Marcelino Elena

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Marcelino
Personnel
Surname Marcelino Elena Sierra
birthday September 26, 1971
place of birth Gijón ,  Spain
size 185 cm
position Defense
Juniors
Years station
until 1993 Sporting Gijón
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1993-1996 Sporting Gijón 14 0(0)
1996-1999 RCD Mallorca 122 (13)
1999-2002 Newcastle United 17 0(0)
2002-2004 Polideportivo Ejido 46 0(2)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1998-1999 Spain 5 0(0)
1 Only league games are given.

Marcelino Elena Sierra (born September 26, 1971 in Gijón , Asturias ) is a former Spanish football player .

He had his most successful time as a player for RCD Mallorca , with whom he advanced to the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup and the Copa del Rey in 1999 .

Club career

Career start in Gijón

Marcelino began his career in the youth of his home club Sporting Gijón . There he lived through all youth teams before he made his professional debut in the Primera División in 1993 . As a young local player, however, he had a hard time with the team that was chronically in relegation battle and only made 14 league appearances in 2½ seasons.

Successful time at Mallorca

In the winter transfer window of the 1995/96 season, he then moved to the Segunda División at RCD Mallorca , where he was able to establish himself as an attacking central defender straight away. In the first year he then narrowly missed the promotion with fourth place in the table, which one could however confidently enter in the following season with third place.

For the 1997/98 season, the newcomer hired the then relatively unknown Héctor Cúper as coach, who formed a powerful team. Around the players Carlos Roa , Iván Campo , Marcelino, Juan Carlos Valerón , Vicente Engonga and Gabriel Amato , Mallorca advanced to the surprise team of the season and made it to the final of the Copa del Rey , which they won after 1-1 in regular time with 5 : 4 lost on penalties to FC Barcelona . In the league, the successful run was confirmed with table rank five and the associated move into international business. The defensive duo Campo-Marcelino played an outstanding season, conceded the second fewest goals behind Real Sociedad and was considered to be the strongest central defense in the league.

As a result of the great success, there was a great bloodletting of the service providers in the 1998/99 season. Campo went to Real Madrid , Valeron to Atlético Madrid and Amato moved to Scotland to the Glasgow Rangers .

Contrary to expectations, Mallorca managed to compensate for the departures by signing the then relatively unknown players Lauren Etame Mayer , Ariel Ibagaza , Leonardo Biagini and above all Dani García and to prolong the success of the previous season.

In the Primera Division they finished third in the table, the best result in the club's history and made it into the qualification for the Champions League . At the European level, led by an outstanding Marcelino, they paved their way to the final in the last European Cup Winners' Cup . In the semi-finals they had already eliminated Chelsea before they had to admit defeat to Lazio 1: 2 after a tough fight . Christian Vieri had already put the Romans in the lead in the seventh minute before Dani could equalize in the eleventh minute. This was followed by an open exchange of blows, which Pavel Nedvěd decided with his goal to 2-1 in the 81st minute in favor of Lazio.

Failure in Newcastle

After he had presented himself successfully on a European level, Mallorca could no longer hold Marcelino. The then Premier League club Newcastle United , who paid a transfer fee of 6.7 million euros, was awarded the contract. The English, plagued by defense concerns, had high hopes for Marcelino, who should finally stabilize the team's defense. The expectations of the player were reinforced by the then Newcastle manager Ruud Gullit , who praised him as one of the best defensive players in Europe when he was introduced.

This was followed by four seasons in Newcastle, in which he was used in just 17 league games and became one of the largest bad investments in the club's history.

In his first season in Newcastle he was injured on his debut, the 2-0 defeat by Manchester United , and did not recover from the injury for the entire season. Overall, he completed only 16 of a possible 69 competitive appearances for Newcastle, which led to a great deal of frustration for the club.

When nothing changed in the player's vulnerability to injury in the 1999/00 season, the club tried to get rid of the player early. Gullit was already fired and the new Newcastle manager Bobby Robson accused his top earner of a lack of attitude. Above all, the fact that he was unable to play for over 3 months because of a broken finger had angered the manager. As early as November 2000, the player was given the go-ahead for a club change, but this did not materialize. Although Newcastle would have waived a large part of the transfer fee in order to remove Marcelino from the payroll, there was no club that wanted to take the risk of paying a player who had been convalescent for almost a year and a half a salary similar to Newcastle. With that he was finally out of favor with the Newcastle supporters, who accused him of greed for money and a lack of bite. In total, he played six competitive games this season, in which he did not know how to convince.

Despite the hostility of the fans and the willingness of the club to let him move free of charge, Marcelino stayed with the club until the winter transition period of the 2002/03 season without appearing in an official competition match. In January 2002, Newcastle officials announced that they would have Marcelino's contract declared invalid because of the player's breach of contract before a labor court. The reason for the charge: Marcelino did not perform the contractually regulated service. However, such a procedure never came about as the chances of a contract termination tended towards zero.

It was not until December 2002 that the club then mutually agreed with the player to terminate the contract, whereupon Marcelino moved to the Segunda division for the medium- sized Polideportivo Ejido for lack of alternatives .

End of career

As the only well-known player besides Gerhard Poschner , he played two inconspicuous seasons with the Andalusians before ending his career after the 2003/04 season at the age of 33.

After retiring from his career, he worked as a commentator for the Spanish television channel TVE for the Premier League. He is currently under contract with the British pay TV broadcaster Sky as an expert for the Primera Division. He also worked as a scout for Everton FC for three years . He has been under contract with Liverpool FC since 2008 .

National team

During his strong time at Mallorca he was appointed to the Spanish national football team together with his congenial partner Iván Campo .

He made his debut on November 18, 1998 against Italy . He played his last game during qualifying for the 2000 European Championship in a 9-0 home win against San Marino . He was considered a promising candidate for a nomination in the final squad of the Spaniards for the European Championship, but was no longer called up for the national team after his move to England.

In total, he played five international matches in 1998 and 1999 without scoring for Spain.

successes

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ He's Had A Shocker ... Marcelino (Newcastle)
  2. ^ Marcelino frustrates Newcastle
  3. ^ When a big money move went wrong: Newcastle's Marcelino
  4. ^ Newcastle ready to sack Marcelino
  5. ^ Newcastle let Marcelino go
  6. ↑ La de Mallorca fue la mejor etapa de mi vida (Spanish)
  7. ↑ Liverpool turn to former Newcastle defender Marcelino
personal data
SURNAME Elena, Marcelino
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Elena Sierra, Marcelino (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION spanish soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH September 26, 1971
PLACE OF BIRTH Gijón