Luis Javier García Sanz (born 24 June 1978) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a winger. Although naturally left-footed, he was skilled with both feet and had a good aerial game, despite a small frame. He played professionally for Barcelona and

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based i ...

in his homeland, amongst others – being brought up in the former's youth ranks – appearing abroad for Liverpool, with whom he won the 2005 Champions League and the 2006 FA Cup. Over the course of eight seasons, García amassed La Liga totals of 150 games and 22 goals. A Spanish international for three years, he earned 20

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

and represented the nation at the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

. García now works as a football analyst for

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The co ...

Club career

Barcelona

Born in

Badalona Badalona (, , , ) is a municipality to the immediate north east of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. It is located on the left bank of the Besòs River and on the Mediterranean Sea, in the Barcelona metropolitan area. By population, it is the third l ...

, Barcelona, Catalonia, García began playing football with local

CF Badalona Club de Fútbol Badalona () is a Spanish football team based in Badalona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1903 it plays in Tercera Federación – Group 5, temporarily holding home games at Estadi Municipal de Badalona, with ...

at the age of 6, arriving in FC Barcelona's youth ranks six years later from neighbours CE Sant Gabriel. After two successful seasons with their reserves, he left on loan for

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club colo ...

, where he made his La Liga debut on 22 August 1999 in a 0–1 away loss against

CD Numancia Club Deportivo Numancia de Soria, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club in Soria, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 April 1945, it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at '' Nuevo Estadio Los ...

. He finished the campaign at Segunda División's

CD Toledo Club Deportivo Toledo, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Toledo, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. Founded in 1928 it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 18, holding home games at '' Estadio Salto del Caballo'', ...

also on loan, his four goals not being enough to prevent

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open league ...

for the Castile-La Mancha side; on 18 August 1998, he had made his first competitive appearance for the ''Blaugrana'', coming on as 78th-minute substitute for

Boudewijn Zenden Boudewijn Zenden (; born 15 August 1976) also known by his nickname "Bolo", is a Dutch former footballer who played as a left winger or as an attacking midfielder. Named the 1997 Dutch Football Talent of the Year, Zenden played for four teams i ...

in a 1–2 defeat at

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...

in the

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...

. Subsequently, García played another year in the second level, being instrumental in

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 1912, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez Ló ...

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

by scoring 16 league goals under the guidance of manager Rafael Benítez. Loaned for the fourth time by Barcelona, he returned to Valladolid for 2001–02, netting seven top-division goals in 25 matches, including two in a 5–1 away victory over Tenerife.

Atlético Madrid

In the 2002–03 season, García was sold to

for

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

3.6 million but, after a highly successful individual campaign (nine league goals), Barcelona activated a clause which allowed the player's return for an additional €1.4 million. At the

Camp Nou Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcel ...

he had another good year, helping the team to the second place in the league, five points behind champions Valencia CF.

Liverpool

García was signed by former Tenerife coach Benítez for Liverpool on 20 August 2004, on a five-year contract for a fee of £6 million. He was the fourth Spaniard signed by the club that summer and, nine days after arriving, made his Premier League debut in a 0–1 away loss to

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

, where he had an apparently legitimate goal ruled out for offside; his first goal with his new club came against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has p ...

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...

on 11 September, concluding a 3–0 win, and he went on to net seven more times in the league that season, including the headed winner in the Merseyside derby against Everton on 20 March 2005. García was also a key player in Liverpool's successful campaign in the UEFA Champions League, scoring winning goals against

Juventus F.C. Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in 1 ...

and

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament const ...

(a controversial one in the fourth minute, dubbed a " ghost goal" by Chelsea manager José Mourinho), in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, respectively. Having appeared in the final against

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seasons ...

, he finished his first season in

English football Association football is the most popular sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of ...

with 13 successful strikes in all competitions. Luis Garcia Sanz 2010

García did not make so much of an impact in the 2005–06 campaign, 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. He was suspended for the final victory against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, ha ...

, having been

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

in a league game just days after his semi-final winner, coincidentally also against West Ham. Early into the season, he also scored the third goal in the ''Reds

2005 UEFA Super Cup The 2005 UEFA Super Cup was an association football match between Liverpool of England and CSKA Moscow of Russia on 26 August 2005 at Stade Louis II, Monaco, the annual UEFA Super Cup contested between the winners of the UEFA Champions League and ...

final defeat of PFC CSKA Moscow. On 10 January 2007, following the 3–6 loss to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostl ...

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 The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. ...

(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 honour, to the tune of " You Are My Sunshine": ''"Luis García, he drinks

Sangria Sangria (, es, sangría , pt, sangria ) is an alcoholic beverage originating in Spain and Portugal. Under EU regulations only those two Iberian nations can label their product as Sangria; similar products from different regions are differ ...

/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!"'' In the 2013 poll of the ''100 Players Who Shook the Kop'', García ranked 34th. All in all he scored 30 goals in 121 appearances for Liverpool, with ten coming in the Champions League, five in the knockout stages of the 2005 triumph.

Return to Spain

In early July 2007, 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 Fernando José Torres Sanz (; born 20 March 1984) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a striker. He is the current manager of Atlético Madrid Juvenil A. Due to his consistent goalscoring rate as a young player ...

in the opposite direction. Nonetheless, these deals were conducted separately. After a first season, where he played mainly as backup to Portugal's

Simão Sabrosa Simão Pedro da Fonseca Sabrosa (born 31 October 1979), known mononymously as Simão (), is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played mainly as a left winger, with dribbling and set piece skills as primary attributes. Having pla ...

, though still managing 30 league appearances, with García playing both matches against former side Liverpool in the following campaign's Champions League group stage. On 4 November 2008, he came on as a late substitute at Anfield to appreciative applause. During the league, however, he fell out of favour, appearing mainly from the bench 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 Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league syste ...

