Julio Llorente Gento (born 14 June 1966) is a Spanish former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played mainly as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Club career

Born in

Valladolid Valladolid ( ; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and ''de facto'' capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the pr ...

Castile and León Castile and León is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwestern Spain. Castile and León is the largest autonomous community in Spain by area, covering 94,222 km2. It is, however, sparsely populated, with a pop ...

, Llorente finished his development with

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

giants

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

, making his debut in the competition in the 1987–88 season with fellow top-division club

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (, , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or RCD Mallorca, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Palma de Mallorca, ...

, on loan. He returned to the Spanish capital upon his team's relegation, going on to play 33 competitive games during his two-year tenure and win five major titles, including two consecutive national championships. He appeared in six

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

matches with the ''Merengues'', scoring in a 6–0 home win against

CA Spora Luxembourg CA Spora Luxembourg was a football club, based in Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. It is now a part of Racing FC Union Luxembourg. History Spora was founded in 1923 as an amalgam of Racing Club Luxembourg and Sporting Club Luxembour ...

in the 1989–90 edition. Llorente signed with

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1922, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez L� ...

in summer 1990, helping to the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

side's domestic and European consolidation. From 1994 to 1996 he scored a total of nine goals in 75 league matches, adding five appearances in the

1996–97 UEFA Cup The 1996–97 UEFA Cup was the 26th season of the UEFA Cup, the third-tier club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). It was won by German side Schalke 04, who beat Internazionale of Italy on pen ...

to help them reach the semi-finals. Tenerife were relegated to

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, and the 33-year-old Llorente joined another club in that level,

UD Salamanca Unión Deportiva Salamanca, S.A.D. () was a historical Spanish football team based in Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 February 1923 and nicknamed ''Los Charros'', the club played in white shirts and black ...

, retiring after one season with top-flight totals of 280 games and 20 goals.

Personal life

Llorente hailed from a sporting family. Aside from his uncle

Francisco Gento Francisco "Paco" Gento López (21 October 1933 – 18 January 2022) was a Spanish association football, footballer who played as an outside left. A fast runner, Gento was referred to as the "Gale of the Cantabrian Sea" () in reference to his spee ...

, his three older brothers were also professionals: José Luis (1959) and Antonio "Toñín" (1963) played top-level

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

for well more than one decade (including at

), while

Francisco Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Meaning of the name Francisco In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco (name), Paco". Francis of Assisi, San Francisco de A ...

spent seven seasons with Real Madrid, coinciding with Julio from 1988 to 1990.

Honours

Real Madrid *

: 1988–89, 1989–90 *

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

: 1988–89

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Llorente, Julio 1966 births Living people 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Valladolid Men's association football fullbacks La Liga players Segunda División players Real Madrid Castilla footballers Real Madrid CF players RCD Mallorca players CD Tenerife players UD Salamanca players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Gento family