Luis Garcia

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For other people named Luis García, see Luis García (disambiguation).
Luis Garcia
García playing for Liverpool
Personal information
Full name Luis Javier García Sanz
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Winger / Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Puebla
Youth career
1994–1997 Barcelona
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1997–2002 Barcelona B 78 (27)
1999 → Valladolid (loan) 6 (0)
2000 → Toledo (loan) 17 (4)
2000–2001 → Tenerife (loan) 41 (16)
2001–2002 → Valladolid (loan) 25 (7)
2002–2003 Atlético Madrid 30 (9)
2003–2004 Barcelona 25 (4)
2004–2007 Liverpool 77 (18)
2007–2009 Atlético Madrid 48 (2)
2009–2010 Racing Santander 15 (0)
2010–2011 Panathinaikos 24 (2)
2011– Puebla 1 (1)
International career
2005–2006 Spain 18 (4)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 31 August 2010

Template:Spanish name 2 Luis Javier García Sanz (born 24 June 1978), known as Luis García, is a Spanish footballer who plays for Puebla F.C. in Mexico, mainly as a left winger.

Although naturally left-footed, he has ability to kick with both feet and has a good aerial game, despite a small frame. He played professionally for FC Barcelona and Atlético Madrid in his homeland, amongst others - being brought up in the former's youth ranks - appearing abroad for Liverpool, with which he won one UEFA Champions League.

A Spanish international during one year, García represented the nation at the 2006 World Cup.

Club career

Barcelona

Born in Badalona, Barcelona, Catalonia, García was a product of local FC Barcelona's prolific youth ranks but, after two successful seasons with its B team, he left on loan for Real Valladolid, where he made his La Liga debut on 22 August 1999, in a 0–1 loss at CD Numancia, and finished the season at second division's CD Toledo, also on loan, his four goals not being enough to prevent relegation for the Castile-La Mancha side.

Subsequently, García played another season in the second level, being instrumental in CD Tenerife's promotion, netting 16 league goals under the guidance of manager Rafael Benítez. Loaned for the fourth time by Barcelona, he returned to Valladolid for 2001–02, scoring seven first division goals in 25 contests, including two in a 5–1 success at Tenerife.

Atlético Madrid

In 2002–03, García was sold to Atlético Madrid for €3.6 million but, after a highly successful individual season (nine league goals), Barça activated a clause which allowed the player's return for an additional €1.4 million.[1]

At Camp Nou, he had another good season, helping the Catalan outfit to the second place in the league, five points behind champions Valencia CF.

Liverpool

García was signed by former Tenerife coach Benítez for Liverpool in August 2004, for a fee of £6 million.[2] He was bought essentially as a replacement for El Hadji Diouf, but proved much more than a stand-in, and became a key component of Liverpool's attacking unit. He made his Premier League debut against Bolton Wanderers on 29 August, a 1–0 loss, although García had an apparently legitimate goal ruled out for offside.[3] His first goal in a Liverpool shirt came against West Bromwich Albion at Anfield on 11 September 2004.[4] He went on to score seven more league goals that season, including the winner in the Merseyside derby on 20 March 2005.[5]

He was also a key player in Liverpool's UEFA Champions League successful campaign, netting winning goals against Juventus and Chelsea (a controversial goal in the fourth minute, dubbed a "ghost goal" by Chelsea manager José Mourinho[6]), in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, respectively.[7] Having appeared in the final against A.C. Milan, he finished his first season in English football with 13 goals in all competitions.

García did not make so much of an impact in the 2005–06 season, although he weighed in with some vital goals, including a lofted finish against Chelsea to put them out of the FA Cup in the semi-finals.[8] García was suspended for the final victory against West Ham United, having been sent off in a league game just days after his semi-final winner, ironically against West Ham. He also scored Liverpool's third goal in the Reds' 2005 UEFA Super Cup final win.

On 10 January 2007, following the 3–6 loss to Arsenal in the League Cup, which was his final game for Liverpool, it was confirmed by the club that García had ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee during the game; he would be out for at least six months.

His positive relationship with club fans was in great measure due to the fact of his decisive goals against Chelsea. It was further underlined by the song frequently sung in his honor, to the tune of "You Are My Sunshine": "Luis García, he drinks Sangria/he came from Barça to bring us joy!/He's five foot seven, he's football heaven/So please don't take our Luis away!"

Garcia ranked 43rd in the 100 Players Who Shook the Kop online poll, with Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard being the only current squad players ranked higher. On 21 August 2007, liverpoolfc.tv published a letter from the player to the fans in which he expressed his appreciation. He later revealed he wanted to return to Spain at some point and play for Atlético Madrid. Previously, on 2 July, his agent revealed that a deal was being put in place for a permanent transfer. All in all, García scored 30 goals in 121 appearances for Liverpool, with 10 goals coming in the Champions League, five in the knockout stages of the 2005 triumph.

