Luis Cembranos

Luis Cembranos
Personal information
Full nameLuis Cembranos Martínez
Date of birth6 June 1972
Place of birthLucerne, Switzerland
Height1.76 m (5 ft 9 12 in)
Playing positionMidfielder
Club information
Current team
Cultural Leonesa (coach)
Youth career
Barcelona
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1991–1993Barcelona C
1993–1995Barcelona B39(10)
1993Figueres (loan)10(6)
1994–1995Barcelona3(0)
1995–1998Espanyol70(5)
1999–2004Rayo Vallecano124(24)
2004–2005Promesas Ponferrada
Total246(45)
National team
2000Spain1(0)
Teams managed
2007–2009Huracán Z
2011–Cultural Leonesa
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).
This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Cembranos and the second or maternal family name is Martínez.

Luis Cembranos Martínez (born 6 June 1972) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a right midfielder, and a current coach.

He amassed La Liga totals of 155 games and 22 goals over the course of nine seasons, mainly with Espanyol and Rayo Vallecano. He also represented Barcelona in the competition.

Club career

Born in Lucerne, 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 assigned 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 – he also played with the B's during that campaign – 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) Cembranos joined Madrid's Rayo Vallecano, being an essential member in his first months at the club as it eventually returned to the top flight, scoring six goals 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 contests at Barcelona and Espanyol, mainly in the right knee. He was forced to retire in 2005 at age of 33 and, a couple of years after, he had his first coaching spell, with amateurs CD Huracán Z in Castile and León.[2]

International career

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 came on as a substitute for Juan Carlos Valerón in the 76th minute of a 3–0 friendly win with Poland.[3]

Honours

Barcelona

References

External links