Eugenio Leal

Eugenio Leal Vargas (born 13 May 1954) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a midfielder.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Leal and the second or maternal family name is Vargas.
Eugenio Leal
Personal information
Full name Eugenio Leal Vargas
Date of birth (1954-05-13) 13 May 1954
Place of birth Carriches, Spain
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
La Salle
Atlético Madrid
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1971–1982 Atlético Madrid 185 (24)
1973–1974 → Sporting Gijón (loan) 23 (4)
1983 Sabadell 2 (0)
Total 210 (28)
International career
1970–1971 Spain U18 8 (0)
1973–1976 Spain amateur 3 (0)
1977–1978 Spain 13 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

He spent most of his 12-year professional career with Atlético Madrid, appearing in more than 230 competitive games and winning two La Liga championships.

A Spain international for one year, Leal represented the country at the 1978 World Cup.

Club career

Born in Carriches, Province of Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha, Leal finished his youth career with Atlético Madrid. After alternating between the first team and the amateur reserves to start with, he was loaned to fellow La Liga team Sporting de Gijón, returning to the Vicente Calderón Stadium late into the 1973–74 season to play the Copa del Rey as the foreign players were not eligible for the tournament. He started playing football as a forward, but manager and former teammate Luis Aragonés reconverted him in a midfielder.[1]

In a derby against Real Madrid in 1979, Leal suffered a knee ligament injury following a challenge from Juan Sol from which he never fully recovered. He left the Colchoneros in June 1982 after only eight games in two years and, after a few months at CE Sabadell FC to help them prevent relegation from Segunda División, which eventually did not befell, he retired at the age of 29.[1]

Leal helped Atlético to the 1973 and 1977 domestic leagues, contributing a total of 42 matches and four goals to the achievements.[2][3][4][5] After retiring, he settled in Granada and worked as a stockbroker.[1]

International career

Leal earned the first of his 13 caps for Spain on 16 April 1977, in a 0–1 away loss against Romania for the 1978 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.[6] Six months later, in the same phase and facing the same opponent, he scored in the 2–0 win in Madrid.[7]

Selected to the finals in Argentina by coach László Kubala, Leal featured in three games in an eventual group stage exit.[8]

International goals
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.26 October 1977Vicente Calderón, Madrid, Spain Romania1–02–01978 World Cup qualification[7]

Honours

Atlético Madrid

References
  1. Guijarro, Miguel Ángel (16 November 2004). "El 'Cheli', carisma en rojo y blanco" ['Cheli', charisma in red and white] (PDF). Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 January 2011.
  2. "2–1: El Atlético, mal; el Betis, peor" [2–1: Atlético, bad, Betis, worse]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 18 September 1972. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
  3. Ventura, Xavier (25 October 1976). "3–1: El Barcelona no supo frenar al Atlético" [3–1: Barcelona could not stop Atlético]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 September 2017.
  4. Fanlo, M. (10 January 1977). "2–3: Ganó el fútbol de conjunto del Atlético" [2–3: Atlético team football won]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  5. Pina, Nivardo (7 March 1977). "5–1: Goleada del Atlético al Elche" [5–1: Atlético rout of Elche]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 September 2017.
  6. Rovira, Ramón (17 April 1977). "1–0: Mal la selección y mal el resultado" [1–0: Bad national team and bad result]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 September 2017.
  7. Rovira, Ramón (27 October 1977). "2–0: España sudó pero ganó bien" [2–0: Spain broke a sweat but won fairly]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 September 2017.
  8. Castillo, J.J. (8 June 1978). "0–0: En pies de Cardeñosa estuvo el triunfo español" [0–0: Cardeñosa had Spain win in his feet]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 September 2017.
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