Return to Spain / Later years

29-year old García signed with former team Atlético Madrid for around £4 million, with his transfer being negotiated between the two clubs around the same time that they were arranging a deal for Fernando Torres in the opposite direction. Nonetheless, these deals were conducted separately.[9]

After a first season, where he played mainly as backup to Portugal's Simão Sabrosa, though still managing 30 league appearances, with García playing both matches against former side Liverpool in the following season's Champions League group stage. On 4 November 2008, he came on as a late substitute at Anfield, to appreciative applause. During 2008–09's league, however, he fell out of favour, appearing mainly as a late substitute and sometimes not even making the list of 18.

On 11 August 2009, it was confirmed García had reached an agreement with Racing de Santander.[10] His season was quite unassuming, with the player appearing in only 15 league matches without scoring, as the Cantabrian side narrowly avoided relegation.

On 28 August 2010, García signed a one-year contract with Greek team Panathinaikos FC.[11] On 4 September, he flew back to Anfield to take part in Carragher's testimonial match, scoring a goal in the second minute. Ten days later, he returned to the Camp Nou, playing the last 20 minutes in a 1–5 loss for the Champions League group stage.

On 1 July 2011, it was announced that García joined Mexican Primera División outfit Puebla, signing a one-year contract.

International career

After a productive first season with Liverpool, García made his debut for the Spanish national team on 26 March 2005, appearing in a 3–0 friendly win against China in Salamanca, Spain.

García was then chosen as part of the nation's squad-of-23 for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He started in wins against Ukraine and Tunisia, and was used as a subsititute in the round of 16 loss against France.

Statistics

Club

Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1997–98||rowspan="2"|Barcelona B||Third Division||42||17||0||0||colspan="2"|-||0||0||42||17 |- |1998–99||Second Division||36||10||0||0||colspan="2"|-||0||0||36||10 |- |1999–00||Valladolid||Spanish League||6||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||0||0||6||0 |- |1999–00||Toledo||Second Division||17||4||0||0||colspan="2"|-||0||0||17||4 |- |2000–01||Tenerife||Second Division||40||16||1||0||colspan="2"|-||0||0||41||16 |- |2001–02||Valladolid||Spanish League||25||7||4||3||colspan="2"|-||0||0||29||10 |- |2002–03||Atlético Madrid||Spanish League||30||9||2||0||colspan="2"|-||0||0||32||9 |- |2003–04||Barcelona||Spanish League||25||4||6||1||colspan="2"|-||7||3||38||8 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2004–05||rowspan="3"|Liverpool||rowspan="3"|Premier League||29||8||0||0||3||0||12||5||44||16 |- |2005–06||31||7||3||1||1||0||13||3||48||11 |- |2006–07||17||3||1||0||1||0||7||3||26||6 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2007–08||rowspan="2"|Atlético Madrid||rowspan="2"|Spanish League||30||2||||||||||5||1||35||3 |- |2008–09|||18||0|||||||||||2||0||20||0 |- |2009–10||rowspan="1"|Racing Santander||rowspan="1"|Spanish League||15||0||||||||||||||15||0 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2010–11||rowspan="1"|Panathinaikos||rowspan="1"|Greek League||14||1||||||||||6||0||20||1 |- Template:Football player statistics 3283||69||13||4||colspan="2"|-||14||4||310||77 Template:Football player statistics 477||18||4||1||5||0||32||11||118||33 Template:Football player statistics 414||1||0||0||0||0||6||0||20||1 Template:Football player statistics 5374||88||17||5||5||0||52||15||450||111 Template:Football player statistics end

International

Template:Football player national team statistics |- |2005||6||3 |- |2006||12||1 |- !Total||18||4 |}

Honours

Club

Individual

Personal life

García is married to Raquel, with whom he has two children - he often celebrated goals by sucking his thumb in dedication to firstling Joel. Defensive midfielder Javi García, who represented amongst others Real Madrid and S.L. Benfica, is his cousin.[13]

Additionally, García advertised H&M men's suits and Umbro football boots.

References

  1. ^ Barça buy back Luis García; UEFA.com, 1 July 2003
  2. ^ "Garcia agrees Anfield move". Guardian. 20 August 2004. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
  3. ^ "Bolton 1-0 Liverpool". BBC Sport. 29 August 2004. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
  4. ^ "Liverpool 3-0 West Brom". ESPN Soccernet. 11 September 2004. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
  5. ^ "Liverpool 2-1 Everton". ESPN Soccernet. 20 March 2005. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
  6. ^ "Motion expert says Garcia's shot did cross the line". The Independent. 5 May 2005. Retrieved 18 August 2007.
  7. ^ "Liverpool 1-0 Chelsea". BBC Sport. 3 May 2005. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
  8. ^ "Luis Garcia leaves Mourinho Double ambition in ashes". The Observer. 23 April 2006. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
  9. ^ Luis García returns to Atlético; UEFA.com, 3 July 2007
  10. ^ El Racing llega a un principio de acuerdo con el internacional Luis García (Racing reaches early agreement with international Luís García) Template:Es icon
  11. ^ Luis Garcia set to complete Panathinaikos switch; Yahoo!, 28 August 2010
  12. ^ Garcia missed the 2006 FA Cup final due to suspension. However, additional medals are awarded by the FA.
  13. ^ Javi García se lo piensa: el Atlético de Madrid más cerca (Javi García thinks about it: Atlético Madrid getting closer); Liga Fútbol, 24 July 2007 Template:Es icon

External links

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