| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alberto Rivera Pizarro | ||
| Date of birth | (1978-02-16)16 February 1978 (age 48) | ||
| Place of birth | Puertollano, Spain | ||
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||
| Position | Central midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Real Madrid | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1995–1997 | Real Madrid C | 68 | (15) |
| 1995–2002 | Real Madrid | 3 | (1) |
| 1996–1999 | Real Madrid B | 84 | (23) |
| 1999–2000 | →Numancia (loan) | 29 | (1) |
| 2002 | →Marseille (loan) | 12 | (2) |
| 2002–2005 | Levante | 113 | (17) |
| 2005–2009 | Betis | 107 | (2) |
| 2009–2012 | Sporting Gijón | 93 | (1) |
| 2012–2014 | Elche | 51 | (0) |
| Total | 560 | (62) | |
| International career | |||
| 1993–1994 | Spain U16 | 14 | (3) |
| 1995–1996 | Spain U18 | 13 | (7) |
| 1997 | Spain U20 | 7 | (2) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Alberto Rivera Pizarro (born 16 February 1978) is a Spanish former professionalfootballer who played as acentral midfielder.
He started out atReal Madrid, but played almost exclusively for itsreserve teams during his spell. In a senior career that spanned nearly two decades, he amassedLa Liga totals of 282 matches and ten goals over 12 seasons, also representing in the competitionNumancia,Levante,Betis,Sporting de Gijón andElche.
Rivera was born inPuertollano,Ciudad Real,Castilla–La Mancha.[1] A product ofReal Madrid's youth academy, he made his first-team debut (his only appearance for the main squad during1994–95), scoring in a 2–0 away win againstRC Celta de Vigo with theLa Liga title race already decided in their favour while becoming the youngest player to score in an official match in the club's history at the age of 17 years and 114 days.[2][3] He started his senior career with theC team in theSegunda División B, playing two additional full seasons withReal Madrid Castilla in the same level and appearing in fiveSegunda División games with the latter.
For1999–2000, Rivera signed withCD Numancia in a loan deal.[4] After helping theSorians to barely avoid top-division relegation, he returned to Real Madrid, where he was featured in two additional league games thefollowing season.[5] In January 2002 he had another loan spell, withOlympique de Marseille to where he moved alongsideAlfonso Pérez fromFC Barcelona,[6] and appeared regularly for the FrenchLigue 1 side until the end ofthe campaign, in an eventual ninth-place finish.[7][8]
Rivera joinedLevante UD in 2002, with the team in the second division. He was an undisputed starter in three seasons, netting a career-high 11 goals in2003–04's promotion[9] before moving toReal Betis upon Levante'simmediate relegation (having played all the matches but one, with five goals), for€3.4 million.[10]
Rivera made 34 league appearances in2005–06, adding seven in theUEFA Champions League and three in theUEFA Cup, without finding the net however. Thefollowing campaign he played 27 times, scoring his first goal in a 3–2 defeat atVillarreal CF on 5 November 2006.[11]
In mid-June 2009, having rejected Betis' offer of a new deal, and with theAndalusians having beenrelegated, Rivera signed a one-year contract with fellow top-tier clubSporting de Gijón – with the option for a further two – which had barely retained its status, arriving on afree transfer and reuniting with former Levante bossManolo Preciado.[12] At the end of hissecond season, he received theFair Play Award given by theLiga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional.[13]
Rivera appeared in an average of 31 games during his spell inAsturias,suffering top-flight relegation in his third and final year. He retired in summer 2014 at the age of 36 after two seasons withElche CF,[14] the latterspent in the main division.[15][16]
After retiring, Rivera started runningmarathons.[17][1]
Real Madrid
Levante
Elche
Individual