Luis Cembranos Martínez (born 6 June 1972) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a right midfielder. He is currently a manager.

He amassed La Liga totals of 155 games and 22 goals over the course of nine seasons, mainly with Espanyol and Rayo Vallecano. He also represented Barcelona in the competition.

Cembranos began working as a manager in 2007, with Huracán Z. He went on to be in charge of a host of clubs, as head coach as well as an assistant.

Playing career Club Born in Lucerne, Switzerland, Cembranos was the son of Spanish emigrants and returned to that country in his teens, moving to León. Having signed for FC Barcelona as a teenager, his professional career began in Catalonia at age 20, on loan with UE Figueres in the Segunda División. After a good handful of games he returned to the parent club, being assigned to the reserve side and going on to be deployed in several positions.

After having totalled 177 minutes in La Liga with Barça (his debut came against Racing de Santander on 10 September 1994, courtesy of manager Johan Cruyff) and having made his only UEFA Champions League appearance, away to Manchester United the following monthDe Old Trafford a Vallecas (From Old Trafford to Vallecas); El Mundo, 2 November 1999 (in Spanish)– he also played with the B's that campaign – in early 1995 Cembranos moved to another team in the league and the region, RCD Espanyol. There, he first began to be regularly featured in the top division.

In another January transfer window move, Cembranos joined Madrid's Rayo Vallecano in 1999, being an important member in his first months as they eventually returned to the top flight, scoring six goals during the (half)season. Both player and club continued to consolidate,Los poderes del líder (The leader's strengths); El País, 6 November 1999 (in Spanish)La evidencia de los números personales (What personal numbers show you); El País, 16 January 2000 (in Spanish) and Rayo obtained their best-ever classification in 1999–2000, qualifying for the UEFA Cup via fair play.

Cembranos appeared very irregularly in his final three seasons, troubled by constant injuries that had already made him miss a good number of matches at Barcelona and Espanyol, mainly in the right knee.Cembranos estará ocho meses de baja (Cembranos to miss eight months); Diario AS, 23 October 2001 (in Spanish)Del calvario a la luz (Brightness follows ordeal); El País, 28 July 2002 (in Spanish) He was forced to retire in 2005 at age 33, and a couple of years after that had his first coaching experience with amateurs CD Huracán Z in Castile and León.Luis Cembranos se convierte en el nuevo técnico del Huracán Z (Luis Cembranos becomes new Huracán Z coach); El Correo, 18 July 2007 (in Spanish)

International Courtesy of the best season of his career with Rayo (36 appearances, four goals), Cembranos earned his sole cap for Spain on 26 January 2000, when he came on as a substitute for Juan Carlos Valerón in the 76th minute of a 3–0 friendly win over Poland in Cartagena.

Coaching career In the summer of 2011, Cembranos was appointed manager of Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa, promoting to Segunda División B at the end of his second season.De la invasión de campo al delirio torero (From pitch invasion to torero rapture); Marca, 1 July 2013 (in Spanish) On 19 June 2017, following two assistant spells, he returned to head coaching duties with Rayo Vallecano B.Luis Cembranos será el nuevo entrenador del filial del Rayo (Luis Cembranos will be the new manager of Rayo's reserves)‚ Diario AS, 19 June 2017 (in Spanish)

Cembranos left for CD Leganés on 5 July 2019, taking over their reserves also in the Tercera División. On 21 October, after the departure of Mauricio Pellegrino, he was appointed at the first team in an interim manner. His first match in charge occurred five days later, a 1–0 home victory over RCD Mallorca which was their first of the campaign.

Managerial statistics

+ Managerial record by team and tenure TeamNatFromToRecord Huracán Z 18 July 20071 December 2009Cultural Leonesa27 July 201120 May 2014Rayo Vallecano B19 June 201721 May 2019Leganés B5 July 201921 May 2020Leganés (caretaker)21 October 20194 November 2019Total —

See also List of Spain international footballers born outside Spain

References

External links