Full name Luis Garcia Fernandez 1991–1996 Oviedo Weight 68 kg Place of birth Oviedo, Spain Name Luis Garcia Career start 2000 | Role Footballer Salary 500,000 EUR (2013) Number 20 Height 1.80 m | |
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Date of birth (1981-02-06) 6 February 1981 (age 34) Current team K.A.S. Eupen (#20 / Forward) Similar People Victor Munoz, Manuel Jimenez Jimenez, Paco Herrera, Ricardo Ferretti, Cesar Rodriguez Alvarez | ||
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Luis García Fernández ([ˈlwis ɣarˈθi.a ferˈnandeθ]; born 6 February 1981) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Belgian club K.A.S. Eupen. Mainly a striker, he can also operate as a winger.
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Over the course of nine seasons, he amassed La Liga totals of 329 games and 73 goals, mainly with Espanyol, with which he won one Copa del Rey and reached the 2007 UEFA Cup Final.
Real Madrid / Early years
García was born in Oviedo, Asturias. After representing three clubs as a youth player he began his senior career with his last one, Real Madrid, first appearing with its C-team then progressing in 2001 to Castilla in the third division; he played his first game for the main squad in the Copa del Rey.
Released by Madrid in 2003, García joined Real Murcia, making his La Liga debut on 31 August and scoring a penalty in a 1–1 away draw against Celta de Vigo. He finished his debut season with 11 goals as he appeared in all the matches, although the side would be relegated; on 16 May 2004, he netted both goals in a 2–1 fruitless home win against his former employee.
Espanyol
The following season, García produced similar numbers at RCD Mallorca, which barely avoided relegation after ranking 17th and, in the 2005 off-season, signed a five-year contract with RCD Espanyol, playing 49 games overall in his first season and adding 14 goals, including a brace in the 2006 Spanish Cup final, a 4–1 win over Real Zaragoza. in the ensuing summer, he extended his link until 2012.
García, forming a formidable offensive partnership at the Catalonians with youth graduate Raúl Tamudo (the pair combined for 67 league goals from 2005 to 2008), contributed with five goals during the club's 2006–07 runner-up run in the UEFA Cup, including a hat-trick in a 23 November 2006 group stage 6–2 home win against SV Zulte-Waregem. However, in the May final, he missed his penalty shootout attempt in a final loss to fellow league side Sevilla FC.
García was an everpresent figure for Espanyol in the following three campaigns, never making less than 36 league appearances and scoring an average of seven goals, 13 alone in 2007–08. After the arrival in January 2010 of Argentine Dani Osvaldo, he operated almost exclusively as a winger.
Zaragoza
On 31 August 2011 – the very last day of the summer transfer window – 30-year-old García signed a three-year contract with Zaragoza. On 18 September he scored twice against his former team and also missed a penalty kick, in a 2–1 home success.
García, however, would only score two more goals in the other 33 games of the season he appeared in (in a total of 2,297 minutes of action), with the Aragonese again barely avoiding top flight relegation.
García arrived to Monterrey on 5 July 2012 accompanied by his agent, to kickstart negotiations with Liga MX outfit Tigres de la UANL. On 15 September he scored twice against Cruz Azul for a 2–0 win at the Estadio Universitario and, in two games in March of the following year, contributed with one successful strike each in 2–1 wins over San Luis F.C. and Puebla FC.
Eupen
In July 2014, García signed a two-year contract with Belgian Second Division team K.A.S. Eupen, joining a host of compatriots including manager Tintín Márquez.
International career
After a remarkable 2006–07 with Espanyol, García got his first callup for Spain, under manager Luis Aragonés, appearing in an UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier against Latvia in Riga on 2 June 2007.