Gustavo Munúa

Gustavo Adolfo Munúa Vera (born 27 January 1978) is a Uruguayan former footballer who played as a goalkeeper, currently manager of Spanish club Real Murcia.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Munúa and the second or maternal family name is Vera.

Gustavo Munúa
Munúa presented as coach of LDU in 2017
Personal information
Full name Gustavo Adolfo Munúa Vera
Date of birth (1978-01-27) 27 January 1978
Place of birth Montevideo, Uruguay
Height 1.89 m (6 ft 2+1⁄2 in)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team
 Murcia (manager)
Youth career
1986–1997 Nacional
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1997–2003 Nacional 102 (3)
2003–2009 Deportivo La Coruña 27 (0)
2009–2010 Málaga 38 (0)
2010–2013 Levante 86 (0)
2013–2014 Fiorentina 0 (0)
2014–2015 Nacional 41 (0)
Total 294 (3)
International career
1998–2004 Uruguay 21 (0)
Managerial career
2015–2016 Nacional
2016–2017 LDU
2017–2018 Deportivo B
2018–2019 Cartagena
2019–2020 Nacional
2021–2023 Unión Santa Fe
2023– Murcia
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

After starting out at Nacional he spent most of his professional career in Spain, mainly at Deportivo de La Coruña where he could never be a starter in six seasons. He also played in the country for Málaga and Levante, being first choice and appearing in 151 La Liga matches over one decade.

An Uruguayan international for six years, Munúa represented the country at the 2002 World Cup. As manager, he had two spells at Nacional and also worked in the top divisions of Ecuador and Argentina.

Playing career

Nacional

Born in Montevideo, Munúa started his career at local Club Nacional de Football, where he won four Uruguayan Primera División titles in a row. He held the record of being the first goalkeeper to score in Uruguayan football, when he netted from a free kick in a league win against Central Español.[1]

Munúa later scored three goals from penalties, both in the league and the Copa Libertadores.[1]

Deportivo

Munúa left Nacional in 2003, joining La Liga side Deportivo de La Coruña on a six-year contract,[2] where he struggled to gain first-choice status. From 2003 to 2006 he was topped by Spanish international José Francisco Molina and, subsequently, faced stiff competition from Israel's Dudu Aouate.

In January 2008, after regaining first-choice from Aouate, both goalkeepers were involved in a post-training punching session that resulted in both being suspended for the match against Villarreal CF, as well as subsequent league games.[3] In February, due to B-team goalkeeper Fabri's inexperience, both players were reinstated in the squad, although the Israeli regained his lost spot.

After having started the following season, as Aouate, deemed surplus to requirements, Munúa eventually returned to back-up status, as Aouate was sold to RCD Mallorca and Fabri returned to the reserves. On 25 January 2009, due to the forced absence of new first-choice Dani Aranzubia (sent off the previous week against FC Barcelona), he returned to action for his only appearance of the campaign, a 1–0 loss at Real Madrid.[4]

Málaga and Levante
Munúa facing a shot from Real Sociedad's Carlos Vela in 2012

On 28 June 2009, Munúa signed a one-year deal with Málaga CF.[5] At his new club he was an instant first choice, appearing in all the league games in his first year as the Andalusians barely avoided relegation (17th position).

After only one season, Munúa rejected a new contract offer and was released by the club, on 26 May 2010.[6] On 6 August he signed with Levante UD, returned to the top flight after two years,[7] and he made his official debut on 28 August, in a 1–4 home defeat to Sevilla FC.[8]

Munúa was a starter for the Valencian Community side throughout the vast majority of his spell.[9] However, late into his third season, he, alongside Sergio Ballesteros and Juanlu, was accused by teammate José Barkero of lack of commitment during a 4–0 home loss against Deportivo, which led to several match fixing allegations.[10][11]

Later years

In January 2014, after a brief spell with ACF Fiorentina which consisted of two UEFA Europa League appearances,[12] the 36-year-old Munúa returned to his country and Nacional.[13]

International

Munúa made his debut for Uruguay aged 20, in a friendly match with Chile on 24 May 1998. As a backup, he represented the nation at the 2001 Copa América[14] and the 2002 FIFA World Cup.[15]

Coaching career

After winning the 2015 national championship with the latter, as team captain, Munúa was announced as Álvaro Gutiérrez's replacement as head coach.[16] The following season, he resigned in June 2016 due to a poor showing in the Clausura tournament.[17]

