Manuel Rodríguez Alfonso (born 22 December 1947), commonly known as Manolo, 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 as a defender. He spent his career playing for

Celta Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), the club was foun ...

and made the most appearances for the club with 533 appearances.

Club career

At the age of 15, Manolo joined the Celta de Vigo Youth. In 1966, he was promoted to the first team and made his debut. In 1974, he received a 20-million

Euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

offer from

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 ...

; but on 27 January, in a match against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

Johan Cruyff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016), internationally known as Johan Cruyff (), was a Dutch professional Association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager. Regarded as one of the greatest ...

made a harsh tackle on Manolo, which prevented him couldn't playing for Real Madrid. He continued to play for the club as a captain until 1982, becoming the player with the most appearances in the club's history. On 6 May 1982, thirty thousand people gathered at Balaídos Stadium to watch Manolo's farewell match between Celta Vigo and the Poland national team.

International career

Manolo played for the Galician national team in the , Spain U-19 national team and Spain national team. In 1974, he was almost called up for the national team to the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

, but then withdrawn after suffering the serious knee injury.

Honours

Celta Vigo *

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 ...

: 1981-82 *

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

: 1980-81 Record *

all-time appearance holder: 533 appearances

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez Alfonso, Manolo Living people 1947 births RC Celta de Vigo players Spanish men's footballers 20th-century Spanish sportsmen