Francisco "Paco" Llorente Gento (born 21 May 1965) is a Spanish former

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 mostly as a

right winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He amassed

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 ...

totals of 207 games and 11 goals over the course of 13 seasons, with

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

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 ...

and Compostela.

Club career

Llorente was 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 ...

. After a brief youth passage at

he signed with neighbours

, being fairly used over two seasons. In summer 1987, he re-joined Real.Guillermo Ortiz: Paco Llorente o la última jugarreta de Ramón Mendoza a Vicente Calderón (Guillermo Ortiz: Paco Llorente or Ramón Mendoza's last move on Vicente Calderón)

Jot Down ''Jot Down'' is a cultural magazine based in Barcelona, Spain. The magazine was started as an online magazine, but has also published quarterly print editions. It describes itself as one of the representatives of slow journalism. History and pro ...

, October 2013 (in Spanish) Also being able to appear as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

, Llorente found it difficult to break into the starting XI, with Míchel preferred in his natural position and

Hugo Sánchez Hugo Sánchez Márquez (born 11 July 1958) is a Mexican former professional Association football, footballer and Manager (association football), manager, who played as a Forward (association football), forward. A prolific goalscorer known for ...

and Emilio Butragueño up front. His moment of glory came during the second leg of the second round of the

1987–88 European Cup The 1987–88 European Cup was the 33rd season of the European Cup club football tournament. The competition was won for the first time by PSV Eindhoven, who defeated two-time winners Benfica in the final at Neckarstadion in Stuttgart. PSV becam ...

with Madrid facing elimination at

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

, as he appeared from the bench to provide two assists for Míchel after powerful flank runs which evoked memories of 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 ...

, star winger of the 1950s and 60s. In 1989–90, after the arrival of

John Toshack John Benjamin Toshack (born 22 March 1949) is a Welsh former professional football player and manager. He began his playing career as a teenager with his hometown club Cardiff City, becoming the youngest player to make an appearance for the ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

, Llorente found his playing time drastically cut; in his later years with the club, with

Benito Floro Benito Floro Sanz (born 2 June 1952) is a Spanish football manager. Football career Floro was born in Gijón, Asturias. During his professional career he managed Albacete (two spells, starting off in 1989 in Segunda División B and leading the ...

at the helm, he even saw some time as

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 ...

. He retired in 1998 after four top-flight seasons with lowly

SD Compostela Sociedade Deportiva Compostela is a Spanish football team based in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia. They play home matches at San Lázaro, and compete in . History A team called Compostela Foot-ball Club was founded in 1928, ceasing to exist ...

, aged 33.

International career

Llorente played once for

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, against

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

for the

UEFA Euro 1988 The 1988 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in West Germany from 10 to 25 June 1988. It was the eighth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. France national football team, Fr ...

qualifiers on 18 November 1987, scoring one of the five without response in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

. He did not make the cut for the final stages in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, however.

Personal life

Llorente hailed from a sporting family. Other than his uncle, his three brothers were also professionals: José Luis (1959) and (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 the youngest,

Julio Julio is the Spanish equivalent of the month July and may refer to: *Julio (given name) * Julio (surname) * Júlio de Castilhos, a municipality of the western part of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * ''Julio'' (album), a 1983 compilation al ...

, made nearly 400 overall official appearances during his career as a defender, coinciding with Paco at Real from 1988 to 1990. The

nephew In the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a niece or nephew is a child of an individual's sibling or sibling-in-law. A niece is female and a nephew is male, and they would call their parents' siblings aunt or uncle ...

of legendary Real Madrid footballer

, his son

Marcos Marcos may refer to: People with the given name ''Marcos'' *Marcos (given name) * Marcos family Sports ;Surnamed * Dayton Marcos, Negro league baseball team from Dayton, Ohio (early twentieth-century) * Dimitris Markos, Greek footballer * Né ...

also played for the club. His father-in-law

Ramón Grosso Ramón Moreno Grosso (8 December 1943 – 13 February 2002) was a Spanish football forward and manager. He spent 12 La Liga seasons with Real Madrid, appearing in 366 competitive matches (75 goals scored) and winning 11 major titles, including ...

did the same.Llorente lives up to family legacy in Madrid... except he's doing it for Atletico, not Real

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

, 14 March 2020

Honours

Real Madrid *

: 1987–88, 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 ...

: 1989–90, 1992–93 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España, also known as the Spanish Super Cup, is a super cup tournament in Football in Spain, Spanish football. Founded in 1982 Supercopa de España, 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2 ...

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Llorente, Paco 1965 births Living people 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Valladolid Men's association football wingers Men's association football utility players La Liga players Segunda División players CD Móstoles footballers Atlético Madrid B players Atlético Madrid footballers Real Madrid CF players SD Compostela footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's under-23 international footballers Spain men's international footballers Gento family