Manuel Pablo

Manuel Pablo García Díaz (born 25 January 1976), known as Manuel Pablo, is a Spanish retired footballer who played mainly as a right back, and is the assistant manager of Deportivo Fabril.

Manuel Pablo

Pablo playing for Deportivo in 2008
Personal information
Full name	Manuel Pablo García Díaz
Date of birth	25 January 1976
Place of birth	Arucas, Spain
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 ^1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Right back
Club information
Current team	Deportivo B (assistant)
Youth career
	Las Palmas
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1994–1996	Las Palmas B
1994–1998	Las Palmas	57	(1)
1998–2016	Deportivo La Coruña	383	(1)
Total		440	(2)
National team
1997	Spain U21	1	(0)
1997	Spain U23	2	(0)
2000–2004	Spain	13	(0)
Teams managed
2018–	Deportivo B (assistant)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He played most of his professional career with Deportivo, appearing in nearly 450 official matches and notably winning the 2000 national championship. With stamina as his main asset, he also represented Spain on 13 occasions.

Football career

Born in Arucas, Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Manuel Pablo was only 22 when he joined Deportivo de La Coruña from hometown's UD Las Palmas in the summer of 1998, being signed together with Argentine Turu Flores.[1] He made his La Liga debut on 15 November 1998 in a 2–2 home draw against Deportivo Alavés,[2] but faced serious competition from Armando in his first season, appearing in just 14 league matches.

Manuel Pablo played 74 games from 1999 to 2001, and was a vital part of Depor's defense as the Galicians were crowned national champions in 2000 for the first time in their history. His performances earned him a debut with the Spanish national team on 16 August 2000, in a 1–4 away friendly defeat to Germany.[3]

In his fourth season at A Coruña, disaster struck: on 30 September 2001, Manuel Pablo sustained an horrific tibia injury during the Galician derby against Celta de Vigo, in a televised match, after an unlucky tackle by Everton Giovanella.[4][5] Eventually, he missed the rest of the campaign.[6]

One year later, Manuel Pablo returned, playing the full 90 minutes against CD Corralejo in a Copa del Rey tie.[7] On 6 October 2002 he was handed his league return by coach Javier Irureta, coming out as a late substitute in the 0–2 home loss to Racing de Santander.[8]

In 2003–04's closing stages Manuel Pablo proved he was fully recovered, as displayed in an excellent individual display on 7 April 2004 in a 4–0 second leg quarterfinal crushing of A.C. Milan in the UEFA Champions League.[9] From the 2004–05 season onwards, he was the undisputed right-back at Riazor (although he faced stiff competition from Álvaro Arbeloa in the 2006–07 campaign until the latter departed for Liverpool in January 2007).

In the following two seasons, Manuel Pablo remained first-choice at his position, although he was challenged by younger Laure in 2008–09. In early May 2009, after lengthy negotiations, the 33-year-old renewed his Depor contract in a 2+1 deal.[10]

From 2009 to 2015, Manuel Pablo still managed to appear in a combined 126 league games, being relegated twice from the top flight and achieving as many promotions. On 16 June 2015, he extended his link for a further year.[11]

On 7 July 2016, after only five competitive appearances during the season, 40-year-old Manuel Pablo retired.[12]

Career statistics

Club

[13][14]

Club	Season	League			Cup[15]		Other[16]		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Las Palmas	1996–97	Segunda División	20	1	0	0	0	0	20	1
	1997–98	Segunda División	36	0	0	0	2	0	38	0
	Total		56	1	0	0	2	0	58	1
Deportivo	1998–99	La Liga	14	0	5	0	0	0	19	0
	1999–00	La Liga	37	0	2	0	6	0	45	0
	2000–01	La Liga	37	1	4	0	14	0	55	1
	2001–02	La Liga	5	0	0	0	2	0	7	0
	2002–03	La Liga	10	0	8	1	1	0	19	1
	2003–04	La Liga	18	0	1	0	8	0	27	0
	2004–05	La Liga	30	0	1	0	6	0	37	0
	2005–06	La Liga	31	0	5	0	7	0	43	0
	2006–07	La Liga	15	0	5	0	0	0	20	0
	2007–08	La Liga	34	0	0	0	0	0	34	0
	2008–09	La Liga	23	0	3	0	2	0	28	0
	2009–10	La Liga	33	0	3	0	0	0	36	0
	2010–11	La Liga	30	0	3	0	0	0	33	0
	2011–12	Segunda División	8	0	2	0	0	0	10	0
	2012–13	La Liga	24	0	2	1	0	0	26	1
	2013–14	Segunda División	26	0	1	0	0	0	27	0
	2014–15	La Liga	5	0	2	0	0	0	7	0
	2015–16	La Liga	3	0	2	0	0	0	5	0
	Total		383	1	49	2	46	0	478	3
Career total			439	2	49	2	48	0	536	4

International

[17]

Spain
Year	Apps	Goals
2000	5	0
2001	7	0
2004	1	0
Total	13	0

Honours

Deportivo

• La Liga: 1999–2000
• Supercopa de España: 2000
• Segunda División: 2011–12
• UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2008

References

1. Turu Flores, entre dos pasiones (Turu Flores, between two passions); La Provincia, 14 December 2011 (in Spanish)
2. El Deportivo, abonado al empate (Deportivo, married to draw); Mundo Deportivo, 16 November 1998 (in Spanish)
3. Desastre (Disaster); Mundo Deportivo, 17 August 2000 (in Spanish)
4. Deportivo y Celta deleitan (Deportivo and Celta delight); Mundo Deportivo, 1 October 2001 (in Spanish)
5. La operación de tibia de Manuel Pablo crea polémica entre los especialistas (Manuel Pablo's tibia surgery stirs up controversy amongst specialists); El Mundo, 17 November 2001 (in Spanish)
6. Buoyant United ready for Deportivo; UEFA, 2001
7. Luque y Juanmi, claves del Depor y vuelve M. Pablo (Luque y Juanmi, key to Depor and M. Pablo returns); Mundo Deportivo, 12 September 2002 (in Spanish)
8. El Racing da un baño al Depor (Racing humble Depor); Mundo Deportivo, 7 October 2002 (in Spanish)
9. El Depor baila al campeón (Depor waltz champions); Mundo Deportivo, 8 April 2004 (in Spanish)
10. Manuel Pablo renueva por dos temporadas (Manuel Pablo renews for two seasons); Marca, 11 May 2009 (in Spanish)
11. Manuel Pablo continuará una temporada más como capitán del Dépor (Manuel Pablo will remain one more season as captain of Dépor); Deportivo La Coruña, 16 June 2015 (in Spanish)
12. Manuel Pablo cuelga las botas (Manuel Pablo hangs boots); La Voz de Galicia, 7 July 2016 (in Spanish)
13. "Manuel Pablo: Manuel Pablo García Díaz". BDFutbol. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
14. "Manuel Pablo". Soccerway. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
15. Includes Copa del Rey and Supercopa de España
16. Includes promotion play-offs, UEFA Cup, UEFA Champions League and UEFA Intertoto Cup
17. "Manuel Pablo". European Football. Retrieved 12 June 2016.

External links

• Deportivo official profile (in Spanish)
• Manuel Pablo at BDFutbol
• Manuel Pablo at National-Football-Teams.com
• Manuel Pablo – FIFA competition record