Mariano Martín Alonso (20 October 1919 – 9 September 1998) was a Spanish

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 played as a striker.

Club career

Martín was born in

Dueñas, Palencia Dueñas is a municipality in the province of Palencia, Castile and León, Spain. References

Municipalities in the Province of Palencia {{Palencia-geo-stub ...

. After his beginnings with Peña Font, already in

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 ...

, he joined

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 ...

in 1939, proceeding to become one of the club's most prolific scorers; during his nine seasons at Barcelona, he netted 128 times in only 150 matches, including 30 in 23 contests in his fourth season, although ''Barça'' finished in third place. In early 1944, whilst appearing in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

for

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, Martín suffered a severe

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

ligament injury, from which he never fully recovered. However, as he played in only 29

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 ...

games in his last three seasons combined, he still managed to score on 14 occasions. Martín closed out his career in 1952, after one year apiece with

Gimnàstic de Tarragona Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in . The club was founded in 1886 an ...

and

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

and as many with his second club,

UE Sant Andreu Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu () is a Spanish football club based in the district of Sant Andreu in Barcelona, Catalonia. Founded in 1909, it plays in , holding home matches at '' Camp Municipal Narcís Sala'', with an all-seated capacity of 6,56 ...

. He died at almost 79, still living in

( Cabrils).

International career

Martín earned three caps for

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, during four years. His debut came on 12 April 1942 in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, during a 1–1 friendly draw with

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Career statistics

Honours

Barcelona *

: 1944–45 * Copa del Generalísimo:

1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...

Individual *

Pichichi Trophy In Spanish Association football, football, the Pichichi Trophy () is awarded by the sports newspaper ''Marca (newspaper), Marca'' to the top goalscorer of each La Liga season. Named after the Athletic Bilbao striker Pichichi (footballer), Rafael ...

: 1942–43

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Mariano 1919 births 1998 deaths Footballers from the Province of Palencia Spanish men's footballers Men's association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players UE Sant Andreu footballers FC Barcelona players Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers Real Zaragoza players Spain men's international footballers Pichichi Trophy winners Catalonia men's international guest footballers 20th-century Spanish sportsmen