Miguel Torres Gómez (; born 28 January 1986) is a Spanish former

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 ...

. Usually a

right-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 ...

, he was equally at ease on the other flank. He played 223

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 ...

matches over 11 seasons, in representation of

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 ...

Getafe Getafe () is a municipalities in Spain, municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city c ...

and

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

. He also competed professionally in Greece with

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

Club career

Real Madrid

Born in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, Torres joined

's junior teams at the age of 12. He made his first-team debut against

Écija Balompié Écija Balompié, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Écija, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1939, it plays in . History In 2007–08 season, the club became champion of the Segunda División B, Group 4. The next se ...

as a starter, in a

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 ...

game on 25 October 2006, because of injuries to defenders

Fabio Cannavaro Fabio Cannavaro (; born 13 September 1973) is an Italian professional association football, football coach and former player who last was the head coach of Croatian club GNK Dinamo Zagreb, Dinamo Zagreb. He is regarded as one of the greatest De ...

Cicinho Cícero João de Cézare (born 24 June 1980), nicknamed Cicinho (), is a Brazilian retired professional footballer who played as a right back. He had his breakthrough at São Paulo, where he was named in the 2005 Bola de Prata as the team won ...

and

Míchel Salgado Miguel Ángel "Míchel" Salgado Fernández (born 22 October 1975) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a right-back. Nicknamed ''Il Due'' ("two" in Italian), he was known for his combative tackling and attacking play. After ...

. He also played in the return leg as a substitute after replacing

Sergio Ramos Sergio Ramos García (; born 30 March 1986) is a Spanish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for and captain (association football), captains Liga MX club C.F. Monterrey, Monterrey. Regarded as one of the gr ...

in the 80th minute, and started in both cup matches against

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

. Torres made his

debut in his fourth consecutive appearance, playing the whole 90 minutes in the 1–0 home victory over

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 ...

on 14 January 2007. He kept his place in the side the following week against

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (, , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or RCD Mallorca, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Palma de Mallorca, ...

, with that performance leading coach

Fabio Capello Fabio Capello (; born 18 June 1946) is an Italian former professional association football, football manager (association football), manager and player. As a player, Capello represented SPAL, AS Roma, Roma, AC Milan and Juventus FC, Juventus. H ...

to state: "It is not easy to find a player with as much personality and talent in attack and defence as Torres". On 10 February 2007, against

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, ...

, Torres made his first assist: after a quick run on the left flank he provided a left-footed (he was right-footed by nature) cross for

Ruud van Nistelrooy Rutgerus Johannes Martinus van Nistelrooij (; born 1 July 1976), commonly known as Ruud van Nistelrooy (), is a Dutch professional Association football, football manager and former player who is the current manager of EFL Championship club Leic ...

, whose header found the net as Madrid came from behind to win it away 2–1. With Torres as an important piece, Real Madrid won their 30th league title; however, he was unable to play in the decisive game with Mallorca due to a

hamstring A hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in human anatomy between the hip and the knee: from medial to lateral, the semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris. Etymology The word " ham" is derived from the Old ...

tear. He signed his first professional contract on 12 July 2007, joining the main squad permanently from

Real Madrid Castilla Real Madrid Castilla Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team that plays in . It is Real Madrid's reserve team. They play their home games at the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium with a capacity of 6,000 seats. Reserve teams in Spain play in the ...

. Although Torres appeared in more league matches in the following season, he would start significantly less as Madrid repeated league honours, primarily due to the signing of Argentine

Gabriel Heinze Gabriel Iván Heinze (; born 19 April 1978) is an Argentine football coach and former player. As a player, he operated as a defender, either as a left-back or a centre-back. Nicknamed '' Gringo'', he made a name for himself at Paris Saint-Germai ...

