Instead, he has spent the last few years in charge of Premier League referees.

The teams played again at the end of the season, in the 2005 FA Cup Final. Again, the United players kicked Reyes like crazy. Were any of them sent off? No: Reyes was for a 2nd yellow, just before the end of extra time, making him only the 2nd player in the 133-year history of the FA Cup to be sent off in the Final. But Arsenal won on penalties.

Arsenal tailed off in the League in 2005-06, but got all the way to the Champions League Final, in part because of Reyes' goals. He was used as a substitute in the Final, which Arsenal lost to Barcelona. He played for Spain in the 2006 World Cup.

And then, at the start of the next season, he asked not to be used for the Champions League qualifying match against Dinamo Zagreb, because it would have left him "cup-tied": If he were sold to another team in the CL, he could not play for them in the tournament.

Real Madrid had been "tapping him up," trying to convince him to ask for a transfer. This is illegal. Were Real punished? Of course not. Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger had a different idea: A loan swap, with each team giving the other a player to last for the rest of the season. Arsenal got Julio Baptista, and Real got Reyes. On the last day of the 2007 season, Reyes was brought on to substitute for the injured David Beckham, and scored twice against RCD Mallorca, a win that enabled Real to win the La Liga title.

Real got what they wanted out of him, and he went back to Arsenal -- for a moment. Fed up with his unwillingness to play outside Span anymore, Wenger sold him to Atlético Madrid. It made some sense for him to play there, as their stadium was named for their longtime president, Vicente Calderón -- as far as I know, no relation.

The result did not make Reyes' move look justified: He made 26 La Liga appearances, and didn't score a single goal. He was not selected for the Spain team that ended up winning UEFA Euro 2008, or the one that won the 2010 World Cup. In fact, after 2006, he never played a single game for Spain.

For 2008-09, Benfica of Lisbon, Portugal signed him on a loan deal. He wasn't with them for long, and his 2nd tenure at Atlético was considerably better. He helped them win the UEFA Europa League in 2010. In 2012, he went back to Sevilla. Under manager Unai Emery, he helped them win the Europa League 3 straight seasons: 2014, 2015 and 2016. (This is no longer possible: After the 2015-16 season, the Europa League winner qualifies for the next season's Champions League.)

In 2016, he signed with RCD Espanyol, the "other team" in Barcelona, playing just 1 season with them. After missing the 1st half of the 2017-18 season, it was clear that his career was nearing its end. He played for Córdoba, in Spain's 2nd division; for Xinjiang Tianshan, in China; and for Extremadura UD, in west-central Spain, also in the 2nd division.

On July 26, 2014, Arsenal played the New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey. The Red Bulls won 1-0. Among the many Arsenal shirts I saw was a Number 9 with Reyes' name on it. One fan joked that this New Yorker -- or maybe New Jerseyan -- may have gotten confused, and thought it was another Jose Reyes, the shortstop wearing Number 7 with the Mets.

Officially, José Antonio Reyes was still playing for Extremadura, and was even expected to play today, in their league season finale. But, yesterday morning, June 1, 2019, he was driving between Utrera, his hometown, and Sevilla, when he crashed. He was only 35 years old, and was married to Noelia López, and had daughters Noelia and Triana, and son José Antonio Jr.

Extremadura announced his death, "With a shrunken soul and a broken heart." Sevilla FC announced, "We couldn't be confirming worse news," and called him "an eternal legend." Arsenal said the team was "devastated by the shocking news." Tributes poured in from former teammates, from Arsenal superstar Thierry Henry to Manchester City talisman Sergio Agüero, who played with him at Atlético.

A moment of silence was held before the UEFA Champions League Final, which Liverpool won 2-0 over Tottenham Hotspur, at the Wanda Metroplitano, the new stadium of Atlético.

"Invincible." No player on that team was so often, or so harshly, targeted to be revealed as less than that. Sadly, it has been proven untrue in a shocking way.

UPDATE: His final resting place is not publicly known.