Carlos Gurpegui

Carlos Gurpegui

Gurpegui in 2014
Personal information
Full name Carlos Gurpegui Nausia
Date of birth (1980-08-19) 19 August 1980
Place of birth Pamplona, Spain
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position Centre back / Defensive midfielder
Youth career
1997–1998 Izarra
1998–1999 Athletic Bilbao
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1998 Izarra 1 (0)
1999–2000 Basconia 33 (15)
2000–2002 Bilbao Athletic 56 (5)
2002–2016 Athletic Bilbao 313 (18)
Total 403 (38)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Carlos Gurpegui Nausia (alternate spelling Gurpegi; born 19 August 1980) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a central defender or a defensive midfielder.

He spent his entire professional career with Athletic Bilbao,[1] which was marred by a two-year ban due to a nandrolone positive test.[2][3] Over the course of 14 La Liga seasons, he appeared in 393 games all competitions comprised whilst scoring 22 goals.

Club career

A product of the famous Athletic Bilbao's Lezama youth academy, Gurpegui was born in Pamplona, Navarre, and made his first-team – and La Liga – debut on 31 March 2002 in a 2–5 away defeat against Villarreal CF,[4] going on to establish himself as the first-choice holding midfielder in the following years with 121 games in four seasons. On 17 January 2004, he scored a late equaliser against FC Barcelona in a 1–1 draw at the Camp Nou.[5]

Gurpegui was banned for two years on 3 November 2003, for testing positive for nandrolone in a 1 September 2002 game against Real Sociedad (2–4 away defeat, scoring both goals[6]) the previous season.[3] The ban was initially suspended[7] after repeated appeals, with the player claiming that his body produced nandrolone naturally,[8] but the appeals were in vain as he eventually was forced to serve his sentence, which ran until 23 April 2008;[9] Athletic Bilbao, however, neither released the player nor took his number from the official squad,[10] and he returned to action in a 0–3 away loss to Real Madrid, four days later.[11]

In the 2008–09 season, Gurpegui was used mostly as a backup due to the emergence of youngster Javi Martínez, but regained his starting position in the following years, precisely alongside Martínez. On 28 November 2010, he headed home in the last minute against hometown's CA Osasuna, in a 1–0 home win.[12]

Gurpegui was again relegated to the bench for the 2011–12 campaign, following the arrival of new coach Marcelo Bielsa. On 23 October 2011, after having replaced Andoni Iraola af half-time of an eventual 1–1 draw at Valencia CF,[13] he also had to leave the pitch early into the second half, with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.[14]

After Martínez left in the 2012 summer to FC Bayern Munich, Gurpegui was chosen by Bielsa as his next player to be reconverted from defensive midfielder to central defender.[15] On 11 May 2016, already a fringe player, the 35-year-old announced he would retire from the game at the end of the season.[16]

Career statistics

[17][18]

Club Season League National Cup[lower-alpha 1] Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Athletic Bilbao 2001–02 La Liga 4000——40
2002–03 27410——284
2003–04 30110——311
2004–05 344808[lower-alpha 2]2—506
2005–06 30230——332
2006–07 0000——00
2007–08 5000——50
2008–09 19070——260
2009–10 341107[lower-alpha 2]02[lower-alpha 3]0441
2010–11 31241——353
2011–12 70002[lower-alpha 2]0—90
2012–13 271007[lower-alpha 2]0—341
2013–14 27250——322
2014–15 231608[lower-alpha 4]1—372
2015–16 150107[lower-alpha 2]02[lower-alpha 3]0250
Career total 313183713934039322
  1. ↑ Includes Copa del Rey matches.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Appearances in UEFA Europa League
  3. 1 2 Appearances in Supercopa de España
  4. ↑ Appearances in UEFA Europa League and UEFA Champions League

Honours

Athletic Bilbao

See also

References

  1. ↑ Las cuatro esquinas de Gurpegi (Gurpegi's four corners); Deia, 4 September 2010 (in Spanish)
  2. ↑ Suspensión de dos años para Gurpegui (Two-year suspension for Gurpegui); Diario AS, 7 May 2003 (in Spanish)
  3. 1 2 Two-year ban for Gurpegi; UEFA.com, 3 November 2003
  4. ↑ Segundo correctivo seguido para el Athletic de Bilbao (Second hard lesson in a row for Athletic de Bilbao); El Mundo, 31 March 2002 (in Spanish)
  5. ↑ Barcelona 1–1 Athletic Bilbao; ESPN Soccernet, 17 January 2004
  6. ↑ Carlos Gurpegi, organizador de juego y goleador (Carlos Gurpegi, playmaker and scorer); Mundo Deportivo, 2 September 2002 (in Spanish)
  7. ↑ Gurpegi given permission to play; UEFA.com, 3 December 2003
  8. ↑ Padilla insiste en que el organismo de Gurpegui generó su alto nivel de nandrolona (Padilla insists that Gurpegui's organism generated his high level of nandrolone); El País, 8 June 2005 (in Spanish)
  9. ↑ Athletic announce new Gurpegui appeal; UEFA.com, 26 November 2004
  10. ↑ El 'caso Gurpegui' llega a su fin (Curtain call to 'Gurpegui affair'); Marca, 22 April 2008 (in Spanish)
  11. ↑ Un abultado 3–0 (Heavy 3–0); El Correo, 28 April 2008 (in Spanish)
  12. ↑ Gurpegi hits late winner; ESPN Soccernet, 28 November 2010
  13. ↑ Soldado saves the day for Valencia; ESPN Soccernet, 23 October 2011
  14. ↑ Gurpegi set for lengthy spell out; ESPN Soccernet, 24 October 2011
  15. ↑ Gurpegi: "Hemos mejorado" (Gurpegi: "We have improved"); Mundo Deportivo, 22 July 2012 (in Spanish)
  16. ↑ Gurpegui ve "el momento perfecto para dejarlo" (Gurpegui sees this as "the perfect moment to quit"); Marca, 11 May 2016 (in Spanish)
  17. ↑ "Gurpegui: Carlos Gurpegui Nausia". BDFutbol. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
  18. ↑ "Gurpegui". Soccerway. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
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