Munúa being presented at L.D.U. Quito

In December 2016, Munúa was named manager of Ecuador's L.D.U. Quito.[18] He was dismissed at the end of July, having won one of 20 league matches, but also reached the knockout stages of the Copa Sudamericana with victories over Defensor Sporting and Club Bolívar.[19]

On 7 November 2017, Munúa returned to his former club Deportivo as manager of their reserves in the Segunda División B.[20] In his one season in the dugout, the club reached the play-offs where they lost on away goals to Extremadura UD after a 3–3 aggregate draw.[21]

Munúa joined fellow third division side FC Cartagena on 10 July 2018.[22] He again took his team to the post-season, this time being eliminated 3–1 in the semi-finals by SD Ponferradina.[23]

On 22 December 2019, Munúa took advantage of a contract clause allowing him to leave for a top-flight or foreign team, and returned to Nacional for the upcoming season; he mentioned the necessity of being nearer his two teenage children.[24] He was relieved of his job on 15 October 2020, after losing the Apertura final to C.A. Rentistas.[25]

In October 2021, Munúa was hired at Unión de Santa Fe, ranked 14th in the Argentine Primera División.[26] He led the team to the last 16 of the 2022 Copa Sudamericana, losing 4–1 on aggregate to his former team Nacional.[27] On 4 April 2023, he was dismissed, with one win and four losses leaving the team second from bottom after nine games of the new season.[28]

Career statistics
Club performance[29][30] League Cup League Cup Continental Total
SeasonClubLeague AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Uruguay League Cup League Cup South America Total
1997NacionalPrimera División10––––??10
1998110––––??110
1999110––––??110
200000––––??00
2001270––––??270
2002331––––??331
2003192––––??192
Spain League Copa del Rey Supercopa de España Europe Total
2003–04DeportivoLa Liga5040––10100
2004–0517020––20200
2005–060000––0000
2006–070060––––60
2007–084020––––60
2008–091000––0010
2009–10Málaga38000––––380
2010–11Levante20040––––240
2011–1237020––––390
2012–1318000––00180
Italy League Coppa Italia Supercoppa Italiana Europe Total
2013–14FiorentinaSerie A0000––2020
Total Uruguay 1023––––??1023
Spain 1400200––301630
Italy 0000––2020
Career total 2423200––502673

Managerial statistics
As of 22 January 2023
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team Nat From To Record Ref
G W D L GF GA GD Win %
Nacional Uruguay 29 June 2015 5 June 2016 44 20 14 10 67 50 +17 045.45 [31]
LDU Ecuador 13 December 2016 3 July 2017 22 2 11 9 23 35 −12 009.09 [32]
Deportivo B Spain 7 November 2017 28 May 2018 27 13 5 9 31 25 +6 048.15 [33]
Cartagena Spain 10 July 2018 22 December 2019 63 36 15 12 93 46 +47 057.14 [34]
Nacional Uruguay 22 December 2019 16 October 2020 22 11 7 4 36 24 +12 050.00 [31]
Unión Santa Fe Argentina 27 September 2021 Present 63 22 15 26 72 73 −1 034.92 [35]
Total 241 104 67 70 322 253 +69 043.15 —

