Carlos Llorens Mestre (born 1 September 1969) 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 le ...

who played as a left-back. A player of attacking penchant, he was also a penalty kick specialist. He played for 11 teams during his career, amassing La Liga totals of 125 games and 11 goals with Rayo Vallecano,

Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El ...

and Alavés and retiring at the age of 40.

Club career

Born in

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in th ...

, Valencian Community, Llorens had to wait until the age of 26 to make his professional debut, in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

with

UE Lleida Unió Esportiva Lleida was a Spanish football team based in Lleida, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. It was founded as ''Lérida Balompié-AEM'' on 30 October 1939, and became ''Unión Deportiva Lérida'' in 1947, after a merger with ''C ...

. He went on to establish himself in that tier with

CD Leganés Club Deportivo Leganés, S.A.D. is a football club based in Leganés, Community of Madrid, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. It was founded on 23 June 1928. It holds home games at ...

and Rayo Vallecano, winning a promotion with the latter, a club to which he would later be intimately connected; his first match in La Liga arrived at almost 30 in a 2–0 derby win at

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, 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 profess ...

on 22 August 1999– Rayo finished the season ninth and qualified for the UEFA Cup via the

fair play Fair play or Fairplay usually refers to sportsmanship. Fair play or Fairplay may also refer to: Media * ''Fair Play'' (1925 film), an American silent film * ''Fair Play'', a 1972 TV movie starring Paul Ford * ''Fair Play'' (2014 film), a Czech ...

award. In the summer of 2000, unwilling to leave the club, Llorens was nonetheless part of a package deal that sent him to precisely Atlético, by then in the second division. In January 2001, however, he returned to the top flight with CA Osasuna on loan. Subsequently, he experienced two very different seasons at Deportivo Alavés: in his first he scored six goals in 36 games, four from

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

, and the Basque team qualified for Europe once again, but suffered relegation the following campaign. After three additional seasons in division two with modest

Polideportivo Ejido Poli Ejido 2012 Sociedad Deportiva was a Spanish football team based in El Ejido, Province of Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1969 and dissolved in 2012, it held home matches at ''Estadio Municipal Santo Domingo'', ...

, Llorens returned to Rayo at 37, helping it to return to the second tier in his second year. In the following year, as the Madrid side eventually finished in mid-table, he was still going strong, aged nearly 40; he finished his second stint in June 2009, retiring shortly after with professional totals of 395 matches and 27 goals.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Llorens, Carlos 1969 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Alicante Men's association football fullbacks La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Cartagena FC players Elche CF players Levante UD footballers UE Lleida players CD Leganés players Rayo Vallecano players Atlético Madrid footballers CA Osasuna players Deportivo Alavés players Polideportivo Ejido footballers