Sabino Bilbao Líbano (11 December 1897 – 20 January 1983) 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 ...

who played as a

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 ...

Football career

Born in

Leioa Leioa ( es, Lejona) is a municipality in Biscay, Basque Country, in northern Spain. It is located south of Getxo and Berango delimitating east and south with Erandio, Portugalete and Sestao. Today it is part of the Bilbao conurbation. Its populat ...

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. B ...

, Sabino played six seasons with Athletic Bilbao (1918–24), prior to the creation of

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' ...

. With 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 ...

giants he won two

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

trophies, in 1921 and 1923. Sabino earned two

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

with

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 ...

, representing the nation in the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp and helping it win silver. His debut came during the tournament in a 2–1 win against Sweden, being immortalized in the annals of

Spanish football Football is the most popular sport in Spain. Spain has some of the most important teams in Europe (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid, Seville, Valencia, and others). It also has a high number of players (most of them being unprofession ...

due to that match: in the play that led to the 1–1 equalizer, José María Belauste, his teammate also at Athletic, reportedly shouted as he requested the pass: ''"¡A mí el pelotón, Sabino, que los arrollo!"'' ("Send me that ball, Sabino, i'll crush them!" in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

).Algo más que un grito (More than a cry)
El País, 23 December 2005 Sabino died in

Getxo Getxo () is a town located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in Spain. It is part of Greater Bilbao, and has 77,946 inhabitants (2019). Getxo is mostly an affluent residential area, as well as being the ...

also in his native region on 20 January 1983, at the age of 85.

References

External links

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Olympic stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bilbao, Sabino 1897 births 1983 deaths Spanish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Athletic Bilbao footballers Spain men's international footballers Footballers at the 1920 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Spain Olympic silver medalists for Spain Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1920 Summer Olympics People from Leioa Footballers from Biscay