Miguel Linares Cólera (born 30 September 1982) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a striker.

Miguel Linares
Personal information
Full name Miguel Linares Cólera
Date of birth (1982-09-30) 30 September 1982 (age 42)
Place of birth Zaragoza, Spain
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11+12 in)
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
Fuentes
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2002–2004 Utebo 36 (30)
2004–2005 Zaragoza B 27 (2)
2005 Huesca 14 (0)
2006–2008 Barbastro 73 (46)
2008–2009 Alcoyano 31 (15)
2009–2010 Salamanca 39 (10)
2010–2013 Elche 48 (12)
2013–2014 Recreativo 38 (10)
2014–2018 Oviedo 131 (52)
2018–2019 Reus 18 (4)
2019–2020 Zaragoza 35 (7)
2020–2022 Ejea 0 (0)
Total 490 (188)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

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Born in Zaragoza, Aragon, Linares began his career at Utebo FC of Tercera División. He spent the 2004–05 season with Deportivo Aragón in the Segunda División B and had a brief spell at SD Huesca before joining UD Barbastro in 2006, who were relegated from the third tier in his first campaign.

In summer 2008, following a 34-goal haul, Linares moved outside his native region for the first time, joining CD Alcoyano. He contributed 15 goals from 35 matches in his only season as the Valencians won their group, eventually falling short in the promotion play-offs to Segunda División.[1]

Linares signed a two-year deal with UD Salamanca on 22 June 2009.[2] After one season at the Estadio Helmántico – making his professional debut on 30 August in a 1–0 away win against Cádiz CF at the age of 26 years and 11 months[3]– he transferred to fellow league team Elche CF.[4] The latter won the championship and promotion to La Liga in 2013, though he made only eight appearances and scored once;[5] during his tenure, he suffered two consecutive anterior cruciate ligament injuries to his right knee.[6][7]

Following this, Linares remained in the second tier with Recreativo de Huelva,[8] and in 2014 the 32-year-old moved to Real Oviedo one league down.[9] He was top scorer with 30 goals (31 across all competitions) in 39 games[10][11] as the Asturians won the title in 2014–15, including two in a 3–0 win over Gimnàstic de Tarragona in the second leg of the play-off final on 10 June 2015.[12] The previous October/November, he had scored hat-tricks in consecutive home defeats of Celta de Vigo B, CD Lealtad and Real Murcia.[13]

On 17 June 2018, Linares joined CF Reus Deportiu in the second division after agreeing to a one-year contract.[14] Halfway through the season, however, he left the club after it was expelled from the Liga de Fútbol Profesional due to unpaid wages,[15] joining Real Zaragoza shortly after.[16]

Linares retired in January 2022 at the age of 39, after two years at lower-league side SD Ejea where he failed to play a single competitive game due to another serious knee injury.[17]

Career statistics

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Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[18][19]
Club Season League National Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Zaragoza B 2004–05 Segunda División B 27 2 1[a] 0 28 2
Huesca 2005–06 Segunda División B 14 0 0 0 14 0
Barbastro 2006–07 Segunda División B 35 10 2 0 37 10
2007–08 Tercera División ? ? ? ?
Total ? ? 2 0 0 0 ? ?
Alcoyano 2008–09 Segunda División B 31 15 0 0 4[a] 0 35 15
Salamanca 2009–10 Segunda División 39 10 2 0 41 10
Elche 2010–11 Segunda División 24 8 2 1 26 9
2011–12 16 3 1 0 17 3
2012–13 8 1 0 0 8 1
Total 48 12 3 1 0 0 51 13
Recreativo 2031–14 Segunda División 38 10 1 2 39 12
Oviedo 2014–15 Segunda División B 36 28 1 1 3[a] 2 40 31
2015–16 Segunda División 24 6 1 0 25 6
2016–17 35 8 1 1 36 9
2017–18 36 10 1 0 37 10
Total 131 52 4 2 3 2 138 56
Reus 2018–19 Segunda División 18 4 2 1 20 5
Zaragoza 2018–19 Segunda División 13 2 0 0 13 2
2019–20 22 5 4 1 2[a] 0 28 6
Total 35 7 4 1 2 0 41 8
Ejea 2020–21 Segunda División B 0 0 0 0 0 0
Career total 416 122 18 7 10 2 444 131
  1. ^ a b c d Appearances in promotion playoffs

Honours

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Elche

Oviedo

References

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  1. ^ Muñoz, Carlos (25 May 2009). "El Cartagena asciende a Segunda y el Alcoyano se la jugará en la repesca (2–2)" [Cartagena promote to Segunda and Alcoyano to leave it all for play-offs (2–2)]. La Verdad (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 April 2018.
  2. ^ "El delantero Miguel Linares firma por el Salamanca" [Forward Miguel Linares signs for Salamanca]. Diario Información (in Spanish). 22 June 2009. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  3. ^ "El Salamanca saca provecho de su efectividad ante un poco acertado Cádiz" [Salamanca profit from their efficiency against blank Cádiz]. Marca (in Spanish). 30 August 2009. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
  4. ^ "El Elche ficha al delantero Linares" [Elche sign forward Linares]. Marca (in Spanish). 22 August 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  5. ^ "Digno broche a un año histórico" [Competent icing on the cake to historical year]. Marca (in Spanish). 8 June 2013. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
  6. ^ Palomar, Julián (22 February 2011). "Linares sufre la rotura del ligamento cruzado y será baja hasta enero de 2012" [Linares suffers cruciate ligament rupture and will be out until January 2012]. Diario Información (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 April 2018.
  7. ^ Gomis, Noé (21 March 2012). "Linares, otra vez la misma lesión" [Linares, same injury again]. Las Provincias (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 April 2018.
  8. ^ "El Recreativo hace oficial el fichaje de Miguel Linares" [Recreativo make the signing of Miguel Linares official]. Marca (in Spanish). 8 July 2013. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  9. ^ "Linares se marcha al Oviedo" [Linares goes to Oviedo]. Marca. 30 June 2014. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  10. ^ Álvarez, Ulrich (16 November 2014). "Miguel Linares hace sombra a Cristiano" [Miguel Linares shadows Cristiano]. Sport (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 April 2018.
  11. ^ Lahoz, Raúl (27 September 2017). "Linares, un peregrino de la Virgen del Pilar en la delantera del Oviedo" [Linares, a Virgen del Pilar pilgrim in Oviedo's forward line]. Heraldo de Aragón (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 April 2018.
  12. ^ "Doblete de Linares para hacer campeón al Oviedo" [Linares brace to make Oviedo champions] (in Spanish). Huelva 24. 10 June 2015. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  13. ^ García, Chisco (16 November 2014). "Nadie puede con Linares" [Nobody can handle Linares] (in Spanish). El Desmarque. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  14. ^ "Miguel Linares, primer fitxatge del CF Reus" [Miguel Linares, first signing of CF Reus] (in Catalan). CF Reus Deportiu. 17 June 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  15. ^ "Nota informativa" [Informative note] (in Spanish). La Liga. 18 January 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  16. ^ Gallofré, Josep (1 February 2019). "Casi todos los jugadores del Reus ya tienen equipo" [Nearly all Reus players already have a team]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  17. ^ Machín, Raquel (10 January 2022). "Miguel Linares se retira" [Miguel Linares retires]. El Periódico de Aragón (in Spanish). Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  18. ^ Miguel Linares at BDFutbol
  19. ^ a b c Miguel Linares at Soccerway
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