Alberto Martorell

Alberto Martorell Otzet (13 March 1916 – 22 November 2011) was a Spanish medic, author, and footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Espanyol in the 1930s. He also played seven matches for the Catalan national team, and four matches for the Spanish national team in the early 1940s.

A historical member of Espanyol, he spent his entire career there, thus being part of the so-called one-club men group. He is considered one of the best goalkeepers in the club's history and in Catalan football.

Early life and education Alberto Martorell was born in Madrid on 13 March 1916, as the son of two Barcelona natives, including his father Vicente Martorell, a military engineer who was stationed in the Spanish capital, but upon the insistence of his wife, Emilia Otzet, the family returned to their hometown when Alberto was two years old. He had three older brothers, Ramón, Vicente, and Fernando, with the eldest two following in their father's footsteps, becoming military engineers, while Fernando followed medicine. Three weeks later, on 18 November, he made his La Liga debut, also at Sarrià, against Racing de Santander, keeping another clean-sheet in a 5–0 victory. In March 1936, just three months before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Espanyol rewarded his services with a 10-horsepower Ford vehicle, then worth approximately 9,500 pesetas; however, the club had paid only the first installment out of the 12 who were in his name, which angered him, so the club's president, Genaro de la Riva, offered him 1,000 pesetas for the car, but Martorell refused. He was noted for his composure and impeccable clearances, being considered one of the best goalkeepers in the club's history and in Catalan football, as well as a worthy successor to Ricardo Zamora, who had left the club in 1930. In the following year, on 5 July 1942, he started in another friendly, this time against Barcelona, which was celebrating its triumph in the 1942 Copa del Rey; they drew at 1. In March and April 1944, he started in two friendlies against the Valencian national team, with the latter ending in a 2–2 draw.

On 28 December 1941, the 25-year-old Martorell made his international debut for Spain, starting in a friendly against Switzerland at the Mestalla, conceding one goal before being subbed off by Juan Acuña in the 74th minute in an eventual 3–2 win. In the following month, in the midst of the Second World War, Spain went to Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy to play a friendly against both national teams, and even though the latter ended in a 0–4 loss, Martorell was considered to be Spain's best player by all the national newspapers. Nonetheless, he never again wore the Spanish jersey, partly because Spain went almost three years without playing another match.

Other sports During his 1939 suspension, Martorell played with the SEU at the Camp Municipal de Rugby La Foixarda, where he met his future wife, Mari Paz Lossius. As football was just a hobby, he never strove to get paid by Espanyol, except for 1942, when he demanded from the club the minimum salary as an international goalkeeper, which was 1,000 pesetas per month, especially because he had just married María Paz in July 1942, with whom he had two children, Alberto and Mari Paz. This is also why he rejected lucrative offers from both Barcelona and Real Madrid, with the former offering him a blank check, while the latter offered him 380,000 pesetas, but Espanyol deceived Martorell by informing that the offer was 40,000 pesetas.

After his career as a player ended, Martorell remained linked to Espanyol, now as a member of its board of directors, where he served for only one year in 1945–46, although he later served as a director under José Fusté, from 1963 to 1966. On 22 December 1946, he was the subject of a tribute match at the Sarrià, which pitted Espanyol and Gimnàstic de Tarragona (2–0), where he received various gifts, such as a book signed by players from other Spanish teams, before taking the honorary kick-off. After leaving Espanyol's board in 1966, he stopped attending football matches because he hated the new playing style, which focused more on defending than on scoring. In addition to football, he also played field hockey, rugby union, table tennis, tennis, becoming a member of in 1955, with whom he won several veteran tennis championships in Catalonia and Spain (1974, 1976, 1979, 1981 and 1982), and where he later served as a delegate for both its hockey section and for its junior tennis section, eventually becoming its president in 1971, a position that he held for six years, until 1977. On 14 November 1999, the 83-year-old Martorell attended the inauguration of Espanyol's Centenary event, where he raised the Espanyol flag at the Estadio Olímpico, with the help of former teammates Julián Arcas and José Trias.

Martorell later published two books, the first in 1945, called Veinte años de fútbol me enseñaron que... ("Twenty years of football taught me that..."), which is not an autobiographical book, but rather an educational one about football and its environment, dedicating the last two chapters to share a total of 13 anecdotes that he had experienced, while his second book was published in 1968, called Mi carnet de deportista ("My sports card"). He received the gold badges of both the Catalan Tennis Federation and the CT Barcino, which named him honorary president in 1977, as well as the silver medal for sporting merit from the Consejo Superior de Deportes in 1978, at the suggestion of the Royal Spanish Tennis Federation.

Medical career Martorell combined football with his medical studies until he finished his degree and earned the qualification to practice medicine in 1946, after which he retired from football to dedicate himself to medicine, where he became his brother Fernando's closest collaborator in creating the specialty of Angiology, which deals with cardiovascular surgery. To promote and study its widespread use, the Martorells convened Spanish angiology workshops and conferences, founded a journal called Angiología, whose first issue was published in January 1949, and even formed a scientific society in Barcelona on 7 July 1959. Alberto was the sole owner of the aforementioned journal for 44 years, from 1949 until 1993, correcting manuscripts and managing its several sections, such as "Information", "Book Reviews", and "Gallery of Illustrious Angiologists". Both of his children went on to follow in his footsteps as angiologist-vascular surgeons.

Death Martorell died in Barcelona on 22 November 2011, at the age of 95. Two years after his death, on 13 March 2013, Barcino Tennis Club named its number two court after him.

Honours RCD Espanyol Catalan championship: Champions (1): 1936–37

Copa del Rey: Runner-up (1): 1941