Luis Gabriel Rey Villamizar (February 20, 1980) is a Colombian former professional footballer who last played for

Liga MX Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...

club Monarcas Morelia on loan from

Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club América, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City. Nicknamed ''Las Águilas'' (The Eagles), it competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football ...

. A classical left-footed striker, Rey arrived to Mexico in 2001 and has scored over 150 goals in Liga MX. He holds Mexican citizenship. Nicknamed in Mexico as ''El Canguro'' (Spanish for

kangaroo Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

) due to his goal celebrations, he was part of the Colombia national team and played the Copa América 2007.

Career

Early career

Rey debuted in 2000 with

Atlético Bucaramanga Club Atlético Bucaramanga S.A., better known as Atlético Bucaramanga, is a Colombian professional football team based in Bucaramanga. The club plays its home games at the Américo Montanini stadium. The club was founded on 11 May 1949 by Rafa ...

, where he remained for one year, moved to Mexico and was transferred to Segundo Division clubs such as

Lobos BUAP Club de Fútbol Lobos de la Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla were a Mexican football club based in Puebla, Mexico. The club represented the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla. The club's history goes back to the early 1930s ...

, Zitacuaro, and Acapulco; eventually he switched to Atlante FC.

Atlante

While at the club, he reaped great success as goalscorer, winning the league's Gold Boot, achieved in the 2003 Apertura, becoming the first Colombian to win that distinction in Mexico soccer. In his first stint with Atlante, Rey scored 43 goals in 76 appearances.

Morelia

In 2005, Rey signed with Monarcas Morelia where he managed to score 26 goals in 88 appearances from 2005 to 2007.

Pachuca

For the Apertura 2007, Rey was purchased by recently crowned champions

Pachuca Pachuca (; ), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the east-central Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca Municipality, Pach ...

, along with

Rafael Márquez Lugo Rafael Márquez Lugo (born 2 November 1981) is a Mexican sports analyst and former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Club career Club Universidad Nacional Márquez Lugo joine ...

, in a trade for Luis Angel Landin. Rey scored a three goals against

Tigres UANL Club Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, abbreviated as Tigres UANL and simply known as Tigres or internationally as Tigres de México, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in the Monterrey metropo ...

. Rey returned to Atlante to play the Apertura 2008, after scoring five goals in 34 matches.

Return to Morelia

During the 2009 Draft it was announced that Rey would return to Monarcas Morelia. While in preseason with the club in

Zihuatanejo Zihuatanejo (), and/or Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, is the fourth largest city in the Mexican state of Guerrero. It was known by 18th-century English mariners as Chequetan and/or Seguataneo. Politically the city belongs to the municipalities of Mexico, m ...

Guerrero Guerrero, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guerrero, is one of the 32 states that compose the administrative divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Guerrero, 85 municipalities. The stat ...

, Rey picked up an injury that would prevent him from playing the first match of the season. He would not reappeared until matchday six, against

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

and score his first goal against UANL. In November 2009 Rey would score what he considers "the best goal of his career" against

Club Deportivo Guadalajara Club Deportivo Guadalajara S.A de C.V. (;), nicknamed ''"Chivas"'' () and simply known as Guadalajara or internationally as Chivas de Guadalajara, is a Mexican professional football club based in the Guadalajara metropolitan area, Jalisco. It c ...

at the Estadio Morelos. After a cross from teammate Jaime Duran, Rey attempted a successful bicycle-kick which beat goalkeeper Luis Ernesto Michel.

Jaguares de Chiapas

For the Apertura 2011, Rey was transferred to

Jaguares de Chiapas Jaguares Fútbol Club is a Mexican football club based in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, that plays in Liga Premier, the third level division of Mexican football. Founded in 2002 as Jaguares de Chiapas Fútbol Club, then changed its name to Chiapas ...

, club in which he scored his 100th goal in the Mexican top-flight in the first match of the tournament against

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

. Appearing in over 70 matches and scoring 33 goals, Rey is one of the top goal-scorers in the club's history.

América

On June 5, 2013, Rey was signed by recently crowned league champions América. He scored his first goal for América on September 2 in the 4–1 win over

UNAM The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countries. It also has 34 ...

. On 2015, Rey moved to

Puebla FC Club Puebla is a Mexican professional football club based in Puebla. It competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Founded in 1944 as Puebla Fútbol Club, and then changed to its current name in 2016. Nicknamed ''La Franja'' (" ...

Puebla

Puebla Puebla, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is Puebla City. Part of east-centr ...

signed Rey in a season-long loan deal from

. Rey played a total of 38 games between

and the

Copa MX Copa MX, also known as Copa Corona MX for sponsorship reasons, was an association football competition in Mexico and the domestic cup tournament for clubs at the highest and second levels of Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Copa ...

, having scored a total of 11 goals in both competitions. At the end of the Apertura 2015 he returned with Club América.

Back on loan to Monarcas Morelia

On 9 December 2015, Monarcas Morelia announced that they had reached an agreement with

for the loan of Luis Gabriel Rey.

International goals

Honors

Club

;Pachuca *

North American SuperLiga The SuperLiga was an annual association football competition in North America between four clubs from the Major League Soccer (United States and Canada) and four clubs from the Primera División (Mexico), the top professional league in each count ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

CONCACAF Champions' Cup The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, a ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

;Atlante *

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, ...

: 2008–09 ;Morelia *

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

;América *

: Apertura 2014 ;Puebla *

: Clausura 2015 *

Supercopa MX Supercopa MX () was an association football competition in Mexico and the domestic super cup between the Copa MX champions of the ''Apertura'' and ''Clausura'' tournaments. Initially played in a two-legged and later with a single final match. It w ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Individual

Mexican Primera División Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divi ...

top scorer: Apertura 2003

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rey, Luis Gabriel 1980 births Living people Footballers from Bucaramanga Colombian men's footballers Colombia men's international footballers Colombian emigrants to Mexico Naturalized citizens of Mexico Atlético Bucaramanga footballers Lobos BUAP footballers Atlante F.C. footballers Atlético Morelia players C.F. Pachuca players Jaguares F.C. footballers Club Puebla players Club América footballers 2007 Copa América players Liga MX players Colombian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Men's association football forwards CONCACAF Champions Cup–winning players 21st-century Colombian sportsmen