Manuel Sánchez Delgado (born 17 January 1965), known as Manolo, is a Spanish retired 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 lea ...

who played as a striker. Over nine seasons, he amassed

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

totals of 292 matches and 96 goals, mainly with

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

with whom he won two major titles. He also competed at that level with

Murcia Murcia ( , , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the Ranked lists of Spanish municipalities#By population, seventh largest city i ...

. Manolo represented

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

at the

1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

Club career

Born in Cáceres,

Extremadura Extremadura ( ; ; ; ; Fala language, Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is a landlocked autonomous communities in Spain, autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, Spain, Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central- ...

, Manolo grew up in the ranks of local

CP Cacereño Club Polideportivo Cacereño is a Spanish football team based in Cáceres, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 1919, the club plays in , and holds home games at '' Estadio Príncipe Felipe'', with a capacity of 7,000 seats. No ...

, making his senior debut with the club at the age of 17. After two years with

CE Sabadell FC Centre d'Esports Sabadell Futbol Club, S.A.D. () is a historical List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Sabadell ( Catalonia) Founded in 1903, its first men's team plays in the . Its first CE Sabadell (women), women's tea ...

the last The Last may refer to: * The Last (band), Los Angeles power pop band active since 1976 * ''The Last'' (audio drama), a ''Doctor Who'' audio drama released in 2004 * ''The Last'' (album), 2009 album by Aventura *"The Last", a song by The Replaceme ...

in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

, he moved to

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 , playing home matches at Estadio Nueva Condo ...

in the same level, helping it promote to

in the 1985–86 season then scoring 11 goals in 36 appearances the following campaign, with the team retaining their top-flight status. In summer 1988, Manolo signed with

, where he knew his most successful years, forming a formidable attacking partnership with

Paulo Futre Paulo Jorge dos Santos Futre (; born 28 February 1966) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a left winger. Widely considered as one of the best players of his generation, after starting his professional career with Sport ...

. With countless assists from the Portuguese, he was crowned top scorer in 1991–92 with 27 goals, adding that season's – and the previous –

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

trophies. Manolo retired in October 1996 at the age of 31, after half a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

with

CP Mérida Club Polideportivo Mérida was a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Mérida, Spain, Mérida, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Having played twice in La Liga (1995–96 La Liga, 1995–96 and 1997–98 La Li ...

where he failed to appear in any matches due to a serious

tibia The tibia (; : tibiae or tibias), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two Leg bones, bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outsi ...

injury, as he was just four goals shy of 100 in the Spanish top tier. He started coaching in 2007, first with

Galáctico Pegaso Galáctico Pegaso was a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Tres Cantos, in the autonomous Community of Madrid. Founded in 1962 and dissolved in 2010, it held home games at ''Estadio La Foresta'', with a capacity of 2,00 ...

, going on to spend several years in the lower leagues.

International career

Manolo made his debut for

immediately after having been bought by Atlético Madrid, scoring against the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

on 16 November 1988 for the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

qualification stages. He went on to total 28

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 ...

and nine goals, representing the nation in the finals in Italy where he only appeared in the first group stage game against

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

(0–0).

Career statistics

Honours

Atlético Madrid *

: 1990–91, 1991–92 Murcia *

: 1985–86 Individual *

Pichichi Trophy In Spanish Association football, football, the Pichichi Trophy () is awarded by the sports newspaper ''Marca (newspaper), Marca'' to the top goalscorer of each La Liga season. Named after the Athletic Bilbao striker Pichichi (footballer), Rafael ...

: 1991–92

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Manolo 1965 births Living people Sportspeople from Cáceres, Spain 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Cáceres Men's association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players CD Diocesano players CP Cacereño players CE Sabadell FC footballers Real Murcia CF players Atlético Madrid footballers CP Mérida footballers Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-23 international footballers Spain men's international footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players Pichichi Trophy winners Spanish football managers Segunda División B managers Tercera División managers CF Rayo Majadahonda managers CP Cacereño managers