Alejandro "Álex" Baena Rodríguez (born 20 July 2001) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left winger or

attacking midfielder 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

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 ...

club Villarreal and the Spain national team.

Club career

Baena was born in Roquetas de Mar,

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of Almería, province of the same name. It lies in southeastern Iberian Peninsula, Iberia on the Mediterranean S ...

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 ...

, and joined Villarreal's youth setup in 2011, from Roquetas. He made his senior debut with the C-team on 21 December 2018, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 2–0

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 ...

home victory against Rayo Ibense. Ahead of the 2019–20 season, Baena was assigned to the reserves in

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 ...

, debuting as a starter on 14 September 2019 in a 3–0 victory against Llagostera. On 13 July of the following year, he made his first-team league debut, replacing fellow youth graduate Manu Trigueros in a 1–2 home loss against

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, ...

. Baena scored his first professional goal on 5 November 2020, netting his club's third in a 4–0

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

home routing of Maccabi Tel Aviv. Seven days later, he renewed his contract until 2025. On 19 August 2021, Baena moved to

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 ...

club Girona on a one-year loan. On 26 August 2022, he and teammate Nicolas Jackson were fully promoted to the main squad. In the 2023–24 season, he became the top assist provider in La Liga with 14 assists.

International career

Baena represented Spain at under-16, under-17, under-18, under-19 and under-20 levels, appearing in the

2018 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2018 UEFA European Under-17 Championship (also known as 2018 UEFA Under-17 Euro) was the 17th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship (36th edition if the Under-16 era is also included), the annual international youth association foo ...

. In August 2023, Baena received his first call-up to the Spain senior national team by head coach Luis de la Fuente, for two UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying matches against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

and Cyprus national football team, Cyprus. He went on to score his first goal for Spain on his debut against the latter opponent in a 6–0 victory. In May 2024, Baena was named in the 26-man squad for the UEFA Euro 2024.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Spain score listed first, score column indicates score after each Baena goal.''

Honours

Villarreal *

: 2020–21 UEFA Europa League, 2020–21 Spain U23 *Football at the Summer Olympics, Summer Olympics gold medal: Football at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament, 2024 Spain *UEFA European Championship: UEFA Euro 2024, 2024 *UEFA Nations League runner-up: 2024–25 UEFA Nations League, 2024–25 Individual *

top assist provider: 2023–24 La Liga, 2023–24 *La Liga Awards#Team of the season, La Liga Team of the Season: 2024–25 La Liga, 2024–25

References

External links

Profile
at the Villarreal CF website * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baena, Alex 2001 births Living people Footballers from the Province of Almería Spanish men's footballers Men's association football wingers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Villarreal CF C players Villarreal CF B players Villarreal CF players Girona FC players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2024 players Olympic footballers for Spain Footballers at the 2024 Summer Olympics UEFA Europa League–winning players UEFA European Championship–winning players Olympic medalists in football Olympic gold medalists for Spain Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics 21st-century Spanish sportsmen