Alexandre "Àlex" Moreno Lopera (; born 8 June 1993) is a Spanish 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 lea ...

who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

left winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for club

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

. He spent most of his career with

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in the Villa de Vallecas district of Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish foot ...

and Betis, achieving

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

totals of 146 games and six goals over six seasons and winning the

2021–22 Copa del Rey The 2021–22 Copa del Rey was the 120th staging of the Copa del Rey (including two seasons where two rival editions were played). The winners were assured a place in the 2022–23 UEFA Europa League group stage. Both the winners and the runners- ...

with the latter club. In January 2023, he signed with Aston Villa. Moreno represented the Catalonia national side, making his debut in May 2022.

Club career

Early years and Mallorca

Born in

Sant Sadurní d'Anoia Sant Sadurní d'Anoia () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Alt Penedès in Catalonia; and the centre of production of a sparkling wine known as '' cava''. It is situated in the north-east of the Penedès Depression at the confluence ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, Moreno graduated from local

Vilafranca Vilafranca is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Ports, in the province of Castellón, Valencian Community, Spain. Prior to 2022, it was part of a different ''comarca'', l'Alt Maestrat. Its official Spanish language name is Villafranca del Ci ...

's academy, making his senior debut in

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

in the

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

. He signed with

in April 2011, being assigned to the youth side; he started his career as a winger. In July 2012, Moreno joined

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

club

Llagostera Llagostera () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Gironès in Catalonia, Spain. During the 20th century, it was known for the production of cork and derived articles. It is located 20 km south of Girona and 15 km west from the ...

. He finished the campaign with 1,333 minutes of action, scoring twice. On 4 July 2013, Moreno moved to

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

, recently relegated to the second division. He played his first professional match on 18 August, in a 4–0 away loss against

Sabadell Sabadell () is a city and municipality in Catalonia, Spain. It is in the south of the ''comarca'' of Vallès Occidental, where it is one of the two capitals, the other being Terrassa. It is located on the River Ripoll, north of Barcelona, a ...

in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

. Moreno scored his first goal in division two on 4 January 2014, the last in a 2–2 draw at

Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital city of the Canary Islands (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and the m ...

. He featured regularly during the season, as his team narrowly avoided another drop.

Rayo Vallecano

On 15 July 2014, Moreno signed a four-year deal with

. He made his

debut on 14 September, coming on as a late substitute in a 2–3 home defeat against

Elche Elche (, ; , , , ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality of Spain, belonging to the province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. According to 2024's data, Elche has a population of 234,800 inhabitants,

. Moreno was loaned to Elche of the second tier for one year on 13 August 2015. He was an undisputed starter after returning to the Campo de Fútbol de Vallecas, netting three times from 40 appearances in 2017–18 as the side returned to the top flight as champions.

Betis

On 21 August 2019, after suffering relegation, Moreno joined

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

on a five-year contract. He scored his first goal for the

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

ns the following 11 January, in the 3–0 win over

Club Portugalete Club Portugalete is a List of football clubs in Spain, Basque football team based in Portugalete, in the autonomous community of Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country. Founded in 1909, it plays in , holding its home games in the '' ...

in the second round of the

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

. His first in the league came on 24 October 2021, helping the hosts to beat Rayo Vallecano 3–2. He added a brace on 12 December, in a 4–0 defeat of

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

also at the

Estadio Benito Villamarín es:Estadio is the spanish language word for Stadium 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 completely or partially surrounded by a tiered s ...

. Moreno made eight appearances in the 2021–22 Spanish Cup, as they won the tournament for the third time in their history; this included 105 minutes of the final against

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, won on penalties in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

Aston Villa

On 11 January 2023, Moreno joined

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

for an undisclosed fee, signing a three-and-a-half-year deal; he was given the number 15 shirt. He made his league debut two days later, replacing the injured

Lucas Digne Lucas Digne (born 20 July 1993) is a French professional Association football, footballer who plays as a left back for club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa and the France national football team, France national team. Digne began his career at Li ...

early into an eventual 2–1 home win over

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

. On 20 May 2023, Moreno suffered a

hamstring A hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in human anatomy between the hip and the knee: from medial to lateral, the semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris. Etymology The word " ham" is derived from the Old ...

injury during a 1–1 draw against

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

; following surgery, he was estimated to be sidelined for between three and four months. He made his return on 30 November, closing the 2–1 home victory over

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning a record 15 champions titles, a record 2 ...

in the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

of the

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual association football, football competition organised since 2021 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European foot ...

for his first goal for the Villans. He scored his first in the league on 17 December, equalising an eventual 2–1 away defeat of

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

. On 21 August 2024, Moreno moved to

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

of the same league on a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

-long loan.

International career

Moreno made his debut for the non-

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

Catalonia side on 25 May 2022, starting in a 6–0 win over

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

Career statistics

Honours

Rayo Vallecano *

: 2017–18 Betis *

: 2021–22

References

External links

Aston Villa official profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moreno, Alex 1993 births Living people People from Alt Penedès 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Barcelona Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football wingers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Som Maresme FC players RCD Mallorca players RCD Mallorca B players Rayo Vallecano players Elche CF players Real Betis players Premier League players Aston Villa F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Catalonia men's international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England