Javier García Portillo (born 30 March 1982) 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

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 ...

. He started out at

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 appeared in 59 competitive games during his tenure, scoring 17 goals. 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 for Gimnàstic,

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 Hércules for a total of 131 matches and 21 goals, and also competed professionally in Italy and Belgium.Portillo, ex de la UD con 35 partidos, se retira en el Hércules (Portillo, former UD man with 35 matches, retires at Hércules)

La Provincia The ''Camera di Controllo'' (Board of Control), is a collegial body of the 'Ndrangheta, a Mafia-type organisation in Calabria. It is also known as ''La Provincia'' (the Province) or ''Camera di Compensazione'' (compensation board). It is composed o ...

, 29 December 2015 (in Spanish) In a 14-year senior career, Portillo represented Hércules in all three major levels of Spanish football.

Club career

Portillo was born in

Aranjuez Aranjuez () is a city and municipality of Spain, part of the Community of Madrid. Located in the southern end of the region, the main urban nucleus lies on the left bank of Tagus, a bit upstream the discharge of the Jarama. , the municipality h ...

Community of Madrid The Community of Madrid (; es, Comunidad de Madrid ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. It is located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, and of the Central Plateau (''Meseta Central''). Its capital and largest munici ...

. In 1994, aged 12, he entered

's youth system. Over seven seasons he was a prolific scorer, netting 370 goals and breaking a record previously held by

Raúl Raul, Raúl and Raül are the Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan forms of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph. They are cognates of the French Raoul. Raul, Raúl or Raül may re ...

. In August 2002 he signed his first professional contract, running until 2006 with a

buyout clause A buyout clause or release clause refers to a clause in a contract that imposes an obligation on another organisation wishing to acquire the services of the employee under contract to pay the (usually substantial) fee of the clause to the organisati ...

€ 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 o ...

15 million. On 6 October 2002, Portillo made his first

appearance and second overall for the main squad, starting in a 5–2 home win over

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually abbreviated to Alavés, is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the ...

and ending that season with five goals in only ten games. He also scored a vital last-minute equaliser against

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

in 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 ...

second group phase, a goal which ultimately proved to be crucial to reach the knockout stages. Portillo was loaned to

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

side

ACF Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

in July 2004, but was recalled by new manager

Vanderlei Luxemburgo Vanderlei Luxemburgo da Silva (born 10 May 1952) is a Brazilian professional football coach and former player. He is currently a free agent. A left wingback, Luxemburgo represented Flamengo, Internacional and Botafogo before retiring in 1980. ...

, who arrived midway through the 2004–05 campaign. However, the same coach deemed him surplus to requirements and another loan ensued, to

Club Brugge KV (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

of the

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

. At the end of this loan period, Portillo returned to Real under newly hired coach

Fabio Capello Fabio Capello (; born 18 June 1946) is an Italian former professional football manager and player. As a player, Capello represented SPAL 1907, Roma, Milan and Juventus. He played as a midfielder and won several trophies during his career which ...

. With new signing

Ruud van Nistelrooy Rutgerus Johannes Martinus van Nistelrooij (anglicised to Van Nistelrooy; born 1 July 1976) is a Dutch professional football coach and former player. He is currently the coach of PSV Eindhoven. A former footballer, Van Nistelrooy is often consi ...

adding to already present Raúl,

Antonio Cassano Antonio Cassano (; born 12 July 1982) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a forward. A talented and technically gifted player, he was usually deployed as a supporting forward, but could also play as an attacking midfield ...

and

Ronaldo Ronaldo is a Portuguese given name equivalent to the English Ronald. It became a common name in all Portuguese-speaking countries, being also prevalent in Italy and Spanish-speaking countries. People Notable people known as Ronaldo include: As ...

, he was released and signed a two-year contract with recently promoted

Gimnàstic de Tarragona Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2. ...

. After a successful individual season (12 goals in all competitions, although the

Catalans Catalans (Catalan language, Catalan, French language, French and Occitan language, Occitan: ''catalans''; es, catalanes, Italian language, Italian: ''catalani'', sc, cadelanos) are a Romance languages, Romance ethnic group native to Cataloni ...

were

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

from the top flight), in July 2007 Portillo replaced at Osasuna

Roberto Soldado Roberto Soldado Rillo (; born 27 May 1985) is a Spanish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for Segunda División club Levante UD, Levante. After emerging through Real Madrid CF, ...

, who returned from loan to Real Madrid. He was used irregularly in his first two years, and only netted three times in the league. In late December 2009, Portillo – who was only fourth or fifth-choice striker for Osasuna coach

José Antonio Camacho José Antonio Camacho Alfaro (; born 8 June 1955) is a Spanish former football left-back and manager. He spent 15 professional years at Real Madrid, appearing in more than 500 official matches with the team and helping win 19 major titles, i ...

– finally moved clubs, signing until the end of the season plus two more with

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 ...

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football team in Alicante, in the autonomous community of Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 3 and plays its hom ...

. After some time to adjust he finished in the starting XI, netting vital goals in the final stretch, including one in the last round for a 2–0 victory at

Real Unión Real Unión Club, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Irun, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in the province of Gipuzkoa, near the border with France. Founded on 15 May 1915 it currently plays in Primera División RFEF ...

as the

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...

side returned to the first division after 13 years. Portillo returned to reserve status in

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, after Hércules signed

David Trezeguet David Sergio Trezeguet (born 15 October 1977) is a French former professional footballer who played as a striker. Trezeguet began his career in Argentina with Club Atlético Platense at the age of eight, progressing through their youth system ...

and

Nelson Valdez Nelson Antonio Haedo Valdez (born 28 November 1983) commonly known as Nelson Valdez or Nelson Haedo in Spanish speaking countries, is a Paraguayan former professional footballer who played as a striker for clubs in Paraguay, Germany, Spain, Ru ...

in the off-season. He only started through injury or suspension to the pair, and scored just twice in official matches, one coming in a 3–1 away defeat of

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 ...

on 3 April 2011, with Hércules being immediately relegated. On 2 August 2011, Portillo signed for three years with

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 ...

in the second tier. For the 2012–13 season, however, he moved teams again, returning to Hércules on a three-year deal. In late December 2015, Portillo announced his retirement at the age of 33. Subsequently, he worked as his last club's

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

International career

Making his debut in 2002 – shortly after his arrival at the Real Madrid senior setup – Portillo played ten times for Spain under-21s, and scored five goals.

Career statistics

Honours

Real Madrid *

: 2002–03 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

: 2001–02 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...

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 ...

Individual *

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 ...

top scorer: 2002–03 (8 goals)El Mallorca obliga al Madrid a tomárselo en serio para la vuelta (Mallorca force Madrid to take second leg seriously)
Diario AS, 23 January 2003 (in Spanish)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Portillo, Javier 1982 births Living people People from Aranjuez Spanish footballers Footballers from the Community of Madrid Association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Real Madrid Castilla footballers Real Madrid CF players Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers CA Osasuna players Hércules CF players UD Las Palmas players Serie A players ACF Fiorentina players Belgian First Division A players Club Brugge KV players UEFA Champions League winning players Spain under-21 international footballers Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Belgium Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium