Albert Crusat Domènech (born 13 May 1982) 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 winger. After starting out at

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

, he spent most of his professional career with

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city gr ...

, appearing in 212 competitive matches and scoring 34 goals over six seasons, four of those in

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 ...

. He also played two years in England with

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

Club career

Early years

Born in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

, Crusat was a product of local

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

's youth system. He appeared in five games with the first team during the 2002–03 season, the first on 2 September 2002 in a 2–0 away loss 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 ...

where he played five minutes as a starter, as the club went on to barely avoid

relegation. Subsequently, Crusat had

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 ...

stints with Rayo Vallecano and

UE Lleida Unió Esportiva Lleida was a Spanish football team based in Lleida, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. It was founded as ''Lérida Balompié-AEM'' on 30 October 1939, and became ''Unión Deportiva Lérida'' in 1947, after a merger with ''C ...

: in

the first The First may refer to: * ''The First'' (album), the first Japanese studio album by South Korean boy group Shinee * ''The First'' (musical), a musical with a book by critic Joel Siegel * The First (TV channel), an American conservative opinion ne ...

, as the

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 ...

side were relegated, he only managed to take the field on five occasions, leaving in December 2003.

Almería

In 2005–06, Crusat joined UD Almería, being instrumental in the

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

ns' first-ever top-flight promotion the following season by scoring 11 goals. He missed just four games in the subsequent eighth-place finish in the 2007–08 campaign, totalling 2,693 minutes of action. Crusat had his most successful year in the top division in 2009–10, as his team retained their status for the third consecutive year. Without the presence of

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

Álvaro Negredo Álvaro Negredo Sánchez (; born 20 August 1985) is a Spanish professional Association football, footballer who plays for Cádiz CF, Cádiz as a Striker (association football), striker. Nicknamed ''La fiera de Vallecas'' (The beast of Vallecas ...

, he was much more depended upon in scoring matters and netted seven times in 33 matches – joint-second in the team – as they finished in 13th position (he also collected 13 yellow cards). On 19 January 2011, Crusat scored one of Almería's most important goals, in a 3–2 win at Deportivo de La Coruña (4–2 on aggregate) which meant the club reached 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 ...

for the first time ever.

Wigan Athletic

On 30 August 2011, it was confirmed by

manager Roberto Martínez that his compatriot Crusat was having a medical after a £2 million bid was accepted by Almería. Four days later, the player completed his move to the English club, and made his

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

debut on 10 September, appearing as a substitute in a 3–0 away loss to

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

. Crusat scored his first goal for the Latics on 19 November 2011, making it 3–2 for the hosts in the 88th minute of an eventual 3–3 draw against Blackburn Rovers. He spent the vast majority of his second season on the sidelines, nursing a severe knee injury, and left the DW Stadium on 22 May 2013 after his contract expired.

Bnei Sakhnin

On 30 January 2014, after more than one year away from football, Crusat joined

Bnei Sakhnin F.C. Bnei Sakhnin F.C. ( ar, اتحاد أبناء سخنين, he, איחוד בני סכנין, ''Ihud Bnei Sakhnin''; ''Ittihad Abna Sakhnin'', ) is an Israeli football club based at the Doha Stadium in Sakhnin. They are the most successful club ...

of the Israel Premier League. In September, after recurring problems in his knee, he retired at the age of 32 and with the intention of getting a manager degree.

Honours

Lleida *

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 ...

: 2003–04 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 ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Crusat, Albert 1982 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from Barcelona Association football wingers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players RCD Espanyol B footballers RCD Espanyol footballers Rayo Vallecano players UE Lleida players UD Almería players Premier League players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Israeli Premier League players Bnei Sakhnin F.C. players Spain youth international footballers Catalonia international footballers Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Israel Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Israel