Honours

Nacional

Uruguay

References
  1. Fernández, Joaquín (13 January 2014). "Vestidos de salvadores" [Dressed as saviours] (in Spanish). Por Decir Algo. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
  2. "Deportivo dive in for Munúa". UEFA. 26 August 2003. Retrieved 13 May 2010.
  3. "Deportivo keepers axed after fight". CNN. 11 January 2008. Retrieved 8 April 2008.
  4. "Un gol de Raúl da otro triunfo al Real Madrid (1–0)" [Raúl goal gives another win to Real Madrid (1–0)]. 20 minutos (in Spanish). 25 January 2009. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  5. "Duo make Málaga moves". Sky Sports. 28 June 2009. Retrieved 28 June 2009.
  6. "El Málaga no renovará a Munúa" [Málaga will not renew Munúa]. Diario Sur (in Spanish). 26 May 2010. Retrieved 26 May 2010.
  7. "El Levante UD llega a un acuerdo con Munúa para la próxima temporada y será presentado esta misma tarde" [Levante UD reach an agreement with Munua for the next season and he will be presented this afternoon] (in Spanish). Levante UD. 6 August 2010. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
  8. "El Sevilla se sacude sus penas con goles" [Sevilla shake off their chagrins with goals] (in Spanish). RTVE. 29 August 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  9. Iori, Riccardo (18 October 2011). "Las tranquilas tardes de Munúa" [Munúa's peaceful afternoons]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  10. "Incendio en el vestuario del Levante por las acusaciones de amaño entre jugadores" [Fire in Levante locker room for match-fixing accusations between players]. Libertad Digital (in Spanish). 1 May 2013. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
  11. "Levante thrown into doubt". Football España. 6 May 2013. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
  12. "Fiorentina, ufficiale la risoluzione del portiere Munua" [Fiorentina, goalkeeper Munua's termination official]. La Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). 21 January 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  13. "El portero Gustavo Munúa regresa a Uruguay para fichar por Nacional" [Goalkeeper Gustavo Munúa returns to Uruguay to sign for Nacional]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 18 January 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
  14. Tabeira, Martín. "Copa América 2001". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
  15. "Recoba lidera al combinado charrúa" [Recoba leads charrúa outfit]. Diario AS (in Spanish). 19 May 2002. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
  16. "Gustavo Munúa se retira para ser el nuevo DT de Nacional" [Gustavo Munúa retires to become the new HC of Nacional] (in Spanish). ESPN. 30 June 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  17. "Gustavo Munúa sorprendió y renunció como entrenador de Nacional" [Gustavo Munúa surprised and resigned as manager of Nacional] (in Spanish). Fútbol Uruguay. 6 June 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  18. "Munúa é nomeado técnico da LDU Quito" [Munúa is named manager of LDU Quito] (in Spanish). CONMEBOL. 15 December 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  19. "Principio de acuerdo para rescisión de contrato de Gustavo Munúa con Liga de Quito" [Agreement in principle for rescinding Gustavo Munúa's contract with Liga de Quito]. El Universo (in Spanish). 30 July 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  20. "Gustavo Munúa, nuevo entrenador del Fabril" [Gustavo Munúa, new manager of Fabril] (in Spanish). Deportivo La Coruña. 7 November 2017. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  21. "El Extremadura, un poco más cerca" [Extremadura, a little bit closer]. Hoy (in Spanish). 26 May 2018. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  22. Sánchez, Diego (10 July 2018). "El FC Cartagena ficha al entrenador uruguayo Gustavo Munúa" [FC Cartagena sign Uruguayan manager Gustavo Munúa]. La Opinión de Murcia (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  23. "El Toralín: fin del camino (1–0)" [El Toralín: end of the road (1–0)] (in Spanish). Sport Cartagena. 15 June 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  24. "Gustavo Munúa regresa a Nacional" [Gustavo Munúa returns to Nacional]. Sport (in Spanish). 22 December 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  25. "Gustavo Munúa habló de su salida de Nacional: "No me lo esperaba"" [Gustavo Munúa spoke about his exit from Nacional: "I wasn't expecting it"] (in Spanish). Sport 890. 16 October 2020. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  26. Moya, Francisco J. (7 October 2021). "Munua, extécnico del Efesé, ficha por el Unión Santa Fe" [Munúa, former Efesé manager, signs for Unión Santa Fe]. La Verdad (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 October 2021.
  27. "Unión no pudo con Nacional y se despidió de la Copa Sudamericana" [Unión could not deal with Nacional and said goodbye to the Copa Sudamericana] (in Spanish). Infobae. 5 July 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  28. "Gustavo Munúa fue cesado como DT de Unión de Santa Fe: el equipo está penúltimo en el fútbol argentino" [Gustavo Munúa was fired as HC of Unión de Santa Fe: the team are second from bottom in Argentine football]. El País (in Spanish). 4 April 2023. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  29. Gustavo Munúa at BDFutbol
  30. "G. Munúa". Soccerway. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  31. "Club Nacional de Football: Matches". Soccerway. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  32. "LDU Quito: Matches". Soccerway. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  33. "Munúa: Gustavo Adolfo Munúa Vera". BDFutbol. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  34. "Munúa: Gustavo Adolfo Munúa Vera". BDFutbol. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
    "Munúa: Gustavo Adolfo Munúa Vera". BDFutbol. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  35. "CA Unión Santa Fe: Matches". Soccerway. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  36. "El Mundial Sub 20. El Sub 20, otra vez campeón del mundo" [Under 20 World Cup. The Under 20s, world champions again]. La Nación (in Spanish). 6 July 1997. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
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