. His season was quite unassuming, as he appeared in only 15 league matches without scoring and the

Cantabria Cantabria (, also , , Cantabrian: ) is an autonomous community in northern Spain with Santander as its capital city. It is called a ''comunidad histórica'', a historic community, in its current Statute of Autonomy. It is bordered on the eas ...

ns narrowly avoided relegation.

Later years

On 28 August 2010, García signed a one-year contract with Greek club

Panathinaikos FC Panathinaikos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Παναθηναϊκός Α.Ο. ), known as Panathinaikos, or by its full name, and the name of its parent sports club, Panathinaikos A.O. or PAO (; ''Panathinaïkós Athlitikós Ómilos'', "All-Athenian ...

. On 4 September he flew back to Anfield to take part in Carragher's testimonial match, scoring a goal in the second minute. He returned to the Camp Nou ten days later, playing the last 20 minutes in a 1–5 loss in the Champions League group stage. Luisgarciapuebla

On 1 July 2011, 33-year-old García signed with Mexican team

Puebla FC Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

. He scored his first goal for ''La Franja'' on the 24th, through a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

away to Atlas FC (1–0). In early June 2012, García signed for another club in the Liga MX,

Club Universidad Nacional Club Universidad Nacional, A.C., commonly referred to as UNAM, is a professional football club based in Ciudad Universitaria of Mexico City, Mexico. The club competes in the Liga MX, the top division in the Mexican football league system. Foun ...

, joining alongside Martín Romagnoli for an undisclosed fee. He made his official debut against Atlas, playing 34 minutes from the bench. On 14 January 2014, aged 35, García announced his retirement from football. He made the announcement on his official website, saying, "Today I've decided to retire as a professional footballer, thanks for the interest from the teams that spoke with me in recent weeks, but I think the time has come to end this important chapter in my life and move to the next page." García came out of retirement in July 2014, joining newly formed

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...

franchise

Atlético de Kolkata ATK (formerly Atlético de Kolkata) was an Indian professional football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. The club competed in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football and were the league champions during the inaugural 2 ...

as their

marquee player A marquee player is an athlete who is considered exceptionally popular, skilled, or otherwise outstanding, especially in professional sports. Its name comes from theater marquees, on which the names of the stars of productions in said theater ar ...

ahead of the league's inaugural season, the first of such players to join the league. He started in the league's opening match, as his new team won 3–0 at home against

Mumbai City FC Mumbai City Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Mumbai, Maharashtra that competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. The club was founded in August 2014, during the inaugural season of ...

. On 21 November he had a wrongly disallowed goal in an eventual 1–2 loss at

Kerala Blasters FC Kerala Blasters Football Club (), commonly referred to as The Blasters, is an Indian professional football club based in Kochi, Kerala, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top tier of football in India. The club was established i ...

but, despite finishing the regular season in third, Kolkata won the league final against the same opponent, although he was an unused substitute; he also won the league's Manyavar Most Exciting Player award. Due to concerns over his injury record, García was not retained for the 2015 campaign. On 16 January 2016, he signed for Central Coast Mariners FC initially until the end of the season. He made his debut one week later, coming off the bench and playing a role in his team's goal in a 1–2 loss to

Western Sydney Wanderers FC Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, or simply as Wanderers) is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier ...

. In the next match, against

Wellington Phoenix FC Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under North American professional sports league organization#Systems around the world, lic ...

, he was again used as a substitute, scoring one goal and setting up two more in a 3–1 win. García served as a pundit for

beIN Sports beIN Sports ( ) is a global network of sports channels owned and operated by the Qatari media group beIN. It has played a major role in the increased commercialization of Qatari sports. Its chairman is Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and its CEO is Yousef ...

during their coverage of the UEFA Euro 2016.

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 defeat of China in Salamanca. On 12 November of that year, he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a 5–1 home victory over Slovakia for the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

qualification play-offs. García was then chosen as part of the nation's squad-of-23 for the finals in Germany. He started in wins against Ukraine and Tunisia, and was used as a substitute in the round-of-16 1–3 loss to France.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

Honours

Club

Liverpool * FA Cup: 2005–06García missed the 2006 FA Cup final due to suspension. However, additional medals are awarded by The Football Association. * FA Community Shield:

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 FIFA ...

* Football League Cup runner-up: 2004-05 * UEFA Champions League: 2004–05; runner-up 2006–07 * UEFA Super Cup:

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

* FIFA Club World Championship runner-up:

Atlético Madrid * UEFA Intertoto Cup:

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

Atlético Kolkata *

: 2014

Individual

Awards *

UEFA Team of the Year The UEFA Fan's Team of the Year is a football award given by UEFA through a poll on its official website. This award started in 2001 and allows users of the organization's website to choose their own eleven players and a coach based on their ove ...

References

External links

* *
Liverpool historic profile
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Luis 1978 births Living people People from Badalona Sportspeople from the Province of Barcelona Spanish footballers Footballers from Catalonia Association football wingers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players FC Barcelona Atlètic players FC Barcelona players Real Valladolid players CD Toledo players CD Tenerife players Atlético Madrid footballers Racing de Santander players Premier League players Liverpool F.C. players Super League Greece players Panathinaikos F.C. players Liga MX players Club Puebla players Club Universidad Nacional footballers Indian Super League players Indian Super League marquee players ATK (football club) players A-League Men players Marquee players (A-League Men) Central Coast Mariners FC players UEFA Champions League winning players Spain international footballers 2006 FIFA World Cup players Catalonia international footballers Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Mexico Expatriate footballers in India Expatriate soccer players in Australia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Spanish expatriate sportspeople in India Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Australia Dual internationalists (football)