Álvaro Benito Villar (born 10 December 1976) is a Spanish retired

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 played as a

left 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 ...

, currently vocalist/guitarist of

Rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Pignoise Pignoise is a Spanish rock band comprising three members: Álvaro on guitar and vocals, Polo on drums, and Pablo on bass. Beginnings After Álvaro, a former soccer player for teams such as Getafe CF and Real Madrid, suffered a serious injury, h ...

Club career

Born in

Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritag ...

Castile and León Castile and León ( es, Castilla y León ; ast-leo, Castiella y Llión ; gl, Castela e León ) is an autonomous community in northwestern Spain. It was created in 1983, eight years after the end of the Francoist regime, by the merging of the ...

, Benito emerged through

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

's youth ranks, making his senior debut not yet aged 18 with the C team. He progressed to the reserves the following year. Benito was relatively used by the main squad in the 1995–96 season, and contributed seven matches the following campaign as they were crowned

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 ...

champions. In November 1996, he suffered a severe knee injury from which he would never fully recover, undergoing three operations in only four months in 1998 in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

; he was involved in a car accident afterwards, which further curtailed his recovering process. After one unassuming loan with

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1912, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez Lóp ...

and another spell with Castilla, Benito was released by Real Madrid in summer 2002, joining

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

neighbours

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol (), or simply Getafe, is a professional football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. The team competes in La Liga, the highest tier of the Spanish football system. The club's home stadium (owned and op ...

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

. He appeared rarely for his new club, again due to injury. After retiring, Benito was in charge of several of Real's youth sides, starting with the ''Alevín B'' in 2015. He was dismissed in late February 2019, following criticism of the first team after a 0–3 home defeat against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

in the semi-finals 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 ...

on a radio show.

International career

Benito won his only

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for the Spain under-21 side on 12 November 1996, coming on as a late substitute for

Roger García Roger García Junyent (born 15 December 1976), known simply as Roger, is a Spanish former footballer who played mostly as a left midfielder. He possessed a strong shot, and was known for his passing ability. He spent most of his career at Bar ...

in a 1–1 home draw against

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

for the 1998 UEFA European Championship qualifiers, but being stretchered off shortly after with a serious injury that all but ended his career.

Musical career

During his rehabilitation period, Benito started playing guitar and writing songs, going on to put together a band,

. The group, which also featured another former footballer, Héctor Polo (

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at La ...

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Lig ...

), eventually used many of the songs he composed prior to its creation.

Honours

Real Madrid *

: 1996–97 Spain U16 *

UEFA European Under-16 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Under-17 Championship, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-17 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain is the most successful team in this ...

runner-up:

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

References

External links

*
Official Pignoise website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benito, Alvaro 1976 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Salamanca Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Real Madrid C footballers Real Madrid Castilla footballers Real Madrid CF players CD Tenerife players Getafe CF footballers Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Real Madrid CF non-playing staff Musicians from Castile and León Rock en Español musicians Spanish rock singers 21st-century Spanish singers