Patricio Javier Urrutia Espinoza (born 15 October 1978) is an Ecuadorian football manager and former player who played as a

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He is the current manager of Delfín.

Club career

Early career

Urrutia started playing football for local club Liga Deportiva Cantonal de Ventanas. His professional career began at Barcelona de Guayaquil in 1996, but he never got any playing time. He was later transferred to Calvi, also in Guayaquil, and again never saw playing time at the club. The following year, he was traded to Técnico Universitario in Ambato in 1998. For the Ambato club, he got significant played time, earning 30 caps in his first year. After a dry season in 1999, he was transferred to crosstown rival Macará. At the club, he was a significant part of the squad, earning 79 caps and scoring 12 goals in three seasons. In 2002, he was loaned back to Barcelona for a season, playing in 38 matches and scoring two goals before being transferred to LDU Quito.

LDU Quito

Urrutia joined LDU Quito in 2003. During his time at the club, he has become a star and a prominent figure in the line-up as the team captain. Domestically, he has helped bring in three national titles to the club (2003, 2005 A, 2007). Internationally, he has brought success to himself and the club. In the 2005 Copa Libertadores, he was a joint top-scorer with 13 other players. He has since become the team's all-time top-scorer in the tournament with 18 goals. In 2008, he was a starting figure of the squad that won the

2008 Copa Libertadores The 2008 Copa Libertadores de América was the 49th edition of the Copa Libertadores, CONMEBOL's premier annual international club tournament. This marked the first year the competition was sponsored by Spanish bank Grupo Santander, Santander. As ...

, the first international title for the club and the country. During the campaign, he scored 7 goals, including the 4th in the first leg of the final, and the first penalty of the shootout in the second leg, and was voted the Most Valuable Player of the final.

Fluminense

Urrutia was expected to transfer to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian club Fluminense. The club had been interested in Urrutia since the

2008 Copa Libertadores Final The 2008 Copa Libertadores finals was a Two-legged tie, two-legged football match-up to determine the 2008 Copa Libertadores champion. The series was contested between Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito from Quito, Ecuador, and Fluminense Footba ...

, but negotiations fell through back in 2008. The parties involved finally reach an agree for Patricio's transfer in August 2009. Pato travelled to

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

for medical exams, but he did not pass the medical tests because of inflammation on his right knee, which had recently been operated on. Fluminense, who at the time was in 19th position and in the relegation zone, wanted to use Pato's skills immediately. The approximate one-month recovery time prevented the team from incorporating Pato from the beginning. An initial decision was made to not sign Pato at that time, forcing him to stay with LDU Quito. However, on 26 August 2009, Urrutía signed a two-year contract with Fluminense after a second round of medical exams showed the recovery time for his knee was less than expected.

International career

Urrutia was first called up to the national team on 17 November 2004, in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match against

in Quito. He was chosen to be part of

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

's team in the World Cup games in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

2006. His appointment to the Ecuadorian squad for the

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

raised a few eyebrows, as he had not made an appearance for them in months. He made his

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

debut as a substitute for Agustín Delgado in the 2006 World Cup games against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

, where they won 2–0 and 3–0 respectively, securing a historic qualification to the round of sixteen. This was the best result yet for Ecuador in their World Cup history He was also called up for the 2007 Copa América. He scored the only goal of the game in a friendly match against

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

from the penalty spot on 22 August 2007. Since those tournaments, he has been regularly been called up to the squad and has become a major player in the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Ecuador's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Urrutia goal.''

Honours

LDU Quito *

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

: 2003, 2005 Apertura, 2007,

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 ...

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

: 2008 * Recopa Sudamericana:

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

References

External links

Player card on FEF
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Urrutia, Patricio 1978 births Living people People from Ventanas Footballers from Los Ríos Province Ecuadorian men's footballers Ecuadorian expatriate men's footballers Ecuadorian people of Basque descent Barcelona S.C. footballers C.D. Técnico Universitario footballers C.S.D. Macará footballers L.D.U. Quito footballers Fluminense FC players Ecuadorian Serie A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil Ecuador men's international footballers 2006 FIFA World Cup players 2007 Copa América players Men's association football midfielders Copa Libertadores–winning players Copa Libertadores top scorers Ecuadorian football managers Delfín S.C. managers