Manuel Rodríguez Pazó, better known as Lilo (8 April 1902 – 2 September 1972), was a Spanish footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Celta de Vigo between 1923 and 1936.

Career

Born on 8 April 1902 in the Galician town of

Vigo Vigo (, ; ) is a city and Municipalities in Spain, municipality in the province of province of Pontevedra, Pontevedra, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest ...

, Lilo began his career playing as a right back for Germania, a team from the Vigo neighborhood of Couto, making his debut under the sticks only because his team's goalkeeper got injured, and he ended up enjoying so much that he signed for Club Ciosvín as a goalkeeper. In 1920, the 18-year-old Lilo joined Fortuna de Vigo, with whom he played for three years, until 1923, when it was merged with Real Vigo Sporting to form Celta de Vigo. On 16 September 1923, the presentation match of Celta de Vigo was held at Coia, in a meeting between A and B teams, with Lilo starting for the latter team in a 2–0 loss, being beaten only by a penalty and an own goal. The goalkeeper of the A-team, Isidro Rodríguez, was thus the one selected for Celta's first official game against Boavista on 23 September (8–2), but following his controversial move to

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

, Lilo established himself as Celta's undisputed starting goalkeeper. On 10 April 1924, Lilo played a friendly match for Celta against the Uruguay national team, who went on to win the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad () and officially branded as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The opening ceremony was held on 5 July, but some competitions had al ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Together with Polo Pardo, the Clemente brothers (

Juanito Juanito is a given name or nickname, meaning "Little Juan" or Johnny. Notable people with the name include: Professional footballers * Juan Ignacio Gomez Taleb (born 1985), Argentinian forward * Juan Díaz Sánchez (1948–2013), Spanish forw ...

, Balbino), Ramón González, he was part of the newly-founded Celta team that won three Galician Championships in a row between 1923 and 1926. He went on to win a further four such titles in 1930, 1932, 1934, and 1935. In his last season at the club in 1935–36, Lilo did not play a single league match as Celta won the

1935–36 Segunda División The 1935–36 Segunda División season saw 24 teams participate in the second flight Spanish league. Celta de Vigo, Celta and Real Zaragoza, Zaragoza were promoted to La Liga, Primera División, after both clubs won 5–0, and Arenas lost 0–1 ...

, thus achieving promotion to the top flight for the first time in the club's history.

Death

Lilo died in Vigo on 2 September 1972, at the age of 71, and as a tribute, Celta's players wore black armbands in their next match against Espanyol.

Honours

;Fortuna de Vigo * Galician Championship: **Winners (2) 1920–21 and 1921–22 ;Celta de Vigo * Galician Championship: **Winners (7) 1923–24, 1924–25, 1925–26, 1929–30, 1931–32, 1933–34, and 1934–35

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lilo 1902 births 1972 deaths Footballers from Vigo Spanish men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers RC Celta de Vigo players Segunda División players 20th-century Spanish sportsmen