Gerard Moreno

For the American fencer, see Gerard Moreno (fencer).

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Moreno and the second or maternal family name is Balagueró.

Gerard Moreno Balagueró (born 7 April 1992) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a striker for La Liga club Villarreal and the Spain national team.

Gerard Moreno

Gerard with Spain in 2019
Personal information
Full name	Gerard Moreno Balagueró[1]
Date of birth	(1992-04-07) 7 April 1992 (age 33)[1]
Place of birth	Santa Perpètua, Spain
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	Villarreal
Number	7
Youth career
2000–2001	Damm
2001–2007	Espanyol
2007–2010	Badalona
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2010–2011	Villarreal C	38	(34)
2011–2013	Villarreal B	29	(13)
2012–2015	Villarreal	40	(10)
2013–2014	→ Mallorca (loan)	31	(11)
2015–2018	Espanyol	107	(36)
2018–	Villarreal	186	(78)
International career‡
2019–	Spain	18	(5)
2014–2016	Catalonia	3	(1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 21:15, 10 May 2025 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 03:17, 23 March 2024 (UTC)

In his career, he played for Villarreal, Mallorca and Espanyol, winning the 2021 Europa League and two Zarra Trophies with the first club. In La Liga, he played more than 300 games and scored more than 120 goals.

Moreno made his full debut for Spain in 2019, being part of the squad at UEFA Euro 2020.

Club career

Villarreal

Born in Santa Perpètua de Mogoda, Barcelona, Catalonia, Moreno joined Villarreal in 2010 from local Badalona.^[2] On 5 March 2011, while still a junior, he made his debut with the reserves, appearing as a late substitute in a 1–2 home loss against Rayo Vallecano.^[3] During his early spell he also represented the third team, scoring at an astonishing rate in the Tercera División.^[4]

Moreno scored his first goal as a professional on 10 December 2011, contributing to a 3–1 Segunda División home victory over Xerez.^[5] He played his first official game with Villarreal's main squad roughly one year later, starting in a 1–0 loss at Elche.^[6] He scored his first goal for the Yellow Submarine on 25 January 2013, opening a 3–0 defeat of Sabadell.^[7]

On 8 July 2013, Moreno signed with Mallorca of the second tier in a season-long loan.^[8] He subsequently returned to Villarreal, being definitely promoted to the first team now in La Liga.^[9]

Moreno made his debut in the Spanish top flight on 14 September 2014, starting in a 0–0 away draw against Granada.^[10] He scored his first goal in the competition ten days later, in a 1–1 draw at Eibar.^[11]

Espanyol

On 13 August 2015, Moreno signed a five-year deal with fellow league side Espanyol,^[12] who bought 50% of his rights for a €1.5 million fee. The following 23 January, he scored in a 2–2 home draw against his former team before being sent off.^[13]

Moreno netted 16 times in the 2017–18 season, in an 11th-place finish.^[14]

Villarreal return

Moreno returned to Villarreal on 12 June 2018, agreeing to a five-year contract. Having retained 50% of the player's rights previously, his former club paid Espanyol €20 million in the transfer to buy back the remaining 50% and acquire the player outright.^[15]

Moreno finished 2019–20 with 18 league goals, thus winning the Zarra Trophy.^[16] He renewed the accolade the following season with 23 and a team-best seven assists,^[17] scoring a further seven times in their victorious run in the UEFA Europa League;^[18][19][20] he was later voted the Europa League's Player of the Season, beating Manchester United duo Bruno Fernandes and Edinson Cavani.^[21]

On 10 August 2021, Moreno signed a new six-year deal.^[22][20] The following day, he scored in the UEFA Super Cup against Chelsea,^[23] surpassing Giuseppe Rossi to become the club's all-time top scorer at 83 goals.^[24][25][20]

Moreno featured much less in the 2021–22 and 2022–23 campaigns, due to injury problems.^[26][27][28]

International career

Moreno was never capped for Spain at any youth level. He made his senior debut on 15 October 2019, playing the entire 1–1 draw in Sweden for the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers.^[29][30] One month later, for the same competition and also as a starter, he scored his first goal in a 7–0 rout of Malta in Cádiz for the already qualified hosts.^[31] On 18 November, he added a brace in the 5–0 victory over Romania,^[32] being included in Luis Enrique's 24-man squad for the finals on 24 May 2021.^[33]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 10 May 2025^[34][35][4]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Copa del Rey		Europe		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Villarreal C	2010–11	Tercera División	38	34	—		—		—		38	34
Villarreal B	2010–11	Segunda División	1	0	—		—		—		1	0
	2011–12		4	1	—		—		—		4	1
	2012–13	Segunda División B	24	12	—		—		—		24	12
	Total		29	13	—		—		—		29	13
Villarreal	2012–13	Segunda División	14	3	0	0	—		—		14	3
	2014–15	La Liga	26	7	6	5	7[a]	4	—		39	16
	Total		40	10	6	5	7	4	—		53	19
Mallorca (loan)	2013–14	Segunda División	31	11	1	1	—		—		32	12
Espanyol	2015–16	La Liga	32	7	4	0	—		—		36	7
	2016–17		37	13	1	0	—		—		38	13
	2017–18		38	16	6	3	—		—		44	19
	Total		107	36	11	3	—		—		118	39
Villarreal	2018–19	La Liga	35	8	3	1	11[a]	4	—		49	13
	2019–20		35	18	2	2	—		—		37	20
	2020–21		33	23	1	0	12[a]	7	—		46	30
	2021–22		17	9	2	1	7[b]	2	1[c]	1	27	13
	2022–23		21	7	3	3	5[d]	1	—		29	11
	2023–24		30	10	2	0	6[a]	1	—		38	11
	2024–25		15	3	1	0	—		—		16	3
	Total		186	78	14	7	41	15	1	1	242	101
Career total			431	182	32	16	48	19	1	1	512	218

1. Appearances in UEFA Europa League
2. Appearances in UEFA Champions League
3. Appearance in UEFA Super Cup
4. Appearances in UEFA Europa Conference League

International

As of match played 22 March 2024^[36]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Spain	2019	3	3
	2020	6	1
	2021	8	1
	2024	1	0
Total		18	5

As of match played 31 March 2021

Spain score listed first, score column indicates score after each Gerard goal.^[36]

List of international goals by Gerard Moreno

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	15 November 2019	Estadio Ramón de Carranza, Cádiz, Spain	Malta	6–0	7–0	UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying
2	18 November 2019	Metropolitano Stadium, Madrid, Spain	Romania	2–0	5–0	UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying
3				3–0
4	14 November 2020	St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland	Switzerland	1–1	1–1	2020–21 UEFA Nations League A
5	31 March 2021	Estadio de La Cartuja, Seville, Spain	Kosovo	3–1	3–1	2022 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Espanyol

• Supercopa de Catalunya: 2016^[37]

Villarreal

• UEFA Europa League: 2020–21^[19]

Individual

• Zarra Trophy: 2019–20,^[38] 2020–21^[17]
• UEFA Europa League top scorer: 2020–21 (joint – 7 goals)^[39]
• UEFA Europa League Squad of the Season: 2020–21^[40]
• UEFA Europa League Player of the Season: 2020–21^[21]
• UEFA Europa League top assists provider: 2020–21 (joint – 5 assists)^[21]
• UEFA Super Cup Man of the Match: 2021^[41]