Marcelo Fabián Espina Barrano (born April 28, 1967 in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

) is a retired Argentine football

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He played for a number of clubs in Argentina and Chile and represented the Argentina national football team. In the present, he is a soccer match analyst at ESPN South America .

Club career

Espina began his career at Platense in the

Primera Division Argentina Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera Alí Rafael Primera Rosel ...

in 1986. In 1989, he moved to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

where he played for

Irapuato Irapuato is a Mexican city (and municipality) located at the foot of the Arandas Hill (in Spanish: ''Cerro de Arandas''), in the central region of the state of Guanajuato. It lies between the Silao River and the Guanajuato River, a tributary of ...

and then

Atlante F.C. Atlante Fútbol Club, is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. Founded in 1916, Atlante were original members of the Mexican Primera División when it began in 1943. Atlante has won three national league championships, t ...

In 1992, he returned to Argentina to play for

Lanús Lanús () is the capital of Lanús Partido, Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. It lies just south of the capital city Buenos Aires, in the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area. The city has a population of 212,152 (), and the Partido de Lan� ...

, but after only one season he returned to Platense. In 1995, he joined Colo-Colo in Chile, in his first spell at the club he was part of 3 title winning teams. In 1999, he left Colo-Colo to play for

Racing Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Spain, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Span ...

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' ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. After 2 seasons with Racing, Espina returned to Colo-Colo where he retired in 2004.

International career

Espina represented the Argentina national football team on 15 occasions between 1994 and 1996 scoring 1 goal. He also captained national team in 1995. He is best remembered for being the first player after

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the F ...

's retirement from the National Team to wear the #10 shirt, during the tenure of coach

Daniel Passarella Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength"), ...

, although ostensibly with less skill or success.

Managerial career

After retiring as a player he had spells as manager of

Colo-Colo Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo () is a Chilean professional football club based in Macul, Santiago. Founded in 1925 by David Arellano they play in the Chilean Primera División, from which they have never been relegated. The team has pla ...

and Everton in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. In 2010, he joined Platense of the regionalised 3rd division of Argentine football.

Personal life

Espina naturalized Chilean by residence. His son, Santiago, was born in Chile and played football at professional level for Platense, San Lorenzo and

Deportes Copiapó Club de Deportes Copiapó — or simply Deportes Copiapó — is a Chilean football club based in Copiapó, Atacama Region. Founded in 1999 after Regional Atacama's folding, it currently plays in the Primera B (second-tier) and holds ...

. He has worked as a football commentator and analyst for ESPN Chile.

Honours

Club

;Platense *

Topscorer (1): 1994 Clausura ;Colo-Colo *

Primera División de Chile Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera Alí Rafael Primera Rosel ...

(4): 1996, 1997–C,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, 2002–C *

Copa Chile The Copa Chile (''Chile Cup'') is an annual cup competition for Chilean football teams. Due to time constraints and club pressure, the trophy was cancelled in 2000, but returned in 2008. Its precursor was the Campeonato de Apertura (''Opening Ch ...

(1): 1996

References

External links

Argentine Primera Statistics
at FutbolXXI.com * *

at HistoriadeColoColo {{DEFAULTSORT:Espina, Marcelo 1967 births Living people Footballers from Buenos Aires Argentine emigrants to Chile Argentine footballers Argentine expatriate footballers Argentina international footballers Club Atlético Platense footballers Irapuato F.C. footballers Atlante F.C. footballers Club Atlético Lanús footballers Correcaminos UAT footballers Colo-Colo footballers Racing de Santander players Argentine Primera División players Liga MX players La Liga players Chilean Primera División players 1995 King Fahd Cup players 1995 Copa América players Association football midfielders Argentine football managers Argentine expatriate football managers Colo-Colo managers Everton de Viña del Mar managers Unión Española managers Club Atlético Platense managers Chilean Primera División managers Primera B Nacional managers Expatriate footballers in Mexico Expatriate footballers in Chile Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate football managers in Chile Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Chile Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Naturalized citizens of Chile Chilean association football commentators