Ángel Miguel Merino Torres (born 2 October 1966) is a Spanish retired

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

central midfielder and manager. He amassed La Liga totals of 293 games and 26 goals over nine seasons, with Osasuna and

Celta Celta is Galician, Portuguese and Spanish for the Celts. It may also refer to: * Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults CELTA is an initial teacher training qualification for teaching English as a second or foreign language (ESL ...

. He added 158 matches and 16 goals in the

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 ...

, in representation of three clubs. Merino started working as a manager in 2004, spending several years at Osasuna in various capacities.

Playing career

Born in Madrid, Merino started playing football with local club

CD Leganés Club Deportivo Leganés, S.A.D. is a football club based in Leganés, Community of Madrid, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. It was founded on 23 June 1928. It holds home games at ...

, with whom he appeared in two

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

seasons. In 1988, he moved straight into La Liga after signing with CA Osasuna, making his debut in the competition on 4 September in an away match against

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 ...

and scoring the last goal in a 2–2 draw. In

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since th ...

, Merino scored a career-best six goals (in 35 matches), helping the

Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

se to finish in tenth position. After the team's relegation the following campaign, he joined

RC Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta de Vigo or simply Celta, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), ...

also in the top flight, being first choice during his three-year tenure. From

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, Merino competed in the

, netting a total of 16 goals for UD Las Palmas, Leganés and Burgos CF and suffering administrative relegation with the latter team. He retired at the age of 36, after one season in the third tier with AD Ceuta.

Coaching career

One year after retiring, Merino returned to Osasuna and started working with its youth sides. In March 2008 he was appointed at the reserves who competed in division three, his first game in charge being a 1–0 away win over

CF Palencia Club de Fútbol Palencia was a Spanish football team based in Palencia, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded in 1975 and dissolved in 2012, it held home games at ''Estadio La Nueva Balastera'', with an 8,100-seat capacity. H ...

late into the month. After being relegated from the third tier in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, Merino cut ties with the club and joined neighbouring Peña Sport FC in the same capacity. After meeting the same fate, he was relieved of his duties.

Personal life

Merino's elder brother Julián was also a footballer, playing as a defender for Leganés in the third and fourth levels (they were teammates between the 1985–86 and 1987–88 seasons). His son, Mikel, is a footballer and a midfielder. At UEFA Euro 2024, he scored a late winning goal for Spain in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, with his celebration of running around the corner flag mirroring that of his father after he had done so for Osasuna in a UEFA Cup fixture at the

same stadium Same may refer to: * Sameness or identity Places * Same (Homer), an island mentioned by Homer in the ''Odyssey'' * Same (polis), an ancient city * Same, East Timor, the capital of the Manufahi district * Samé, Mali * Same, Tanzania * Same Distr ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

References

External links

* *
Celta de Vigo biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merino, Angel 1966 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Madrid Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players CD Leganés players CA Osasuna players RC Celta de Vigo players UD Las Palmas players Burgos CF footballers AD Ceuta footballers Spanish football managers Segunda División B managers CA Osasuna B managers

Playing career

Coaching career

Personal life

See also

References

External links