Rafael Lesmes Bobed (9 November 1926 – 8 October 2012) was 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 le ...

who played as a defender.

Club career

Lesmes was born in

Ceuta Ceuta (, , ; ar, سَبْتَة, Sabtah) is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of several Spanish territorie ...

. Over 12

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's ...

seasons, he played for

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club colo ...

(two spells) and

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

, appearing in 263 games in the competition. He began his career with local

Atlético Tetuán Club Atlético Tetuán was a Spanish football club based in Tétouan, Spanish protectorate of Morocco. The club played a single season in La Liga in 1951–52, after winning the Segunda División Southern Zone in 1950–51. This ended in rele ...

, and retired in 1962 at the age of 35. With Real Madrid, Lesmes was part of the team that won five consecutive European Cups.

International career

Lesmes was selected for

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 ...

1950 FIFA World Cup The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams and held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. The planned 1942 and 1946 World Cups were ...

squad as an uncapped member. He would have to wait nearly five years to make his debut, however, appearing in a 1–2 friendly loss to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

on 17 March 1955, in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. Lesmes' second and last international was a 6–2 win against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

on 15 October 1958, in another exhibition game.

Personal life and death

Lesmes' older brother,

Francisco Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco (name), Paco". Francis of Assisi, San Francisco de Asís was known as '' ...

, was also a footballer and a defender. Often referred to as ''Lesmes I'' as he shared teams with his sibling for four seasons, he spent his entire professional career with Valladolid, also being a Spanish international. Rafael died in

Valladolid Valladolid () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province o ...

on 8 October 2012, one month shy of his 86th birthday.

Honours

Real Madrid *

: 1953–54, 1954–55, 1956–57, 1957–58 *

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

: 1955–56, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60 *

Latin Cup The Latin Cup was an international football tournament for club sides from the Southwest European nations of France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. In 1949 the football federations came together and requested FIFA to launch the competition. Europ ...

: 1955, 1957

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lesmes, Rafael 1926 births 2012 deaths People from Ceuta Spanish footballers Footballers from Ceuta Association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Tercera División players Atlético Tetuán footballers Real Valladolid players Atlético Madrid footballers Real Madrid CF players UEFA Champions League winning players Spain international footballers 1950 FIFA World Cup players