Robert Llorens

Robert Llorens (born March 16, 1956 in Oujda , Morocco ) is a former French football player .

Career

Change to Lens and first professional years (until 1979)

Llorens was born in 1956 in Morocco, which gained independence from France two weeks before he was born. He began playing football on the Mediterranean coast of southern France at ESCN La Ciotat . At the beginning of the 1970s, the club from the vicinity of Marseille took part in the game operation of the second division and in the course of the 1972/73 season, the only 16-year-old offensive player was appointed to the squad of the first team for the first time. For this he was able to play eight second division games, but had to accept relegation at the end of the season. In the following time he was called up more and more often, but experienced a negative sporting development with La Ciotat, which in 1974 led to the second descent in a row. In the 1974/75 season he won the championship in the regional division Division d'Honneur with his team , but this was followed by a failure in the promotion round. Llorens had aroused the interest of the first division club RC Lens through good individual performances and signed a professional contract there in 1975.

Initially, he had no prospect of regular missions under coach Arnold Sowinski at Lens and only played two first division matches in the 1975/76 season. In addition, the striker was also called up in a game in the European Cup Winners' Cup 1975/76 and was able to score his first competitive goal for the northern French against the Irish club Home Farm . The encounter was also the only international appearance in the course of his career. In the following seasons he was called up more often, but without taking a permanent place. With three hits in nine games played, he was involved in reaching the runner-up behind FC Nantes in 1976/77 . This meant the renewed qualification for the UEFA Cup, in which Lens - but without his participation - could beat Lazio Rome , among others . In the league, however, the team crashed and ultimately had to accept relegation due to the poorer goal difference against Olympique Lyon . In 1979, however, Lens managed to rise again directly. Since Llorens had never been able to fight for a permanent place, he took up an offer from Stade Rennes despite the promotion and stayed in the second division.

Forward in Rennes (1979–1982)

At Rennes, Llorens became a regular player and played alongside Guy Nosibor and Gérard Saliné on the offensive . In the 1979/80 season he scored eleven goals and failed with Rennes only in the promotion relegation to a possible qualification for the top division. Subsequently, the coach Pierre Garcia induced him to change position, through which he was assigned a role in attacking midfield. The fight for promotion was not successful and especially in the 1981/82 season this goal was clearly missed. In the summer of 1982 he moved to league rivals Le Havre AC .

Time in Le Havre and final years of playing (1982–1989)

After initial difficulties, the offensive player in the 1983/84 season became an important figure in Le Havre's team, with whom he finished third in the second division, which was then divided into two groups. In 1985, Llorens and his teammates managed to climb into the top division as group winners, to which he returned after a total of seven years in the second division. The promotion team was equipped with many experienced players, with Llorens also kept his regular place in the first division. In 1986 the league remained only thanks to a better goal difference against AS Nancy and even at the end of the 1986/87 season there was only a narrow lead on the first relegated team. Llorens, who was the top scorer of his team with eleven goals, had made a significant contribution to relegation this year. However, he was only called up five times in the following season and had to leave his regular place to the young player Thierry Moreau . 1988 Le Havre rose from bottom of the table in the second division.

Following the relegation, the striker left Le Havre and joined the US Valenciennes-Anzin , who were also second class . There he played his last professional year for the duration of the 1988/89 season, but did not get more than 13 missions. In 1989 he moved to third division club FC Perpignan , which meant farewell to professional football for the 33-year-old player after 86 first division games with 22 goals and 209 second division games with 41 goals.

Further work in football (after 1989)

Llorens played for a year from 1989 for third division club FC Perpignan and returned to his youth club from La Ciotat in 1990. At the beginning he worked in a double role as a player- coach and then concentrated entirely on coaching. He remained loyal to the club, which is now in the lower class, in this function until 1999, with a temporary break from 1995 to 1996. In 2005 he took on the role of sports director at La Ciotat and in 2009 the professional club FC Toulouse hired him as a player observer for the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Robert Llorens ( Memento of July 30, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), afterfoot.fr via Internet Archive
2. ↑ ^{a b} Football: Robert Llorens , footballdatabase.eu
3. ^ Robert Llorens - Fiche et statistiques , stade-rennais-online.com