Spanish retired footballer (born 1978)
In this
Spanish name , the first or paternal
surname is
De Lucas and the second or maternal family name is
Martínez .
Enrique "Quique" de Lucas Martínez (born 17 August 1978) is a Spanish retired footballer who played mainly as an attacking midfielder .
He started his professional career with Espanyol , going on to amass La Liga totals of 168 games and 25 goals over eight seasons, also representing in the competition Alavés , Murcia and Celta . He added 268 matches and 53 goals in Segunda División , where he played for all the clubs except his first.
De Lucas had two spells abroad, including the 2002–03 campaign with Chelsea .
Club career
Born in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat , Barcelona , Catalonia , de Lucas came through the academy of RCD Espanyol , making his first-team debut on 15 May 1998 away against Real Valladolid (his sole appearance of the season ) and being promoted to the main squad immediately afterwards. Subsequently, he became an important attacking element for the Pericos , appearing in 30 La Liga matches and scoring four goals in 1999–2000 while helping the club to that year 's Copa del Rey .
After his contract expired in 2002, and after an unassuming loan spell at Paris Saint-Germain F.C. the previous year, de Lucas joined Chelsea on a four-year deal,[2] being relatively used in his first and only season . His sole goal for the English team was a well-executed chip in the UEFA Cup against Viking FK , in a 2–1 home win but 4–5 loss on aggregate .[3]
De Lucas then returned to Spain, having a huge impact at Deportivo Alavés , although most of his stint was spent in the second division . He netted six times from 40 appearances as the Basque side returned to the top level after two years, being immediately relegated the following campaign .
After another season in division two, de Lucas became Real Murcia 's first signing after it achieved a top-flight return in 2007 , agreeing on a two-year contract.[4] He featured heavily in his first year , notably scoring in a 1–1 home draw against Real Madrid ,[5] but the club returned to the second tier.
In August 2009, de Lucas had a trial with Football League Championship 's Blackpool after his Murcia link had expired,[6] alongside Will Haining and Ishmel Demontagnac .[7] A deal did not materialise, and he signed with FC Cartagena – recently returned to the second division – shortly after;[8] he scored the first goal of the new campaign , a 1–0 victory at Girona FC .[9]
In late June 2010, after nearly helping Cartagena to another promotion (fifth place, with chances of promotion until the last two rounds) while scoring a career-best 11 goals,[10] de Lucas moved to RC Celta de Vigo . He produced the same individual numbers in his first two years – 37 games, nine goals – helping the Galicians promote to the top level in 2012 as runners-up.[11] [12]
After suffering relegation from the second tier , with Hércules CF ,[13] de Lucas retired from football at the age of 35. In February 2015, however, he returned to active, joining English amateurs Biggleswade United .[14]
International career
De Lucas made four appearances for the Spain under-21 side , in a one-year span.[2] [15]
Honours
Espanyol
References
^ "Enrique De Lucas" . Eurosport . Retrieved 11 April 2020 .
^ a b "De Lucas opts for Chelsea" . UEFA. 28 May 2002. Retrieved 26 May 2010 .
^ "Chelsea edge past Viking" . BBC Sport . 19 September 2002. Retrieved 15 September 2009 .
^ "De Lucas ficha por el recién ascendido Real Murcia" [De Lucas signs for recently promoted Real Murcia]. El Confidencial (in Spanish). 20 June 2007. Retrieved 17 January 2018 .
^ Melero, Delfín (24 November 2007). "El Madrid resbala en suelo pimentonero" [Madrid slip in pimentonero ground]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 May 2014 .
^ "Team news from Oldham" . Blackpool F.C. 1 August 2009. Archived from the original on 3 August 2009. Retrieved 1 August 2009 .
^ "Adam switch to Blackpool back on" . BBC Sport. 2 August 2009. Retrieved 3 August 2009 .
^ Gómez, Iván (7 August 2009). "Quique de Lucas cambia Murcia por Cartagena" [Quique de Lucas changes Murcia for Cartagena]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 August 2009 .
^ "De Lucas abre la lata de los goles en Segunda" [De Lucas opens can of goals in Segunda ]. Marca (in Spanish). 29 August 2009. Retrieved 2 July 2012 .
^ Serrano, Rubén (12 December 2018). "El 'gentleman' de Benipila" [The gentleman of Benipila]. La Verdad (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 April 2020 .
^ Gozalo, Víctor M. (2 June 2012). "Iago Aspas, Oubiña y De Lucas, claves en el ascenso" [Iago Aspas, Oubiña and De Lucas, key to promotion] (in Spanish). Te Interesa. Retrieved 25 May 2015 .
^ "Quique de Lucas" (in Spanish). Yo Jugué en el Celta. 21 July 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2016 .
^ "Pésima segunda vuelta condena al descenso a un Hércules con aspiraciones" [Horrible second part of season dooms aspiring Hércules to relegation]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 1 June 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2020 .
^ "Ex-Barcelona & Chelsea star joins United" . Pitchero . 7 February 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015 .
^ "Los Sub-21 logran empatar, pero aburren" [The Under-21s manage to draw, but they are boring]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 18 November 1998. Retrieved 23 June 2016 .
External links