Luis Enrique Martínez García

Luis Enrique in September 2010

Luis Enrique Martínez García ( born May 8, 1970 in Gijón) is a former Spanish footballer and current coach. In his playing days, he played for five years with Real Madrid and eight years for FC Barcelona. His coaching career began at the second team of FC Barcelona. In the season 2011/12 he was head coach of AS Roma.

He usually played as an attacking midfielder or in the storm, it was estimated, however, because of its versatility, making it, except central defender and goalkeeper, played at almost every position. He was also very goal threat, very spirited and renowned for its good condition.

Playing career

The strong offensive midfielder started his professional career with Sporting Gijon (Liga: 36 games, 14 goals). For the 1991/92 season he moved to Real Madrid, where he scored 15 goals in 157 first division matches. He was also international.

When his contract expired in 1996, he moved to the " archenemy " FC Barcelona. The fans of Barça were his recommitment initially very pessimistic about, but soon Luis Enrique became a fan favorite and even later, team captain. In his first three seasons he scored 46 goals in La Liga and won two times the Spanish Cup (1997/ 98, 1998/99) and the Spanish Cup ( 1996/97, 1997/98). In total he completed for Barcelona until his career end 2004 207 games in La Liga, scoring 73 goals.

For the Spanish national team, he scored 12 goals in 62 international matches and participated in the 1994 World Cup, Euro 1996, the 1998 World Cup and the 2002 World Cup. He also won the 1992 gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Barcelona. His first game for Spain, he played in April 1991 against Romania ( 0-2). After retiring from the 2002 World Cup by a 3:5 in a penalty shootout against South Korea's midfielder gave 32 years announced his departure from the " Seleccion ". The reason he said that they want to make room for younger players.

Coaching career

For the 2008/09 season he signed for FC Barcelona B, the reserve team of FC Barcelona, ​​a contract as coach. The B team he led at the end of his second season in the Segunda División for advancement. There, the team achieved under his leadership in the 2010/11 season with third place, the best finish in club history. At the end of the season he left FC Barcelona and signed a two year contract with the Italian giants AS Roma, where he resigned after a disappointing course of the season on 10 May 2012. For the 2013/14 season he took over the Spanish side Celta Vigo.

Achievements

Association

• Spanish Cup: 1995, 1998, 1999
• Spanish Cup: 1993, 1997, 1998
• Spanish Super Cup: 1993, 1996
• European Cup Winners' Cup: 1997
• European Super Cup: 1998

National

• Football Olympic Champions: 1992
• Participation in a FIFA World Cup: 1994 (4 Inserts / 1 goal), 1998 (3 Inserts / 1 goal), 2002 ( 5 Credits )
• Participation in a European Football Championship: 1996 (2 inserts)

Individual:

• Best Young Player (Spain ): 1991
• Admission to FIFA 100

Others

In 2007 he competed in the Ironman European Championships in Frankfurt am Main, finishing in 518th place in a time of 10:19:30 hours. In 2008 he wanted to participate in Klagenfurt at Ironman Austria, but had to fit for his involvement in Barcelona Atlètic.