Mario Gaspar

Mario Gaspar Pérez Martínez (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈmaɾjo ɣasˈpaɾ ˈpeɾeð maɾˈtineθ];[lower-alpha 1] born 24 November 1990) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for and captains Villarreal as a right-back.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Pérez and the second or maternal family name is Martínez.
Mario Gaspar
Mario Gaspar playing with Villarreal in 2018
Personal information
Full name Mario Gaspar Pérez Martínez[1]
Date of birth (1990-11-24) 24 November 1990[1]
Place of birth Novelda, Spain[1]
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Position(s) Right-back
Club information
Current team
 Villarreal
Number 2
Youth career
Villarreal
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2008 Villarreal C 15 (1)
2008–2011 Villarreal B 79 (0)
2009– Villarreal 335 (10)
National team
2008–2009 Spain U19 13 (2)
2009 Spain U20 1 (0)
2011 Spain U21 2 (0)
2015–2016 Spain 3 (2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23:47, 9 April 2022 (UTC)

He has spent his entire career at Villarreal, making over 400 official appearances.

Club career

Born in Novelda, Alicante, Valencian Community, Mario Gaspar played youth football for Villarreal CF. On 15 March 2009, aged just 18, he made his first-team – and La Liga – debut, in a game against Atlético Madrid: he replaced Giuseppe Rossi with roughly 25 minutes to play, with the score at 2–1, but the Yellow Submarine eventually lost 3–2 away.[2]

Mario Gaspar spent the entire 2009–10 season with the reserves, starting in all 31 games he appeared in as they easily retained their newly-found Segunda División status. He was definitely promoted to the main squad midway through the following campaign following Ángel López's severe knee injury, being also propelled to the starting XI.

On 16 January 2011, in his first start, Mario Gaspar played the full 90 minutes in a 4–2 home win over CA Osasuna,[3] finishing the season with 22 appearances. He scored his first competitive goal on 1 May 2012, opening a 3–2 victory at Sporting de Gijón towards the end of a campaign which finished with relegation.[4] In May 2014, with a year remaining on his contract, it was extended for a further four.[5]

Mario Gaspar scored his first goal in European competition on 21 August 2014, concluding a 3–0 away defeat of FC Astana in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League play-off (7–0 aggregate).[6] In January 2017, he signed a new deal to last until 2023.[7][8]

On 18 March 2018, Mario Gaspar played his 300th official match for Villarreal, in a 2–1 win at Atlético; only Cani, Marcos Senna and teammate Bruno Soriano had reached that figure before for the club.[9] He filled in as captain during the lengthy injuries of the last of those players,[10] and on 21 April 2021 with a 2–1 away loss to Deportivo Alavés he joined him at 400 matches.[11]

In 2021–22, still under manager Unai Emery, Mario Gaspar played second-fiddle to both Serge Aurier and Juan Foyth.[12]

International career

Mario Gaspar earned 16 caps for Spain at youth level, including two for the under-21s. He received his first call up to the full side in October 2015,[13] making his debut on the 12th by scoring the game's only goal in Ukraine – the last round, the nation had already secured the first position in its group – for the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifiers.[14] He repeated the feat the following match, scoring an overhead kick to open a 2–0 friendly win against England in Alicante,[15] with the strike being nominated for the FIFA Puskás Award.[16]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 9 April 2022[17][18]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Villarreal B 2007–08 Segunda División B 90———90
2008–09 310——6[lower-alpha 2]0370
2009–10 Segunda División 310———310
2010–11 80———80
Total 790——60850
Villarreal 2008–09 La Liga 1000——10
2010–11 2205011[lower-alpha 3]0—380
2011–12 231105[lower-alpha 4]0—291
2012–13 Segunda División 28000——280
2013–14 La Liga 36110——371
2014–15 3436011[lower-alpha 3]1—514
2015–16 3321010[lower-alpha 3]0—442
2016–17 360304[lower-alpha 5]0—430
2017–18 322105[lower-alpha 3]0—382
2018–19 311108[lower-alpha 3]0—401
2019–20 25030——280
2020–21 250104[lower-alpha 3]0—300
2021–22 90302[lower-alpha 4]01[lower-alpha 6]0150
Total 335102606211042211
Career total 414102606217050711
  1. In isolation, Gaspar is pronounced [ɡasˈpaɾ].
  2. Appearance(s) in Segunda División B promotion play-offs
  3. Appearance(s) in UEFA Europa League
  4. Appearance(s) in UEFA Champions League
  5. Two appearances in UEFA Champions League, two appearances in UEFA Europa League
  6. Appearance in UEFA Super Cup

International goals
Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Mario Gaspar goal.
List of international goals scored by Mario Gaspar
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
112 October 2015Olympic Stadium, Kyiv, Ukraine Ukraine1–01–0UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying[14]
213 November 2015José Rico Pérez, Alicante, Spain England1–02–0Friendly[15]

Honours

Villarreal

See also

References
  1. "Mario Gaspar" (in Spanish). Villarreal CF. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
  2. Anaut, Juan José (15 March 2009). "El fútbol fue justo con el Atlético" [Football was fair to Atlético]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  3. "Cani inspires Villarreal". ESPN Soccernet. 15 January 2011. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
  4. Melero, Delfín (1 May 2012). "El Villarreal se declara inocente y condena al Sporting" [Villarreal plead not guilty and condemn Sporting]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  5. Lizarraga, José Luis (19 May 2014). "El club amarillo blinda a Mario con un contrato hasta el 2019" [The yellow club tie down Mario with a contract until 2019]. El Periódico Mediterráneo (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  6. "Astana-Villarreal: Eliminatoria sentenciada (0–3)" [Astana-Villarreal: Tie decided (0–3)] (in Spanish). Eurosport. 21 August 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  7. "El Villarreal renueva a Mario y Jaume Costa" [Villarreal renew Mario and Jaume Costa]. Marca (in Spanish). 11 January 2017. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  8. Mata, Javier (11 January 2017). "Villarreal hand new deals to Mario Gaspar and Jaume Costa". Diario AS. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  9. "Mario es unix als 300 del Villarreal" [Mario joins Villarreal's 300 club]. Super Deporte (in Catalan). 22 March 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  10. "La fuerza moral de Bruno Soriano" [Bruno Soriano's moral strength]. Diario de Burgos (in Spanish). 24 June 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  11. "Mario Gaspar alcanza a Bruno Soriano en el Villarreal" [Mario Gaspar closes in on Bruno Soriano at Villarreal]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 22 April 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  12. Mateu, Ismael (28 January 2022). "Los comodines de Emery frente a las adversidades" [Emery's jokers against adversities]. Super Deporte (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  13. Farrell, Dom (5 October 2015). "Del Bosque reinforces Spain after injury setbacks". Goal. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  14. "Debutant Gaspar earns Spain victory in Ukraine". UEFA. 12 October 2015. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  15. McNulty, Phil (14 November 2015). "Spain 2–0 England". BBC Sport. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  16. "Saúl, Neymar, Mario Gaspar and Messi up for Puskás Award". Diario AS. 21 November 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  17. Mario Gaspar at BDFutbol
  18. Mario Gaspar at Soccerway
  19. Stone, Simon (26 May 2021). "Villarreal 1–1 Manchester United". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
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