Antonio Juan Barragán Fernández (born 12 June 1987) is a Spanish professional

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 as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. Having started out at

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, he spent most of his career in the two highest divisions of Spanish football, playing for Deportivo,

Valladolid Valladolid () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province o ...

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

, Betis and

Elche Elche ( ca-valencia, Elx) is a city and municipality of Spain, belonging to the province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. According to 2014 data, Elche has a population of 228,647 inhabitants,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 amassed totals of 251 games and three goals over 13 seasons. Barragán earned 21

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for Spain at youth level.

Club career

Liverpool

Born in

Pontedeume Pontedeume () is a municipality in the province of A Coruña in the autonomous community of Galicia in northwestern Spain. The town was founded ''ex novo'' by the town charter of Alfonso X the Wise in 1270. The town is located on the English Way ...

, Galicia, Barragán signed for

in July 2005, as an 18-year-old who had yet to appear for

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 ...

's first team. He, however, spent the 2005–06 season with the club's reserves, managing one appearance for the first team, as a substitute for fellow Spaniard

Fernando Morientes Fernando Morientes Sánchez (; born 5 April 1976) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a striker, currently a manager. He played for a number of clubs during his career, including Real Madrid, Monaco, Liverpool and Valenci ...

in the first leg of the

third qualifying round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

of 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 ...

against

PFC CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia ( bg, ЦСКА София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sport ...

. In doing so, he became the youngest foreigner to play for the ''Reds''.

Deportivo

Barragán signed a five-year deal with

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. They currently p ...

on 4 August 2006, in an operation that cost

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

1 million. His time at his new team began well, as he was in the starting eleven for the first eight

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 ...

matches and scored against

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

in a 2–0 home win, subsequently alternating in the right-back position with Manuel Pablo until he fractured his knee in April 2008, being out of action for the rest of the campaign and not featuring at all in 2008–09. In 2008, Deportivo released Barragán from his contract without his consent. He successfully sued the club for an indemnity of

400.000, even though it later decided to reverse its previous decision and restore him to the squad.

Valladolid

In early June 2009, Barragán moved to

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club colo ...

on a three-year contract. He played one season apiece in each of the two major levels of Spanish football, appearing in 17 league games in 2009–10 (14 starts) as the campaign ended in relegation.

Valencia

On 30 August 2011, Valladolid announced that Barragán would be leaving for

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...

in a deal worth €1.5 million. During his first season, all three right-backs – himself,

Bruno Bruno may refer to: People and fictional characters *Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname * Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880) * Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne, ...

and Miguel– appeared in roughly the same number of games as the ''Che'' finished third and once again qualified to the Champions League. Barragán scored his first competitive goal for Valencia on 13 March 2014, his team's first in a 3–0 away victory over PFC Ludogorets Razgrad in the campaign's

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

. He continued battling for first-choice status with another Portuguese, João Pereira. On 5 January 2015, Barragán netted his first league goal for the side, equalising in an eventual 2–1 home defeat of

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 ...

which ended the visitors' record 22-match unbeaten run.

Middlesbrough

Barragán returned to England after ten years on 15 July 2016, agreeing to a three-year contract with

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. He 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 13 August, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–1 home draw against

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

Betis

On 6 July 2017, Barragán returned to Spain and its first division after agreeing to a one-year loan deal with

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

. Roughly one year later, the move was made permanent.

Elche

On 4 October 2020, Barragán signed a one-year contract with

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Elx Club de Futbol, S.A.D.) is a professional football based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1923, the club competes in La Liga, holding home matches at ''Estadi ...

, newly-returned to the top tier.

International career

Barragán was part of the Spain under-19 team that emerged victorious at the 2006 UEFA European Championship in Poland. Just a few months later, following solid performances with Deportivo and former Sevilla teammate

Antonio Puerta Antonio José Puerta Pérez (; 26 November 1984 – 28 August 2007) was a Spanish professional footballer who played solely for Sevilla. Mainly a left midfielder who could also operate as an attacking left-back, he died on 28 August 2007 affec ...

's call-up to the senior side, he was promoted to the under-21s. In December 2006, Barragán appeared for the Galicia unofficial team in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* *
CiberChe biography and stats
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barragan, Antonio 1987 births Living people People from O Eume Sportspeople from the Province of A Coruña Spanish footballers Footballers from Galicia (Spain) Association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Sevilla FC players Deportivo de La Coruña players Real Valladolid players Valencia CF players Real Betis players Elche CF players Premier League players Liverpool F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Spain youth international footballers Spain under-21 international footballers Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England