Spanish midfielder Zapatero Alberto

Zapater Alberto is a Spanish football player who is currently playing for his native club Zaragoza. He remembered Russian fans for his games for the Moscow "Locomotive". To date, the player is 31 years old, but with Zapater Alberto just regained his career after a two-year hiatus. What was the reason for such a time-out in the career of the defensive midfielder, who can also act as a right-back?

Carier start

Zapater Alberto was born on June 13, 1985 in Spain, where at a very young age he joined the football academy of the amateur club Ehea, named after his hometown. There the sportsman was engaged before 1997, then he was able to go through the viewing in a small professional club from the second division. This club was "Zaragoza", with which the guy linked his early football years.

In 2003, when the athlete turned eighteen, he signed a professional contract with Zaragoza, but held his first season in a double. However, in 2004, Zapater Alberto was summoned to the main team and became a player of the starting lineup. Then he went on the field in 42 games, scoring two goals.

However, Zapatera's talent was not particularly outstanding, so the top clubs did not start hunting after him. Alberto quietly grew and developed, protecting the colors of his native team. This lasted for five years, for which the player played in 207 games and scored six goals.

At the moment, Alberto is the second after Leonardo Ponzio player "Zaragoza" in the number of matches held for the club. But in the summer of 2009, the Italian club "Genoa" showed interest in the 24-year-old Spaniard, who paid four and a half million euros for the player.

Going to Genoa

In the "Genoa", Zapatera spent quite a strong season, going on the field 36 times and scoring four goals. However, his game, which seemed impressive in the "Zaragoza", in the "Genoa" is not so happy. Therefore, in the summer of 2010 Alberto again was sold this time to the Portuguese "Sporting", which paid for the player only two million euros.

The game for "Sporting"

But in the "Sporting" Spanish footballer did not stay long: his contract was designed for only one year with the possibility of further extension. Zapater played in 34 games and scored four goals, but did not impress the leadership, so in the summer of 2011 he was left without work. However, in just a month, Alberto was able to find a new club, which was FC "Lokomotiv" (Moscow).

Moving to Russia

The transition to "Locomotive" looked promising, but in fact this was not. For three years in the Russian club the Spaniard appeared on the field 38 times due to the fact that he was constantly injured and could not recover from his injuries. As a result, in the season 13/14 the player entered the field only once. Then in the summer he announced that he was temporarily stopping his football career in order to try to fully recover. So the midfielder of "Locomotive" Alberto Zapater departed from football for two years.

Return to football

In the summer of 2016, Zapater announced that he was returning to football, as he managed to cope with the traumatized by his injuries. Also, the athlete announced that he had signed a two-year contract with his native club Zaragoza. And it looks like the Spaniard actually coped with his problems. In the current season, he entered the field in ten games, giving one assists. And on September 25 for the match with "Numancia" Zapater led the team with the captain's armband. So the football player returned to his native club. Now he has a real opportunity to beat the record of Leonardo Ponzio and become the player who played the most matches in the history for Zaragoza.

National team appearances

In the national team of Spain, Zapatera throughout his career was never called: he did not have enough performances at a high level. But the athlete on the account has nine matches for the youth national team of Spain to 21 years.