Fernando Martínez Perales

Fernando Martínez Perales (born 21 May 1967), commonly known as Nando, is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a left back, and a manager.

In his career, the majority of which was spent at Valencia and Deportivo, he played in 413 games in 14 senior seasons in the top-two tiers of Spanish football.

Club career

Born in Valencia, Nando began his career with local Levante UD, but moved across town to La Liga's Valencia CF after helping the team to promotion from the fourth division in 1987. An offensive-minded fullback who started his career as a midfielder, he spent five seasons at Valencia but he started less frequently in his final two years, following the ''Ches signing of Brazilian Leonardo.

Nando joined Deportivo de La Coruña on a free transfer in the summer of 1992, which also saw Adolfo Aldana, Bebeto and Mauro Silva arrive at the Riazor Stadium. During his spell, the Galician club began its rise to ''Super Depor'' fame, winning its first two trophies – the domestic cup and the supercup, both in 1995 – which were the player's first and only honours.

Following the arrival of John Toshack as Deportivo manager in 1995, Nando once again found himself increasingly on the sidelines. Although he regained first-choice status for the 1996–97 season he lost his place to Frenchman Jérôme Bonnissel in the following, and left for second level side Sevilla FC in January 1998 after five-and-a-half years and more than 200 official appearances.

Nando helped the Andalusia team promote to the top flight in his first full season, but suffered immediate relegation back in a campaign in which he played in 30 league games, and met the same fate in the following year with division two club SD Compostela, after which he retired from professional football aged 34, going on to play at amateur level with Atlético Arteixo.

International career

Nando made his debut for Spain on 14 September 1988 in a 1–2 friendly loss to Yugoslavia, in Oviedo. His second – and final – appearance came four and a half years later in a 1–1 draw with Mexico, another exhibition game which was played in Las Palmas.

References

External links

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CiberChe stats and bio

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nando
1967 births
Living people
Spanish footballers
Footballers from Valencia (city)
Association football defenders
La Liga players
Segunda División players
Segunda División B players
Tercera División players
Levante UD footballers
Valencia CF Mestalla footballers
Valencia CF players
Deportivo de La Coruña players
Sevilla FC players
SD Compostela footballers
Spain under-21 international footballers
Spain international footballers
Spanish football managers
Pontevedra CF managers