Casto Espinosa Barriga (born 18 June 1982), known simply as Casto, is a Spanish former 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 played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Club career

Born in Pueblonuevo del Guadiana,

Province of Badajoz The province of Badajoz () is a province of western Spain located in the autonomous community of Extremadura. It was formed in 1833. It is bordered by the provinces of Cáceres in the north, Toledo, Ciudad Real in the east, Córdoba in the so ...

Extremadura Extremadura (; ext, Estremaúra; pt, Estremadura; Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is an autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central-western part of the Iberian Peninsula, it ...

, Casto spent four years at local

Mérida UD Mérida Unión Deportiva was a Spanish football club based in Mérida, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 1990, they last played in Tercera División – Group 14 when dissolved in 2013, and hosted games at the Estadio Roma ...

(formative spell included), making seven league appearances for the seniors in the

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 ...

. In 2003, he moved to

CD Logroñés Club Deportivo Logroñés, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1940, it last played in ''Regional Preferente de La Rioja''. Due to financial problems, since 2009 the club has ...

where he played one season before joining

Albacete Balompié Albacete Balompié is a Spanish football team based in Albacete, in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Founded on 2 August 1940, it currently plays in Segunda División, the second tier of Spanish football, holding home matches ...

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 ...

, featuring in one match for the first team in 2005–06. Casto signed 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 ...

in the summer of 2006, where he initially began as third-choice behind

Pedro Contreras Pedro Contreras González (born 7 January 1972) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played in 246 La Liga games over the course of 13 seasons, representing in the competition Real Madrid, Rayo Vallecano, Málaga and ...

and Toni Doblas. With the arrival of

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

international

Ricardo Ricardo is the Spanish and Portuguese cognate of the name Richard. It derived from Proto-Germanic ''*rīks'' 'king, ruler' + ''*harduz'' 'hard, brave'. It may be a given name, or a surname. People Given name *Ricardo de Araújo Pereira, Portugu ...

in the following campaign, it seemed as though he would be provided with little opportunity to shine, even with Contreras' departure. However, after a serious injury to Doblas, he was called up from the reserves; after Ricardo also went down with a minor ailment, he made his debut 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 ...

on 16 December 2007, against

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001, when it was renamed ''Unión D ...

in a 3–1 home win. In March/April 2008 Casto, who eventually overtook Ricardo as starter after the latter's recovery, featured in Betis' first three back-to-back victories in over two years, with wins over

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 ...

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 ...

and

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at La ...

. In his first five games they won four, with the player keeping

clean sheets In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

in three. As coach Paco Chaparro stayed on the bench for 2008–09, Casto won the battle for first-choice over Ricardo, being the side's undisputed starter during the early stages, a situation which would revert midway through the season. He started often after Ricardo's departure to

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

, only being overtaken by Adrián in 2012–13. Casto left the ''Verdiblancos'' after his contract expired, and resumed his career in the second tier, representing

Real Murcia Real Murcia Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Murcia (, "Royal Murcia"), is a Spanish football club based in Murcia, in the Región de Murcia. Founded in 1919, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, playing ho ...

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 ...

AD Alcorcón Agrupación Deportiva Alcorcón S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Alcorcón, in the autonomous community of Madrid. Founded in 1971, it currently plays in Primera Federación – Group 1, holding home matches at the Municipal de Sant ...

and

Extremadura UD Extremadura Unión Deportiva was a Spanish football team based in Almendralejo, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 2007, it last played in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, holding home games at ''Estadio Francisco de la Her ...

. With the latter side, he spent the first half of the 2018–19 campaign unregistered as it had surpassed the agreed

salary cap In professional sports, a salary cap (or wage cap) is an agreement or rule that places a limit on the amount of money that a team can spend on players' salaries. It exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both. Sever ...

. With Extremadura back in division three, Casto was released in January 2022 due to the club's severe financial problems. The following month, the 39-year-old announced his retirement.

Career statistics

Honours

Betis *

: 2010–11

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Casto 1982 births Living people People from Tierra de Badajoz Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Badajoz Men's association football goalkeepers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Primera Federación players Mérida UD footballers CD Logroñés footballers Atlético Albacete players Albacete Balompié players Betis Deportivo Balompié footballers Real Betis players Real Murcia CF players UD Las Palmas players UD Almería players AD Alcorcón footballers Extremadura UD footballers