Pahiño

Manuel Fernández Fernández, better known as Pahiño, (born 21 January 1923 in Vigo, † June 12, 2012 in Madrid) was a Spanish football player.

Career

Pahiño began his career at the small clubs of his region, Navia and Arenas de Alcabre.

At age 19, he moved first to the youth of the then Erstdivisionärs Celta Vigo, but was able to secure a place in the first squad after a short time already. The two-legged gifted and aerially strong Pahiño quickly made a name for himself as one of the best strikers in the Spanish league and so he won in season 1947/48 the Pichichi trophy for the top scorer.

The following season he moved, along with his teammate Miguel Muñoz to Real Madrid, where he achieved a total of 108 goals in five seasons. Despite the fact that he established himself as one of Spain's best striker, he could not win a single title with the Brussels residents. In 1953, at the time engaged as Alfredo Di Stéfano, Pahiño left the club and joined Deportivo La Coruña.

In his Galician home, he spent three more seasons before the then already 33 - year-old striker joined the Zweitdivisionär FC Granada and prompt for promotion to the Primera División contributed.

Although Pahiño could not win a single title and only played three times for the Spanish national team, he is with his 210 league matches until today as one of the top scorer of the Spanish football history. In an interview he made to be football players in 2009 to be problematic under the Franco dictatorship Image, a " red " ( left-wing ), responsible not to have been nominated for the World Cup 1950.

Achievements

Pichichi ( top scorer in La Liga ): 1948, 1952