Nino

Club career Elche An extremely prolific goalscorer in the Segunda División, Nino was born in Vera, Province of Almería, and first appeared professionally with Elche CF, making his debut on 8 November 1998 in a 3–0 win over Real Murcia CF. In his first season with the club, 1998–99, he achieved promotion from Segunda División B, scoring a crucial last-minute goal against UD Melilla on 27 June. He consolidated as a starter under the command of Jorge D'Alessandro, who gave him the nickname "bulldog". but the Valencians managed to avoid relegation after finishing in 15th position.

Nino returned to the second tier in 2007–08, loaned to CD Tenerife, and finished with 18 goals, second-best in the league behind Xerez's Yordi. The move was made permanent afterwards, on a three-year deal.

In 2008–09, Nino was finally crowned the second division's top scorer at 29 goals and Tenerife returned to the top flight after a seven-year hiatus. In the next season, he was again their main attacking reference: on 18 April 2010 he scored three times at home against Getafe CF (3–2), totalling 14 but suffering relegation. He bettered to 17 the following campaign, but the Canary Islands side dropped down another league.

Nino rejoined the top flight in early July 2011, with the 31-year-old signing a 2+1 contract with Osasuna. He netted in only his second official game, a 2–1 home win over Sporting de Gijón.

Return to Elche On 19 August 2016, after the Navarrese were promoted back to the main division, Nino remained in the second one with Elche, rejoining the club a decade after leaving. He scored 12 times in his first season of his second spell, including two in a 4–4 draw with Gimnàstic on 8 October, but his team was eventually relegated.

Nino ignored offers from division two and while the majority of the squad left, the captain decided to stay along with vice-captain Edu Albácar in order to see them promote again. but he would only find the net away from home from that point on.

Nino started against Extremadura UD on 12 June 2020, thus becoming the first-ever player in the history of the club to play a match after turning 40. On 3 January 2021, he took the field in the 1–0 away loss against Athletic Bilbao, thus becoming the first player to reach 700 games in Spain's two professional levels. no other footballer equaled his record of scoring in 23 successive seasons,

Career statistics

Honours Pichichi Trophy (Segunda División): 2008–09 Zarra Trophy (Segunda División): 2008–09