Francisco Leal Rodríguez

Francisco Leal Rodríguez (born 23 July 1964) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

He started and ended his career at Sevilla, and played 181 Segunda División games for that club, Atlético Marbella, Mérida and Alavés. He won that league's title twice with Mérida and once with Alavés, as well as winning the Ricardo Zamora Trophy for best goalkeeper once with each of those clubs. His one La Liga season was 1995–96 for Mérida, playing every minute.

Career Born in Osuna in the Province of Seville, Leal was a youth player at local Sevilla FC. Aged 16, he made the reserve team, Sevilla Atlético, in the Tercera División. Sensing that his opportunities in the first team were low, he moved to Recreativo de Huelva and then Lorca Deportiva. He helped the latter to promotion from the fourth tier in 1986–87 and earned a trial at Barcelona, which did not result in a transfer due to the demands of the selling club's president.

Leal instead spent 1987–88 at Melilla before heading to Atlético Marbella, where he achieved two consecutive promotions to reach the Segunda División by 1993. Due to the Costa del Sol team's high outlay, he then moved to Mérida, where he won the Ricardo Zamora Trophy for best goalkeeper (19 goals conceded in 38 games) as they won the second tier in 1994–95. Their season ended with relegation, though he played the entire 3,780 minutes of 42 games, a figure only matched by his Atlético Madrid counterpart José Francisco Molina. The team won promotion back as champions immediately, but Leal had faced stiffer competition from Juan Carlos Balaguer and decided to leave for Alavés. He also helped his team to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey, where they lost to Mallorca.

Leal returned to Sevilla at age 34 in 1998. He helped the team to promotion to the top flight, his third in succession; he had played the majority of games over the campaign, but was replaced by Monchi from February.