Bruno Soriano Llido (; born 12 June 1984) 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

defensive 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 boundari ...

. He spent his entire career with

Villarreal Villarreal ( ca-valencia , Vila-real) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's ...

since making his first appearance with the first team in 2006, and played 425 official games for them. He missed nearly three whole seasons in his later career, due to injury. Soriano made his debut 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 ...

in 2010, and represented the nation at

Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

Club career

Born in Artana,

Province of Castellón Castellón (officially in ca-valencia, Castelló) is a province in the northern part of the Valencian Community. It is bordered by the provinces of Valencia to the south, Teruel to the west, Tarragona to the north, and by the Mediterranean Sea ...

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 ...

, Soriano joined

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, ...

's youth system at the age of 13, but left the club four years later to return to his hometown. He then played for local side Artana CF in the regional leagues before returning to Villarreal in 2003, where he featured for the third and second teams. Soriano made his debut for the first team on 15 July 2006, in a 1–2 home loss to NK Maribor in the UEFA Intertoto Cup. His

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' ...

occurred on 1 October, in a 2–1 away win against RCD Mallorca. Soriano made a permanent switch to the main squad in 2007–08, and was a regular fixture in the side's callups throughout the season, though not a regular starter. On 14 November 2007, he scored his first professional goal, in a 4–2 victory at

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded on 22 August 1949, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at t ...

in the round of 32 of the

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 ...

; he had the same status the following year, as the ''Yellow Submarine'' qualified for the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

in fifth place. In 2009–10, Soriano became first-choice for Villarreal, finally winning the battle for starting duties over Uruguayan

Sebastián Eguren Sebastián Eguren Ledesma (born 8 January 1981) is a Uruguayan football manager and former player who played mainly as a defensive midfielder. Eguren started his career with Montevideo Wanderers in 1999, and went on to play professionally in N ...

. He only missed one game in 38 the following campaign, with the club finishing fourth and returning to the

UEFA Champions League 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 competi ...

. In the 2012 off-season, shortly after suffering relegation, Soriano received a

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

9 million offer from neighbouring

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 ...

, which he rejected in order to stay and help achieve promotion, also signing a new four-year contract until 2020. In 2013–14, with Villarreal back in the top flight, he scored a career-best six goals – three through penalty kicks – to help his team finish in sixth position and qualify to the Europa League. On 31 December 2015, Soriano netted through a superbly taken

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offe ...

to help defeat Valencia 1–0 at the

Estadio El Madrigal A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

. The following matchday, he scored both of his team's goals in 2–1 away win against

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, Spain. They currently play in the Primera División RFEF – ...

, the second coming through an injury-time penalty. Soriano spent the 2017–18 and 2018–19 seasons and most of 2019–20 on the sidelines, due to a knee injury. He finally made his return against

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA E ...

, on 22 June 2020. On 19 July 2020, aged 36, Soriano retired from football.

International career

On 5 August 2010,

Vicente del Bosque Vicente del Bosque González, 1st Marquess of Del Bosque (; born 23 December 1950) is a Spanish retired football manager and former player. He is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time and is to date the only football manager to ha ...

named Soriano as one of the three new players for the Spanish team after the

victorious ''Victorious'' (stylized as ''VICTORiOUS'') is an American sitcom created by Dan Schneider that originally aired on Nickelodeon, debuting on March 27, 2010, and concluding on February 2, 2013 after four seasons. The series revolves around asp ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, for a friendly with

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 ...

. He made his debut on the 11th, playing 61 minutes in the 1–1 draw in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

. On 17 May 2016, Soriano was included in a provisional squad of 25 for the

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

tournament, and also made the final list. He made his debut in the competition on 17 June at the age of 32, coming on as a 64th-minute substitute for

David Silva David Josué Jiménez Silva (born 8 January 1986) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for La Liga club Real Sociedad. Silva plays mainly as a central or an attacking midfielder but can also play as a winger or second striker. He is ...

in a 3–0 group stage win against

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

at the Allianz Riviera.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

Villarreal official profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Soriano, Bruno 1984 births Living people People from Plana Baixa Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Castellón Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Tercera División players Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol players Villarreal CF C players Villarreal CF B players Villarreal CF players Spain men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2016 players