Manuel "Manolo" Peña Escontrela (18 December 1965 – 13 November 2012) was a Spanish 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 ...

. Over the course of ten seasons, he amassed La Liga totals of 189 games and 27 goals, with Valladolid and Zaragoza.

Club career

Born in

Lugo Lugo (, ; la, Lucus Augusti) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is the capital of the Lugo (province), province of Lugo. The municipality had a population ...

Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...

, Peña signed at the age of 17 with Real Valladolid, going on to play seven consecutive La Liga seasons with the club, but only appearing in 30 league games his first three combined. His best output for the

Castile and León Castile and León ( es, Castilla y León ; ast-leo, Castiella y Llión ; gl, Castela e León ) is an autonomous community in northwestern Spain. It was created in 1983, eight years after the end of the Francoist regime, by the merging of the ...

side came in the 1987–88 campaign when he scored eight goals in 29 matches (all starts) to help them finish in eighth position; this included a hat-trick against FC Barcelona at the

Camp Nou Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcelo ...

in a 4–2 win, and another in the home game against the Catalans (1–1 draw). Still at the professional level, Peña played with Real Zaragoza (top level) and

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., known simply as Cádiz, is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in the La Liga, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20 ...

(being relegated from

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 ...

in 1993–94). He retired in June 2000 after six years in the lower leagues, mainly with SD Ponferradina where he started his career.

International career

Peña earned a total of 14 caps for four Spanish youth teams. He helped the under-20s finish second at the

1985 FIFA World Youth Championship The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

in the Soviet Union, appearing in the group stage against Brazil (0–2 loss) and the Republic of Ireland (4–2 win).

Later life and death

After retiring, Peña settled in Ponferrada and worked in the city council. He died on 13 November 2012 from cancer, at the age of 46.

References

External links

*
Stats and bio at Cadistas1910
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pena, Manolo 1965 births 2012 deaths Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Lugo Men's association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players SD Ponferradina players Real Valladolid players Real Zaragoza players Cádiz CF players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's under-23 international footballers