Pizo Gómez

José Antonio Gómez Ramón (born 7 January 1964), known as Pizo Gómez, is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a defender or midfielder.

He had a successful career in La Liga in the 1980s and 90s, making over 200 appearances in the competition, including a five-year stint with Atlético Madrid.

Career

Gómez was born in Eibar in the Gipuzkoa province of the Basque Country, and was a member of the youth teams of SD Eibar. However, he turned professional in 1983 with the significantly more famous local team Athletic Bilbao. He spent two years in the reserve team, which included a brief loan spell with Lleida, before making his debut for the senior team in 1985. This came on 13 October in a 3–3 home draw against Real Valladolid at the San Mamés Stadium, which would be his only appearance of the season. His second full season with Bilbao was much more successful, making 40 appearances in all competitions. He also made his European debut, in a 2–0 home UEFA Cup win against East Germany's 1. FC Magdeburg on 17 September 1986. He also scored his first and only goal for Bilbao in this match. He played in all four matches in the competition as Bilbao were knocked out by Beveren of Belgium in the second round.

At the end of the season, Gómez left Bilbao and joined Osasuna. He made his home debut a week later in a 4–1 win against Real Valladolid at the El Sadar Stadium. He had a successful season, making 33 appearances, The following season was equally successful, as he made a further 33 appearances, and netted an impressive six goals. and his first appearance at the Vicente Calderón Stadium came a week later in a 1–0 win over Cádiz CF. He made 37 appearances in a strong first season for Los Rojiblancos, but he struggled to maintain this success. 17 games the following year was followed by just two in 1991–92, and by January of that season he was out of favour to such an extent that he was sent out on loan to Espanyol. and he scored his first goal on 15 March in a 3–1 home win against Cádiz CF. His loan stint proved successful, as he made 16 appearances and scored 3 times before returning to Atleti. His loan began in October, this time to fellow Madrid club Rayo Vallecano, and lasted until the end of the season. His first game for the club was a 1–1 draw at Real Oviedo's Estadio Carlos Tartiere on 18 October. He made his home debut came a week later, coincidentally against his parent club. The match at Nuevo Estadio de Vallecas ended with an excellent 2–0 win for the hosts. He ultimately made 30 appearances for Rayo before returning once again to Madrid at the end of the season. and was fined €640,000 as a result.