Ramón de la Fuente Leal, nicknamed Lafuente (31 December 1907 – 15 September 1973) was a Spanish footballer who played as a forward for

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

and the Spanish national team.

Club career

He was born in Bilbao. Lafuente began his sporting career in the ranks of Barakaldo CF in 1924, at the age of just 16 years old. At Barakaldo, he stood out as an extraordinary forward, which eventually earned him a move to Athletic Bilbao in 1926, with whom he played for nine seasons. In 1928 he was one of the members of the Athletic Bilbao team that played in the first season of the

Spanish Football League 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 ...

. At Bilbao, he was the most experienced member of what became a famous and successful forward line, along with José Iraragorri, Chirri II, Bata and Guillermo Gorostiza. The highlight of his career was scoring the winning goal of the 1930 Copa del Rey Final 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 ...

in extra-time in a 3–1 win. In the Bilbao ranks he played a total of 211 official matches (96 in the League, 56 in the Cup and 59 in the Regional Championship), scoring a total of 64 goals (26 in the League, 17 in the Cup and 21 in the Regional Championship). In total, he won three Leagues and four Cups, forming part of the club's first historical striker. In 1934 he signed for Atlético de Madrid (then Athletic de Madrid), with whom he played his last La Liga season, playing 20 games and scoring just one goal. His career was cut short prematurely in the second leg of the

1935 Copa del Presidente de la República The Copa del Presidente de la República 1935 ''(President of the Republic's Cup)'' was the 35th staging of the Copa del Rey, the Spanish football cup competition. The competition started in March 1935 and concluded on June 30, 1935, with the Fina ...

quarter-final tie between Madrid and Sevilla FC, when a clash with goalkeeper

Guillermo Eizaguirre Guillermo Eizaguirre Olmos (17 May 1909 – 25 October 1986) was a Spanish football goalkeeper and manager. He was born in Seville and played for Sevilla FC from 1924 to 1936, and also had three caps for Spain from 1935 to 1936. He was later the ...

caused Lafuente to fracture his tibia and fibula. The player did not heal well from the injury and was unable to play during the following season. When the Spanish Civil War broke out in the

summer Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset occurs, daylight hours are longest and dark hours are shortest, wit ...

of 1936, Lafuente was still 28 years old, but by then he was already in transition to coaching.

International career

He earned 8 caps for the Spanish national team, and participated in Spain's first-ever World Cup in

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

, which ended in a quarter-final exit to the eventual champions Italy.

Managerial career

As a coach, he managed Atlético Aviación during the first ten days of the 1940–41 season, while Ricardo Zamora was arrested and disqualified. Between 1943 and 1945, he coached Deportivo de La Coruña. He died in Madrid on 15 September 1973 at the age of 65.

Honours

* La Liga: 1929–30, 1930–31, 1933–34 * Copa del Rey:

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

Biscay Championship The Biscay Regional Championship ''(Campeonato Regional de Vizcaya)'', also called the North Regional Championship ''(Campeonato Regional Norte)'' in its early editions, was an official football tournament in Spain organised by the North Football F ...

: 1926–27, 1927–28, 1928–29, 1930–31, 1931–32, 1932–33, 1933–34

References

External links

Profile
* * 1907 births 1973 deaths Footballers from Bilbao Spanish footballers Spain international footballers 1934 FIFA World Cup players Barakaldo CF footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Atlético Madrid footballers La Liga players Spanish football managers Deportivo de La Coruña managers Association football forwards Basque Country international footballers {{spain-footy-forward-stub