Alejandro "Álex" Berenguer Remiro (born 4 July 1995) 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 an 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

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

. Berenguer began his career at

Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Pamplona, Navarre. It was founded on 24 October 1920 and plays in La Liga, the top division of Spanish ...

in 2014, and played in Italy with

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

for three seasons before joining Athletic in 2020.

Club career

Osasuna

Berenguer was born in

Pamplona Pamplona (; ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Navarre, Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. Lying at near above sea level, the city (and the wider Cuenca de Pamplona) is located on the flood pl ...

Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...

; his father's family is from

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 ...

. He graduated with

CA Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club based in Pamplona, Navarre. It was founded on 24 October 1920 and plays in La Liga, the top division of Spanish football. The team's ...

's youth setup, and made his debuts as a senior with the reserves in the 2013–14 campaign, in

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 ...

. On 10 September 2014, Berenguer made his professional debut, replacing

Kenan Kodro Kenan Kodro (; born 19 August 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Süper Lig club Gaziantep, on loan from Ferencváros. Born in Spain, he played for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. Kodro started his profess ...

in the 81st minute of a 2–0 away loss against

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually known as Alavés, is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Basque ...

, for the season's

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 ...

. He made his

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 ...

debut on 10 January of the following year, again from the bench in a 1–1 away draw against

Recreativo de Huelva Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Huelva, Andalucia, Spain. Founded on 23 December 1889, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play in , holding home ...

. Berenguer scored his first professional goal on 30 August 2015, netting the game's only in a home success over

CD Mirandés Club Deportivo Mirandés is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Miranda de Ebro, Province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 3 May 1927, the club competes in the Segunda División ...

. The following 29 January he extended his contract until 2020, and finished the campaign with three goals in 39 appearances as his side achieved promotion to

. Berenguer made his debut in the highest category of Spanish football on 22 September 2016, starting in a 2–1 home loss against

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

. He scored in the top division for the first time on 5 April of the following year, netting the game's only goal in an away success over

Torino

On 17 July 2017, Berenguer was sold to Italian club

for €5.5 million (plus €1 million in bonuses). In addition, a clause was inserted for an additional €1.5 million in the event he was sold to

(a club he had been close to signing for but which has a rivalry with Osasuna, made worse in the weeks beforehand over accusations of Athletic 'poaching' a youth player).

Athletic Bilbao

On 2 October 2020, Athletic Bilbao reached an agreement with Torino for the transfer of Berenguer, who agreed to a four-year deal with the ''Lions''. In January 2021 he claimed a winner's medal with his new club in the 2021 Supercopa de España played 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, ...

. Two months later, he scored a winning goal in

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

against

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 6 September 1909, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025– ...

to send Athletic to the 2021 Copa del Rey Final. He started the final, but was substituted in the second half and the match, again in Seville's

Estadio de La Cartuja Estadio La Cartuja (), formerly Estadio Olímpico de Sevilla, officially known as Estadio La Cartuja de Sevilla, is a stadium situated in the Isla de la Cartuja in Seville, Spain. It is used mostly for football and it is commonly referred to as ...

, was lost 4–0 to

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

. A similar scenario at the same venue had unfolded two weeks earlier in the delayed

2020 Copa del Rey Final The 2020 Copa del Rey final was a football match that decided the winner of the 2019–20 Copa del Rey, the 118th edition of Spain's Copa del Rey, primary football cup (including two seasons where two rival editions were played). The match was pl ...

, a 1–0 defeat by

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, ...

. Berenguer also scored eight league goals in his first season at San Mamés, but he did not find the net again for several months of the following campaign and came under threat from teenager

Nico Williams Nicholas Williams Arthuer (born 12 July 2002) is a Spanish professional association football, footballer who plays as a winger (association football), winger for La Liga club Athletic Bilbao and the Spain national football team, Spain nationa ...

in the battle for a regular starting place on the wing. In February 2022, he broke his duck for the season with a "stunning" late winner against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

at 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- ...

's quarter-final stage, having come on for the injured Williams at half-time. On 6 April 2024, Berenguer scored the winning penalty in the Copa del Rey final shootout against

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 ...

, which granted his club their 24th title in the competition and ended a forty-year major trophy drought. He made 41 appearances that season, although 22 of those (including the cup final) was as a substitute. On 7 July 2024, having technically been a free agent for a week after the expiry of his previous deal, he signed a new contract with Athletic Bilbao valid until June 2027.

Career statistics

Honours

Athletic Bilbao *

: 2023–24 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España, also known as the Spanish Super Cup, is a super cup tournament in Football in Spain, Spanish football. Founded in 1982 Supercopa de España, 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2 ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Berenguer Remiro, Alejandro 1995 births Living people Footballers from Pamplona Spanish men's footballers Men's association football wingers La Liga players Segunda División players Tercera División players CA Osasuna B players CA Osasuna players Athletic Bilbao footballers Serie A players Torino FC players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy People of Andalusian descent 21st-century Spanish sportsmen