| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Luis Cembranos Martínez | ||
| Date of birth | 6 June 1972 | ||
| Place of birth | Lucerne, Switzerland | ||
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1992–1993 | Figueres | 10 | (6) |
| 1993–1995 | Barcelona B | 39 | (9) |
| 1994–1995 | Barcelona | 3 | (0) |
| 1995–1998 | Espanyol | 70 | (5) |
| 1999–2004 | Rayo Vallecano | 124 | (24) |
| National team | |||
| 2000 | Spain | 1 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Luis Cembranos Martínez (born 6 June 1972 in Lucerne, Switzerland) is a retired Spanish footballer who played as a right midfielder.
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Cembranos was the son of Spanish immigrants in Switzerland, and returned to his country in his teens, moving to Catalonia. His professional career began at age 20, with second division's UE Figueres; after a good handful of games, he was bought by powerhouse FC Barcelona, being relocated to its B side.
After having appeared in three first team matches in La Liga with Barça (his debut came against Racing de Santander on 10 September 1994, and he added his first and only UEFA Champions League appearance, against Manchester United, the following month[1]) - courtesy of manager Johan Cruyff, during 1994–95 - he also played with the B's - Cembranos moved in early 1995 to another side in the league and the region, RCD Espanyol, where he first began to appear regularly in the top level.
In another January transfer window move (January 1999), he joined Madrid's Rayo Vallecano, being an essential member as it returned to the first division, in his first months at the club, scoring six times during the (half)season. Both player and team continued to consolidate, and Rayo obtained its best-ever classification in 1999–2000, qualifying to the UEFA Cup via fair play - where the club eventually reached the last-eight.
In his final three seasons, Cembranos appeared very irregularly, troubled with constant injuries that had already made him miss a good number of matches at Barcelona and Espanyol (mainly in the right knee). He was forced to retire in 2004, aged 32. A couple of years after, he had his first coaching spell, with amateurs CD Huracán Z, in Castile and León.[2]
Courtesy of the best season of his career, with Rayo (36 matches, four goals), Cembranos earned his sole cap with Spain: on 26 January 2000, in Cartagena, he replaced Juan Carlos Valerón in the 76th minute of a 3–0 friendly win with Poland.