Manuel Pablo

Manuel Pablo García Díaz (born 25 January 1976), known as Manuel Pablo, is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played mainly as a right back, and is the assistant manager of Deportivo Fabril.

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

Manuel Pablo
Pablo playing for Deportivo in 2008
Personal information
Full name Manuel Pablo García Díaz
Date of birth (1976-01-25) 25 January 1976
Place of birth Arucas, Spain
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Right back
Team information
Current team
 Deportivo B (assistant)
Youth career
Las Palmas
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1994–1996 Las Palmas B 6 (2)
1994–1998 Las Palmas 57 (1)
1998–2016 Deportivo La Coruña 383 (1)
Total 440 (2)
International career
1997 Spain U21 1 (0)
1997 Spain U23 2 (0)
2000–2004 Spain 13 (0)
Managerial career
2018– Deportivo B (assistant)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

He played most of his professional career with Deportivo, appearing in nearly 450 official matches and notably winning the 1999–2000 La Liga. With stamina as his main asset, he also represented Spain on 13 occasions.

Career

Born in Arucas, Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Manuel Pablo was only 22 when he joined Deportivo de La Coruña from hometown's UD Las Palmas in the summer of 1998, being signed together with Argentine Turu Flores.[1] He made his La Liga debut on 15 November 1998 in a 2–2 home draw against Deportivo Alavés,[2] but faced serious competition from Armando in his first season, appearing in just 14 league matches.

Manuel Pablo played 74 games from 1999 to 2001, and was a vital part of Depor's defense as the Galicians were crowned national champions in 2000 for the first time in their history. His performances earned him a debut with the Spanish national team on 16 August 2000, in a 1–4 away friendly defeat to Germany.[3]

In his fourth season at A Coruña, disaster struck: on 30 September 2001, Manuel Pablo sustained an horrific tibia injury during the Galician derby against Celta de Vigo, in a televised match, after an unlucky tackle by Everton Giovanella.[4][5] Eventually, he missed the rest of the campaign.[6]

One year later, Manuel Pablo returned, playing the full 90 minutes against CD Corralejo in a Copa del Rey tie.[7] On 6 October 2002 he was handed his league return by coach Javier Irureta, coming out as a late substitute in the 0–2 home loss to Racing de Santander.[8]

In 2003–04's closing stages Manuel Pablo proved he was fully recovered, as displayed in an excellent individual display on 7 April 2004 in a 4–0 second leg quarterfinal crushing of A.C. Milan in the UEFA Champions League.[9] From the 2004–05 season onwards, he was the undisputed right-back at Riazor (although he faced stiff competition from Álvaro Arbeloa in the 2006–07 campaign until the latter departed for Liverpool in January 2007).

In the following two seasons, Manuel Pablo remained first-choice at his position, although he was challenged by younger Laure in 2008–09. In early May 2009, after lengthy negotiations, the 33-year-old renewed his Depor contract in a 2+1 deal.[10]

From 2009 to 2015, Manuel Pablo still managed to appear in a combined 126 league games, being relegated twice from the top flight and achieving as many promotions. On 16 June 2015, he extended his link for a further year.[11]

On 7 July 2016, after only five competitive appearances during the season, 40-year-old Manuel Pablo retired.[12]

Career statistics

Club
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[13][14]
Club Season League Cup[15] Other[16] Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Las Palmas 1996–97 Segunda División 2010000201
1997–98 Segunda División 3600020380
Total 5610020581
Deportivo 1998–99 La Liga 1405000190
1999–00 La Liga 3702060450
2000–01 La Liga 37140140551
2001–02 La Liga 50002070
2002–03 La Liga 1008110191
2003–04 La Liga 1801080270
2004–05 La Liga 3001060370
2005–06 La Liga 3105070430
2006–07 La Liga 1505000200
2007–08 La Liga 3400000340
2008–09 La Liga 2303020280
2009–10 La Liga 3303000360
2010–11 La Liga 3003000330
2011–12 Segunda División 802000100
2012–13 La Liga 2402100261
2013–14 Segunda División 2601000270
2014–15 La Liga 50200070
2015–16 La Liga 30200050
Total 38314924604783
Career total 43924924805364

International
Appearances and goals by national team and year[17]
National teamYearAppsGoals
Spain 200050
200170
200410
Total130

Honours

Deportivo

References
  1. Turu Flores, entre dos pasiones (Turu Flores, between two passions); La Provincia, 14 December 2011 (in Spanish)
  2. El Deportivo, abonado al empate (Deportivo, married to draw); Mundo Deportivo, 16 November 1998 (in Spanish)
  3. Desastre (Disaster); Mundo Deportivo, 17 August 2000 (in Spanish)
  4. Deportivo y Celta deleitan (Deportivo and Celta delight); Mundo Deportivo, 1 October 2001 (in Spanish)
  5. La operación de tibia de Manuel Pablo crea polémica entre los especialistas (Manuel Pablo's tibia surgery stirs up controversy amongst specialists); El Mundo, 17 November 2001 (in Spanish)
  6. Buoyant United ready for Deportivo; UEFA, 2001
  7. Luque y Juanmi, claves del Depor y vuelve M. Pablo (Luque y Juanmi, key to Depor and M. Pablo returns); Mundo Deportivo, 12 September 2002 (in Spanish)
  8. El Racing da un baño al Depor (Racing humble Depor); Mundo Deportivo, 7 October 2002 (in Spanish)
  9. El Depor baila al campeón (Depor waltz champions); Mundo Deportivo, 8 April 2004 (in Spanish)
  10. Manuel Pablo renueva por dos temporadas (Manuel Pablo renews for two seasons); Marca, 11 May 2009 (in Spanish)
  11. Manuel Pablo continuará una temporada más como capitán del Dépor (Manuel Pablo will remain one more season as captain of Dépor); Deportivo La Coruña, 16 June 2015 (in Spanish)
  12. Manuel Pablo cuelga las botas (Manuel Pablo hangs boots); La Voz de Galicia, 7 July 2016 (in Spanish)
  13. "Manuel Pablo: Manuel Pablo García Díaz". BDFutbol. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  14. "Manuel Pablo". Soccerway. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  15. Includes Copa del Rey and Supercopa de España
  16. Includes promotion play-offs, UEFA Cup, UEFA Champions League and UEFA Intertoto Cup
  17. "Manuel Pablo". European Football. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
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