Manuel Sarabia

Manu Sarabia
Personal information
Full name	Manuel Sarabia López
Date of birth	9 January 1957 (age 67)
Place of birth	Abanto Zierbena, Spain
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
	San Pedro Sestao
1974	Athletic Bilbao
Senior career*
Years	Team
1974–1976	Bilbao Athletic
1976–1988	Athletic Bilbao
1977–1978	→ Barakaldo (loan)
1988–1991	Logroñés
Total
International career
1978	Spain U21
1979–1983	Spain amateur
1983–1985	Spain
Managerial career
1995–1997	Bilbao Athletic
1999–2000	Badajoz
2002	Numancia
Medal record
Representing Spain
UEFA European Championship
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Manuel 'Manu' Sarabia López (born 9 January 1957) is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played as a striker.

He amassed La Liga totals of 363 games and 101 goals over the course of 14 seasons, mainly with Athletic Bilbao but also with Logroñés. He won four major titles with the former, notably two national championships, and scored 182 times in all competitions.^[1]^[2]

Left-footed, Sarabia represented Spain at Euro 1984.

Club career

Born in Abanto y Ciérvana-Abanto Zierbena, Biscay, Sarabia came through the ranks of Lezama, Athletic Bilbao's prolific youth system, making his debut for the main squad on 19 September 1976 in a 1–1 home draw against CD Málaga. He was particularly determined to succeed at the club after his elder brother was rejected due to his birthplace in Torres, Jaén (despite spending most of his life in Biscay), as this did not fit the criteria for their signing policy at the time.^[3]

A full first-team member from 1978–79 onwards, having served a loan with neighbours Barakaldo CF the previous year,^[3] Sarabia went on to appear in 284 La Liga matches for the Basques with 83 goals. He had a best output of 16 in the 1982–83 season when Athletic won the league title, renewing it the following campaign); during his spell at the San Mamés Stadium, he was also involved in a spat with manager Javier Clemente.^[4]^[5]

Sarabia retired aged 34 in 1991, after three seasons with modest CD Logroñés also in the top tier.^[6] He took up coaching three years later, having brief stints in the Segunda División – the only season he started and finished, with Bilbao Athletic, ended in relegation.^[7]^[8]

International career

Sarabia played 15 times with Spain in a two-year span, scoring twice.^[1] His first goal was one of 12 in the nation's rout of Malta in a UEFA Euro 1984 qualifier, in Seville.^[9]

Sarabia was selected for the tournament's finals in France, making three substitute appearances for the runners-up.^[10]^[11]^[12]

Personal life

Sarabia's son, Eder, was also a footballer, albeit only in the amateur level, before becoming a coach with youth teams such as Danok Bat CF and serving as assistant to Quique Setién (former teammate of his father) at UD Las Palmas.^[13]^[14]

Career statistics

Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Sarabia goal.

List of international goals scored by Manuel Sarabia
No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	21 December 1983	Benito Villamarín, Seville, Spain	Malta	11–1	12–1	Euro 1984 qualifying^[15]
2	12 June 1985	Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland	Iceland	1–1	2–1	1986 World Cup qualification^[16]

Honours

Athletic Bilbao

La Liga: 1982–83,^[17] 1983–84^[18]
Copa del Rey: 1983–84; runner-up 1976–77,^[19] 1984–85^[20]
Supercopa de España: 1984 (automatically awarded after winning the double)^[21]
UEFA Cup: runner-up 1976–77^[22]

Spain

UEFA European Championship: runner-up 1984^[23]

References

^ ^a ^b "Leyendas del Athletic Club de Bilbao – Sarabia" [Athletic Club de Bilbao legends – Sarabia]. El Correo (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 February 2015.
^ Ortiz de Lazcano, Javier (9 October 2015). "Los discípulos de Pichichi" [Pichichi's disciples]. El Correo (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 February 2016.
^ ^a ^b Unzueta, Patxo (3 April 1983). "Sarabia, la figura del actual Athlétic de Bilbao" [Sarabia, the figurehead of today's Athletic Bilbao]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 December 2017.
^ Jiménez, Juan Antonio (29 April 2012). "27 años después, el Athletic campeón" [27 years later, Athletic champions]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 May 2023.
^ Relaño, Alfredo (16 January 2016). "Clemente salta por el caso Sarabia (1986)" [Clemente climbs the walls due to the Sarabia affair (1986)]. Diario AS (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 May 2023.
^ "Retirada de Sarabia" [Sarabia retires]. El País (in Spanish). 20 June 1991. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
^ Moncayo, Carmelo (20 May 1996). "El Lleida sentencia al Athletic en un mal partido" [Lleida sentence Athletic in poor showing]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 February 2015.
^ Martín, Javi (25 June 2015). "El último Bilbao Athletic en Segunda División: temporada 1995/96" [Last Bilbao Athletic in Segunda División: 1995/96 season] (in Spanish). La Cantera de Lezama. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
^ "España, con 12 goles a Malta, alcanzó la fase final de la Eurocopa" [Spain, with 12 goals to Malta, reached European Championship finals.]. El País (in Spanish). 22 December 1983. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
^ "Santillana saves Spain against Portugal in EURO 1984 Group 2". UEFA. 4 October 2003. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
^ "España ganó sus tres semifinales anteriores de la Eurocopa" [Spain won their previous three Eurocup semi-finals]. La Información (in Spanish). 25 June 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
^ Bravo, Jesús (30 May 2016). "Francia 1984: Platini y el fallo de Arconada" [France 1984: Platini and Arconada's blunder] (in Spanish). El Desmarque. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
^ Marín, Kike (3 April 2018). "La venganza de Sarabia con Clemente: ver a su hijo (y su hija) con Setién en el Athletic" [The revenge of Sarabia with Clemente: seeing his son (and his daughter) with Setién in Athletic]. El Confidencial (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 February 2018.
^ R. Viñas, Sergio (6 May 2016). "La mano derecha de Setién" [The right hand of Setién]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 February 2018.
^ Calvo, Juan Antonio (22 December 1983). "Gol a gol hasta... ¡el delirio!" [Goal by goal until... ecstasy!]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 February 2015.
^ Díez Serrat, Javier (13 June 1985). "1–2: España cortó el bacalao" [1–2: Spain got job done]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 February 2015.
^ Tejedor Carnicero, José Vicente. "Spain 1982/83". RSSSF. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
^ Tejedor Carnicero, José Vicente. "Spain 1983/84". RSSSF. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
^ Rovira, Ramón (26 June 1977). "2–2: Los andaluces remontaron dos ventajas vascas" [2–2: The Andalusians countered Basques' advantage twice]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 February 2016.
^ Sanchis, Alberto (1 July 1985). "2–1: Hugo se fue por la puerta grande" [2–1: Hugo exited through the front door] (PDF). Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 March 2015.
^ Tejedor Carnicero, José Vicente; Torre, Raúl; Lozano Ferrer, Carles. "Spain – List of Super Cup Finals". RSSSF. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
^ "Athletic 2–1 Juventus". UEFA. Archived from the original on 19 November 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
^ "France 2–0 Spain". UEFA. Retrieved 3 February 2015.