Miguel Linares Cólera (born 30 September 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 ...

who played as a striker.

Club career

Born in

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

, Aragon, Linares began his career at

Utebo FC Utebo Fútbol Club is a Spanish football team based in Utebo, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded in 1924 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at '' Estadio Santa Ana'', with a capacity of 5,000 seats. ...

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the '' Segunda División'', and the semi-professional '' Segunda ...

. He spent the 2004–05 season with

Real Zaragoza B Real may refer to: Currencies * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Music Albums * ''Real'' (L'Arc-en-Ciel album) (2000) * ''Real'' (Bright album) (201 ...

in the Segunda División B and had a brief spell at

SD Huesca Sociedad Deportiva Huesca, S.A.D., is a Spanish football club in Huesca, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded on 29 March 1960, SD Huesca plays in the Segunda División, having played in the Spanish top division for the first time in ...

before joining UD Barbastro in 2006, who were relegated from the third tier in his first campaign. In summer 2008, following a 34-goal haul, Linares moved outside his native region for the first time, joining

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 ...

. He contributed 15 goals from 35 matches in his only season as the

Valencians Valencians ( va, valencians) are the native people of the Valencian Community, in eastern Spain. Legally, Valencians are the inhabitants of the community. Since 2006, the Valencian people are officially recognised in the Valencian Statute of Au ...

won their group, eventually falling short in the

promotion play-offs Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

to Segunda División. Linares signed a two-year deal with

UD Salamanca Unión Deportiva Salamanca, S.A.D. () was a historical Spanish football team based in Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 February 1923 and nicknamed ''Los Charros'', the club played in white shirts and blac ...

on 22 June 2009. After one season at the Estadio Helmántico – making his professional debut on 30 August in a 1–0 away win against Cádiz CF at the age of 26 years and 11 months– he transferred to fellow league team

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 ...

. The latter won the championship and promotion to

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' ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, though he made only eight appearances and scored once; during his tenure, he suffered two consecutive

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and th ...

injuries to his right knee. Following this, Linares remained in the second tier with

Recreativo de Huelva Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football club based in Huelva, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 23 December 1889, 2 days before Christmas, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play i ...

, and in 2014 the 32-year-old moved to Real Oviedo one league down. He was top scorer with 30 goals (31 across all competitions) in 39 games as the

Asturians Asturians ( ast, asturianos) are a Celtic-Romance ethnic group native to the autonomous community of Asturias, in the North-West of the Iberian Peninsula. Culture and society Heritage Asturians are directly descended from the Astures, who wer ...

won the title in 2014–15, including two in a 3–0 win over

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. ...

in the second leg of the play-off final on 10 June 2015. The previous October/November, he had scored

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

s in consecutive home defeats of

Celta de Vigo B Real Club Celta de Vigo, S.A.D. "B" is a Spanish football team based in Vigo, Pontevedra, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded in 1927, it is the reserve team of Celta Vigo and competes in the Primera Federación – Group 1. They pl ...

CD Lealtad Club Deportivo Lealtad de Villaviciosa (English: Loyalty Sporting Club of Villaviciosa) is a Spanish football team based in Villaviciosa, in the autonomous community of Asturias. Founded in 1916, it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 2 ...

and

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 ...

. On 17 June 2018, Linares joined CF Reus Deportiu in the second division after agreeing to a one-year contract. Halfway through the season, however, he left the club after it was expelled from the

Liga de Fútbol Profesional Liga or LIGA may refer to: People * Līga (name), a Latvian female given name * Luciano Ligabue, more commonly known as Ligabue or ''Liga'', Italian rock singer-songwriter Sports * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Lig ...

due to unpaid wages, joining

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at L ...

shortly after. Linares retired in January 2022 at the age of 39, after two years at lower-league side

SD Ejea Sociedad Deportiva Ejea is a Spanish football team based in Ejea de los Caballeros, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded in 1927, it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 3, holding home games at '' Municipal de Ejea'', with a 2,2 ...

where he failed to play a single competitive game due to another serious knee injury.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Elche * Segunda División:

2012–13 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 ...

Oviedo * Segunda División B: 2014–15

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Linares, Miguel 1982 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from Zaragoza Association football forwards Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Real Zaragoza B players SD Huesca footballers UD Barbastro players CD Alcoyano footballers UD Salamanca players Elche CF players Recreativo de Huelva players Real Oviedo players CF Reus Deportiu players Real Zaragoza players SD Ejea players