Manuel Castellano Castro (born 27 March 1989), commonly known as Lillo, is a Spanish

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 ...

who plays for

CD Alcoyano Club Deportivo Alcoyano, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Alcoy, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1928 it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games in '' Estadio El Collao'', with a 4,850-sea ...

as a right or left-back.

Club career

Born in

Aspe Aspe (, ca-valencia, Asp) is a town and municipality located in the ''comarca'' of Vinalopó Mitjà, in the province of Alicante, Spain. The town is located in the valley of the river Vinalopó, from Alicante city. The economy of Aspe is based ...

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 ...

Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wi ...

, Lillo began his career with local

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...

, playing three seasons with the reserves. In 2006–07 and 2009–10, he totalled 23 appearances, with the team being relegated from Segunda División B on both occasions. In between, he spent the 2008–09 campaign on loan at

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 ...

, playing less than one third of the games as the club finished 14th in the Segunda División. On 21 March 2010, Lillo appeared in his first official match with the main squad, playing the first 45 minutes of a 2–0

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' ...

home win 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 late May, as his contract with the ''Che'' was expiring, he signed with

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Elx Club de Futbol, S.A.D.) is a professional football based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1923, the club competes in La Liga, holding home matches at ''Es ...

; however, due to a mistake from his agent, the move was declared void and, two months later, he joined Almería. Lillo spent the vast majority of his first season with the

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The t ...

ns with the

B side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

in division three, appearing in only two games with the first team. In November 2012, the

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

joined another club in that tier,

. On 18 July 2013, Lillo moved to

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in eu, Eibar Kirol Elkartea) is a professional Spanish football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the team currently plays in the Segunda División, the s ...

, recently promoted to the second division. He played 26 matches in his debut campaign, with the ''Armeros'' being promoted to the top flight for the first time ever, and on 11 July 2014 renewed his link for a further year. Lillo agreed to an extension at the

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

club on 31 December 2014, until 2017. On 5 July 2016, he mutually agreed to terminate his contract, and signed a two-year deal with

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, ...

just hours later. On 1 September 2017,

Lillo agreed to a two-year contract with

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 S ...

in the second division.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Eibar * Segunda División: 2013–14 Osasuna *Segunda División: 2018–19 Spain U20 * Mediterranean Games: 2009ITA – ESP 1:2 (0:0)
; Pescara 2009, 4 July 2009

References

External links

* *
CiberChe biography and stats
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lillo 1989 births Living people People from Vinalopó Mitjà Sportspeople from the Province of Alicante Spanish footballers Footballers from the Valencian Community Association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Primera Federación players Valencia CF Mestalla footballers Valencia CF players Real Murcia players UD Almería B players UD Almería players CD Alcoyano footballers SD Eibar footballers Sporting de Gijón players CA Osasuna players CD Numancia players Israeli Premier League players Maccabi Haifa F.C. players Spain youth international footballers Competitors at the 2009 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in football Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Spain Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Israel Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Israel