. During the 2008–09 campaign, still under

Bernd Schuster Bernd Schuster (born 22 December 1959) is a German former professional footballer of the late 1970s through early 1990s, who won club titles playing for the Spanish sides Barcelona (1980–1988) and Real Madrid (1988–1990). He played as a midf ...

first and later

Juande Ramos Juan de la Cruz "Juande" Ramos Cano (born 25 September 1954) is a former Spanish footballer and manager. After playing and managing at an amateur level, Ramos led Rayo Vallecano to promotion to La Liga, followed by reaching the quarter-finals ...

, he did not fare any better; additionally, he switched back from number 38 to 22 which he previously wore with Castilla.

Getafe

On 31 August 2009 – transfer deadline day – Torres moved to neighbours

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. They compete in La Liga, the top tier of the Football in Spain, Spanish football. The team has pla ...

on a five-year contract, with Real having the option to rebuy in the first two. He made 26 appearances in his first season, with

qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

to the

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 ...

after a sixth-place finish. Torres was challenged by new signing

Juan Valera Juan Valera may refer to: * Juan Valera y Alcalá-Galiano (1824–1905), Spanish author, diplomat and politician * Juan Valera (footballer) (born 1984), Spanish footballer {{hndis, Valera, Juan ...

for the right-back position in the 2011–12 season, under new manager Luis García, but still contributed 23 league matches as the

outskirts team again retained their status. On 16 April 2012 he scored his only goal in the top division, opening a 5–1 home defeat of

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, that competes in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. The club was formed on 25 January ...

Olympiacos and Málaga

On 9 August 2013, Torres joined

Olympiacos F.C. Olympiacos Football Club ( ), known simply as Olympiacos or Olympiacos Piraeus, is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in Piraeus. Part of the major Sports club, multi-sport club Olympiacos CFP (''Olympiakós Sýnde ...

from

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

on a three-year deal worth a reported

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

500,000, reuniting with Míchel who also coached him at Getafe and Real Madrid Castilla. After only ten competitive games he returned to Spain's top flight a year later, signing a one-year contract at

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, who compete in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system, following the ...

with the option of two more. During his later spell at the

La Rosaleda Stadium Estadio La Rosaleda (; literally The Rose Garden) is a football stadium in the city of Málaga, in Andalusia, southern Spain. It is the home stadium of Málaga CF in Segunda División and was previously that of Club Deportivo Málaga, of which M ...

, Torres suffered several injury problems and was also deemed surplus to requirements by manager

Juan Ramón López Muñiz Juan Ramón López Muñiz (born 2 November 1968) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a central defender, currently a manager. Playing career Muñiz was born in Gijón, Asturias. During his playing days, he represented hometown club Sp ...

. On 4 July 2019, the 33-year-old announced his retirement from football.

International career

Torres made his debut for the Spain under-21 team on 6 February 2007 in a 2–2 draw against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, remaining a regular in subsequent fixtures.

Personal life

In 2021, Torres and actress

Paula Echevarría Paula Echevarría Colodrón (born 7 August 1977) is a Spanish actress and model. Career In 2000, she made her television debut on series such as ''Al salir de clase'', ''Policías'', and ''Compañeros (TV series), Compañeros''. During that ...

became parents to a son, also named Miguel. The couple took part together on the third season of '' Mask Singer: Adivina quién canta'', won by fellow Real Madrid veteran

Fernando Morientes Fernando Morientes Sánchez (; born 5 April 1976) is a Spanish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a striker (association football), striker. He played for a number of clubs during his career, including Real Madri ...

Career statistics

Honours

Real Madrid *

: 2006–07, 2007–08 *

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 ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

; runner-up:

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Olympiacos *

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

: 2013–14

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Torres, Miguel 1986 births Living people 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Madrid Men's association football fullbacks La Liga players Segunda División players Tercera División players Real Madrid C footballers Real Madrid Castilla footballers Real Madrid CF players Getafe CF footballers Málaga CF players Super League Greece players Olympiacos F.C. players Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Greece