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 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 ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. He amassed

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 ...

totals of 293 games and 26 goals over nine seasons, with

Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El ...

and

Celta Celta is Galician, Portuguese and Spanish for the Celts. It may also refer to: * Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA), an English teaching certificate * Celta (train), an international train service connecting Vigo and Port ...

. 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 Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, 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

after signing with

CA Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El Sa ...

, 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, 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 Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded on 22 August 1949, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at the ...

, Leganés and

Burgos CF Burgos Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded in 1985, it started to play in 1994. It currently plays in Segunda División, holding home matches at the ''Esta ...

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 Asociación Deportiva Ceuta was a Spanish football team based in the autonomous city of Ceuta. Founded in 1996, its last season was 2011–12 in Segunda División B, holding home matches at ''Estadio Alfonso Murube'', with a capacity of 6,500. ...

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 Peña Sport Fútbol Club is a Spanish football team based in Tafalla, in the autonomous community of Navarre. Founded in 1925 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holding home matches at ''Campo de San Francisco'', with a capacity of ...

in the same capacity. After meeting the same fate, he was relieved of his duties.

Personal life

Merino's son,

Mikel Mikel is the Basque adaptation of the given name Michael. Notable people with the name include: Footballers * Mikel Alonso (born 1980), Spanish Basque footballer and older brother of retired Spanish international Xabi Alonso * Mikel Álvaro ...

, is also a footballer and a midfielder. He too played for Osasuna.

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