Name Victoriano Alvaro Role Footballer Playing position Height 1.86 m | Years Team Weight 79 kg 1998–2000 Amoros Position Defender | |
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Full name Victoriano Rivas Alvaro Date of birth (1980-07-07) 7 July 1980 (age 35) | ||
Place of birth Ciudad Real, Spain | ||
Victoriano Rivas Álvaro (born 7 July 1980), known as Nano, is a Spanish retired footballer who mainly played as a central defender, and is a current coach.
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During seven seasons he amassed La Liga totals of 139 games and ten goals, mainly in representation of Betis (three years) and Levante (two). He also represented in the competition Getafe and Valladolid.
Club career
Born in Ciudad Real, Castile-La Mancha, Nano made his professional debuts with Atlético Madrid's B-team, playing two full seasons with the third division side. In 2002–03 he was loaned to Getafe CF in the second level, before moving to the club on a permanent deal in the summer of 2003; an undisputed starter with the Madrid outskirts team, he scored four goals in 37 games in the 2004–05 campaign, their first ever in La Liga.
Nano was signed by Real Betis in 2005. He was set to have a promising season before being injured in the UEFA Champions League group stage match against Chelsea at the Manuel Ruiz de Lopera on 11 November, in his first and only appearance in the competition, as he was ruled out of action for five months; he also appeared in one UEFA Cup game and made 14 league appearances in his first year, and played a further 21 contests for a side that finished 16th in 2006–07.
Established as first-choice stopper alongside veteran Juanito in the 2007–08 campaign, Nano scored in the first matchday against Recreativo de Huelva (1–1 away draw), but suffered a severe knee injury against Deportivo de La Coruña on 16 September 2007, which made him miss six months of action. Upon return from injury, he netted another important goal for the Andalusians, in a 1–1 tie at former club Getafe on 18 May 2008.
On 1 September 2008, a one-year loan deal was agreed as Nano joined Real Valladolid in a season-long move. He appeared scarcely throughout his spell, as both stopper and left back, and his return to Betis would be even more unassuming as it consisted of one league match (18 minutes), with the club failing to return to the top division.
In August 2010, aged 30, Nano signed with Levante UD. An automatic first-choice during his first season, he scored in a 2–0 home win against Atlético Madrid on 4 December.
Nano started in all the games for the Valencian Community side during the first half of 2011–12, as they spent the vast majority of that period in UEFA Champions League qualification positions. In very late January 2012, however, he was sold to Guizhou Renhe F.C. in the Chinese Super League.
Nano announced his retirement in February 2014. On 6 July of the following year, he was appointed Vicente Moreno's assistant manager at Gimnàstic de Tarragona.
On 25 May 2016, Nano was named Getafe CF B manager. Roughly one year later he returned to Nàstic, being appointed at the helm of the main squad for the remainder of the season.