Alberto Rivera (footballer)

Spanish footballer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alberto Rivera Pizarro (born 16 February 1978) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a central midfielder.

Quick Facts Personal information, Full name ...
Alberto Rivera
Personal information
Full name Alberto Rivera Pizarro
Date of birth (1978-02-16) 16 February 1978 (age 46)
Place of birth Puertollano, Spain
Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s) Central midfielder
Youth career
Real Madrid
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1995–1997 Real Madrid C 68 (15)
1995–2002 Real Madrid 3 (1)
1996–1999 Real Madrid B 84 (23)
1999–2000Numancia (loan) 29 (1)
2002Marseille (loan) 12 (2)
2002–2005 Levante 113 (17)
2005–2009 Betis 107 (2)
2009–2012 Sporting Gijón 93 (1)
2012–2014 Elche 51 (0)
Total 560 (62)
International career
1993–1994 Spain U16 14 (3)
1995–1996 Spain U18 13 (7)
1997 Spain U20 7 (2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals
Close

He started out at Real Madrid, but played almost exclusively for its reserve teams during his spell. In a professional career that spanned nearly two decades, he went on to amass La Liga totals of 282 matches and ten goals over 12 seasons, also representing in the competition Numancia, Levante, Betis, Sporting de Gijón and Elche.

Club career

Real Madrid

Rivera was born in Puertollano, Ciudad Real, Castilla–La Mancha. A product of Real Madrid's youth academy, he made his first-team debut aged only 17 (his only appearance for the main squad during 1994–95), scoring in a 2–0 away win against RC Celta de Vigo with the La Liga title race already decided in their favour while becoming the youngest player to score in an official match in the club's history at the age of 17 years and 114 days.[1] He started his senior career with the C team in the Segunda División B, playing two additional full seasons with Real Madrid Castilla in the same level and appearing in five Segunda División games with the latter.

For 1999–2000, Rivera signed with CD Numancia in a loan deal.[2] After helping the Soria side barely avoid top-division relegation he returned to Real Madrid, where he was featured in two additional league games the following season; in January 2002 he had another loan spell, with Ligue 1 side Olympique de Marseille to where he moved alongside Alfonso Pérez from FC Barcelona,[3] and appeared regularly for the French team until the end of the campaign, in an eventual ninth-place finish.

Levante and Betis

Rivera joined Levante UD in 2002, with the team in the second division. He was an undisputed starter in three seasons, netting a career-high 11 goals in 2003–04's promotion before moving on to Real Betis upon Levante's immediate relegation (having played all the matches but one, with five goals), for 3.4 million.[4]

Rivera made 34 league appearances in 2005–06, adding seven in the UEFA Champions League and three in the UEFA Cup, without finding the net however. The following campaign he played 27 times, scoring his first goal in a 3–2 defeat at Villarreal CF on 5 November 2006.[5]

Sporting

In mid-June 2009, after rejecting Betis' offer of a new deal, and with the Andalusians having been relegated, Rivera signed a one-year contract with fellow top-tier club Sporting de Gijón – with the option for a further two – which had barely retained its status, arriving on a free transfer and reuniting with former Levante boss Manolo Preciado.[6] At the end of his second season, he received the Fair Play Award given by the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional.[7]

Rivera appeared in an average of 31 games during his spell in Asturias, suffering top-flight relegation in his third and final year. He retired in summer 2014 at the age of 36 after two seasons with Elche CF, the latter spent in the main division.

faviconfaviconfaviconfaviconfavicon
7 sources

Honours

Real Madrid

Levante

Elche

References

Wikiwand in your browser!

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.

Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.