Alejandro Rodríguez Rivas (born 7 October 1986), known as Álex Quillo, is a Spanish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays for Gibraltarian club

Mons Calpe The Rock of Gibraltar (from the Arabic name Jabel-al-Tariq) is a monolithic limestone promontory located in the British territory of Gibraltar, near the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula, and near the entrance to the Mediterr ...

as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Football career

Born in

La Línea de la Concepción La Línea de la Concepción (, more often referred to as La Línea) is a municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Cádiz, Andalusia. The city lies on the sandy isthmus which is part of the eastern flank of the Bay of Gibraltar, an ...

Province of Cádiz Cádiz is a Provinces of Spain, province of southern Spain, in the southwestern part of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is the southernmost part of mainland Spain, as well as the southernmost part of conti ...

, Quillo joined

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

's youth system in 2000, aged 13. After one game in 2006–07 with the B-team, he went on to appear a further two full seasons for the reserves also in the third division. In the 2007–08 edition of the

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

he played his first official game with the main squad (in a total of two), a 2–1 away win against

Granada 74 CF Granada 74 Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., commonly known as Granada 74, was a Spanish football team based in Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It has not registered in any competition since 2009, it held home matches at ''Estadio La ...

. In late August 2009, Quillo joined

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

club

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001, when it was renamed ''Unión D ...

. His input in the competition consisted of 15 minutes in a 2–3 home loss to

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA Euro ...

in the campaign's last round, finishing his spell with three official matches. On 2 July 2010, Quillo signed a two-year contract with

Recreativo de Huelva Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football club based in Huelva, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 23 December 1889, 2 days before Christmas, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play i ...

in the second level, In the following years, he rarely settled with a team or received significant playing time, competing in his country's third level but also in

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

. In early 2016, Quillo joined

Europa F.C. Europa FC is a football club from Gibraltar which plays in the Gibraltar National League. As with all other clubs in the territory, Europa FC currently shares the Victoria Stadium on Winston Churchill Avenue. The club also operates a women's ...

in the

Gibraltar Premier Division The Gibraltar Premier Division was a football league established by the Gibraltar Football Association (GFA) in 1905, and the top tier of football in Gibraltar. It originally contained eight member clubs, but it has grown over the years. In 19 ...

. He scored eight times in 24 games in his first full season, helping the club secure its first title since 1952. On 27 June 2017, he netted their first-ever goal in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

, in a 2–1 win at

The New Saints The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club, also known as The New Saints ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed y Seintiau Newydd) or TNS, are a professional football club that currently play in the Cymru Premier. They are the most successfu ...

for the first qualifying round; he was, however,

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

in the second leg, which ended with a 1–3 loss and the subsequent elimination.Europa 1–3 The New Saints
BBC Sport, 4 July 2017

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Quillo, Alex 1986 births Living people Footballers from La Línea de la Concepción Spanish footballers Association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Atlético Madrid C players Atlético Madrid B players Atlético Madrid footballers UD Almería players Recreativo de Huelva players Lucena CF players Gibraltar Premier Division players Europa F.C. players Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Gibraltar Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Gibraltar