Antonio Morales Veloso (6 December 1889 – 7 November 1967), sometimes referred to by some sources as Arsenio Morales was a Spanish

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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Club Español de Madrid Club Español de Madrid was a Spanish football club based in Madrid. The club was originally formed in 1901 after a conflict between Sky Football members caused some of them to leave and create a new club. Español de Madrid collapsed in the summ ...

, RS Gimnástica and

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 ...

. His brother Rafael Morales (Morales II), was also a FC Barcelona footballer.

Club 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 ...

, he began his career in the youth ranks of his hometown club

Moncloa Football Club The Moncloa Football Club was a football team based in Madrid, Spain, which was founded in April 1902 and dissolved in 1907 after being absorbed by Madrid FC. Moncloa FC was only the third football club to have been founded in the Spanish capital, ...

, with whom he played for three seasons. At Moncloa, he stood out first as a

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 then as a forward, which earned him a move to Sociedad Gimnástica. After just one season there, he joined

, forming a great attacking partnership with

José Giralt José Giralt Iduate (March 1884 - 24 January 1960), also known as Patache Giralt, was a Cuban-born Spanish footballer who played as a defender and midfielder for Madrid FC, Club Español de Madrid and RCD Espanyol. He was a member of some of the ...

and

Antonio Neyra Antonio Sánchez de Neyra Castro (16 March 1884 – Unknown) was a Spanish footballer who played as a forward for Madrid FC, Club Español de Madrid and RCD Espanyol. He was one of the most important footballers in the amateur beginnings of Madri ...

. He played an important role in the club's first-ever piece of silverware, the 1908–09 Centro Championship, and then he helped the club reach back-to-back

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 ...

finals in

1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escaped death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Januar ...

and 1910, which they lost 1–3 to

Club Ciclista Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Club (magazine), ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands a ...

and 2–3 to

. In 1910, he returned to Sociedad Gimnástica, and in first season back in the club he won the Centro Championship again. His goalscoring exploits for Español de Madrid and Gimnástica eventually drew the attention of Barcelona, who signed him in February 1912 and Morales quickly became one of the club's benchmarks, helping the club win the Cup double ( Pyrenees Cup and

) shortly after his arrival. Morales featured in the 1912 Copa del Rey Final, in which he helped the Catalan side beat his former club Sociedad Gimnástica. He also played in the final of the 1912 Pyrenees Cup on 5 May, netting three of Barça's 5 goals against

Stade Bordelais Stade Bordelais are a French rugby union club, based in Bordeaux. The club was established in 1889. Bordelais were a major force in the French championship during the 1900s. Until 2005–06, the senior team competed in the second level of dome ...

. Morales got a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

for a title, and even so, despite his achievements, Barcelona allowed him to be signed by city rivals

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 ...

for the 1912–13 season. He did not lose his goal-scoring instinct at Espanyol and he showed exactly that to Barça when he netted twice against his former club in the semi-finals of the 1913 Pyrenees Cup (3–1), however, his revenge was cut short when the result was annulled after the Blaugrana protested about the improper use of

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

players by Espanyol, resulting in their disqualification. He returned to Barcelona at the end of the season, where he played until 1915. He played a total of 74 games with Barça, scoring 32 goals. He finished his career at Racing de Madrid and CE Sabadell between 1915 and 1916.

International career

Like many other

of his time, he played several matches for the Catalan national team, being one of the eleven footballers who played in the team's first-ever game recognized by

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

on 20 February 1912, which ended in a 0-7 loss to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Honours

Club

* Centro Championship: **Champions (1): 1908–09 *

: **Runner-up (2):

and 1910 - Sociedad Gimnástica * Centro Championship: **Champions (1): 1910–11 - ;

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 ...

* Pyrenees Cup: **Champions (1):

1912 Events January * January 1 – The Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China is established. * January 5 – The Prague Conference (6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) opens. * January 6 ...

: **Champions (1):

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morales, Antonio 1889 births 1967 deaths Spanish men's footballers Men's association football forwards Footballers from Madrid FC Barcelona players RCD Espanyol footballers CE Sabadell FC footballers Catalonia men's international footballers