Alejandro "Álex" Grimaldo García (born 20 September 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 a

left wing-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

and the Spain national team.

Club career

Barcelona

Born in

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 ...

Valencian Community The Valencian Community is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wit ...

, Grimaldo joined

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 ...

's youth system in 2008. He made his official debut for the B-team on 4 September 2011, starting in a 4–0 away win against Cartagena at the age of 15 years and 349 days and becoming the youngest player ever to appear in a

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 ...

game, before he was surpassed by

Lamine Yamal Lamine Yamal Nasraoui Ebana (born 13 July 2007) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a winger for La Liga club Barcelona and the Spain national team. Known for his flair, chance creation, and long-distance curling goals, Yamal ...

in 2023. On 23 February 2013, Grimaldo suffered a serious knee injury, being ruled out for the remainder of the season. He returned to action in January of the following year, appearing in 14 matches to help his team finish in third position. On 13 September 2014, Grimaldo scored his first professional goal, netting his side's last in a 3–2 success at Alavés. In a campaign which saw the team relegated, he netted four times in 36 matches; he and Sergi Palencia were

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

on 25 April 2015, in a 2–1 win over Ponferradina at the

Mini Estadi Miniestadi (, meaning in English "Mini Stadium"), officially named "Miniestadi", was a football stadium in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The 15,276-seat stadium was situated across from Camp Nou, the home stadium of FC Barcelona. The stadium was ...

Benfica

On 29 December 2015, as his contract was about to expire, Grimaldo signed with Portuguese champions Benfica until 2021, for €1.5 million. Barcelona has the right to a percentage of a future sale. Grimaldo played his first game with his new team on 26 January 2016, coming in as a 62nd-minute substitute for Sílvio in a 6–1 away routing of

Moreirense Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joaquim d ...

for the

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual club football competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the top two tiers of Portuguese football – the ...

. He debuted in the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

on 29 February, featuring the full 90 minutes in a 2–0 home win against

União da Madeira União is the Portuguese word for Union. It may refer to: *the Brazilian federal government *União do Vegetal, a church known for its usage of Hoasca as tea * Brazilian frigate ''União'' (F45), a general-purpose ''Niterói'' class frigate launc ...

; he only appeared once more in the latter competition until the end of the season, filling in for suspended

Eliseu Eliseu Pereira dos Santos (born 1 October 1983), known simply as Eliseu (), is a Portuguese former professional Association football, footballer who played either as a left-back or winger (association football), left winger. After starting ou ...

in a 4–1 victory over

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

also at the

Estádio da Luz The Estádio da Luz (), officially named Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Lisbon, Portugal. It is used mostly for association football matches, hosting the home games of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica, Ben ...

that sealed the club's third consecutive national championship. He remained in the team for the league cup final on 20 May, the 6–2 defeat of Marítimo at the

Estádio Cidade de Coimbra The Estádio Cidade de Coimbra (') is a stadium in Coimbra, Portugal. This stadium belongs to the Municipality of Coimbra and is mainly used by the Associação Académica de Coimbra - O.A.F., Académica de Coimbra's soccer, football team. The s ...

Grimaldo's first full season began on 7 August 2016, as he started in a 3–0 win against

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

for the

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese association football, football match played since 1979 between the winners of the top-tier league (Primeira L ...

in Aveiro, assisting Franco Cervi for the opening goal. On 2 October he scored his first goal for the club, a

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 conclude a 4–0 home triumph over Feirense; on 28 May 2017, he played the full 90 minutes in the final of the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

, won after defeating

Vitória de Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to: People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Sofia Vitória (bor ...

2–1. Grimaldo's maiden appearance in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

took place on 13 September 2016, when he played the entire 1–1 group stage home draw to

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 18 km2 and its population is 175,190 (2022). It is located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and ...

. His first goal in the competition came during the same stage but on 2 October 2018, in a 3–2 away win over

AEK Athens A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Establishe ...

; he repeated the feat against the latter opponent on 12 December in the return fixture, his 30-meter

in the 88th minute helping to a 1–0 victory.

Bayer Leverkusen

On 21 May 2023, Grimaldo signed a four-year contract with German club

on a free transfer. On 12 August, he debuted in a

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

match against

FC Teutonia Ottensen FC Teutonia Ottensen or FC Teutonia Altona-Ottensen is a German association football club from the city of Hamburg founded in July 1905. The club's original ten members were joined by one-time members of FC Hammonia Hamburg which was a short-li ...

. On 15 September, he scored his first goal for the club, a direct free kick from the edge of the box away at

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

in a 2–2 draw. He finished his first season at

Leverkusen Leverkusen () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the south, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne, and to the north the state capital, Düsseldorf. The city is part of the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan ...

in 2023–24 as the top assist provider in the Bundesliga with 13 assists.

International career

Grimaldo won his first call-up for the Spain under-21 team on 5 February 2013 before he had turned 18, playing the second half of a 1–1 friendly draw in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. On 10 November 2023, Grimaldo received his first call-up to the Spain senior national team, for

Euro 2024 qualifiers The UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2023 to March 2024 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams that would join the automatically qualified host team Germany in the UEFA Eur ...

against

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

and

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 ...

. Six days later, he made his debut as a starter against Cyprus, assisting

Mikel Oyarzabal Mikel Oyarzabal Ugarte (born 21 April 1997) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left winger or forward for La Liga club Real Sociedad, whom he captains, and the Spain national team. He has spent his entire professional career ...

for Spain's second goal in a 3–1 away victory. In May 2024, he was named in the 26-man squad for the

UEFA Euro 2024 The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champ ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Benfica *

: 2015–16, 2016–17, 2018–19,

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

: 2016–17 *

: 2015–16 *

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Bayer 04 Leverkusen *

: 2023–24 *

DFL-Supercup The Franz Beckenbauer Supercup or ''German Super Cup'' is a one-off association football, football match in Germany that features the winners of the Bundesliga championship and the DFB-Pokal. The competition is run by the Deutsche Fußball Liga (E ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Spain U19 *

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-19, is an annual football competition, contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain is the most successful team in this competit ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Spain *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

runner-up: 2024–25 Individual *

Team of the Tournament:

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 ...

Squad of the Season: 2018–19 *

Team of the Year: 2018–19,

Defender of the Month: February 2019, December/January 2023, February 2023 *

Goal of the Month: January 2019, August 2021 *

Team of the Season: 2023–24 * VDV Bundesliga Team of the Season: 2023–24 *

Player of the Month: April 2024 * ESM Team of the Year: 2023–24

References

External links

Profile
at the S.L. Benfica website * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grimaldo, Alex 1995 births Living people Footballers from Valencia Spanish men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Segunda División players Segunda División B players FC Barcelona Atlètic players Primeira Liga players S.L. Benfica footballers Bundesliga players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2024 players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal UEFA European Championship–winning players 21st-century Spanish sportsmen