Santillana (footballer) facts for kids
Santillana in 2009
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||
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| Full name | Carlos Alonso González | ||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 23 August 1952 | ||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Santillana del Mar, Spain | ||||||||||||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||||||||||||
| Playing position | Striker | ||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||
| Satélite | |||||||||||||
| 1966–1970 | Barreda | ||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† | ||||||||||
| 1970–1971 | Racing Santander | 35 | (16) | ||||||||||
| 1971–1988 | Real Madrid | 461 | (186) | ||||||||||
| Total | 496 | (202) | |||||||||||
| National team | |||||||||||||
| 1970 | Spain U18 | 1 | (0) | ||||||||||
| 1971 | Spain U23 | 1 | (0) | ||||||||||
| 1971–1976 | Spain amateur | 6 | (3) | ||||||||||
| 1981 | Spain B | 1 | (1) | ||||||||||
| 1975–1985 | Spain | 56 | (15) | ||||||||||
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Honours
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Carlos Alonso González (born August 23, 1952) is a famous Spanish former footballer. He was known by his nickname, Santillana. He played as a striker, which means he was a player who mainly tried to score goals.
Santillana is best known for his long time playing for Real Madrid. He spent 17 seasons there. During his time, he played in 645 official matches for the club. He joined Real Madrid in 1971 from Racing de Santander.
He also played more than 50 games for the Spanish national team. Santillana played for Spain in two World Cups and two European Championships.
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Playing for Clubs
Santillana was born in a town called Santillana del Mar in Cantabria, Spain. His nickname "Santillana" comes from his hometown. He started his professional football career with his local team, Racing de Santander.
In 1971, when he was just 19 years old, he moved to Real Madrid. He joined the top Spanish league, La Liga, with his teammate Francisco Aguilar. In his very first season, he scored ten goals in 34 games. His team, Real Madrid, won the league championship that year.
Winning Trophies with Real Madrid
Santillana had a very successful career with Real Madrid. He helped the team win many important trophies.
- He won the La Liga title nine times. This is the top football league in Spain.
- He won the Copa del Rey (Spanish Cup) four times.
- He also won the UEFA Cup twice in a row. He even scored goals in both of those final matches.
He played a total of 645 matches for Real Madrid. This was a club record for many years. He scored 290 goals for the club. In the first division, he scored 186 goals in 461 games. This makes him one of the top goal scorers in La Liga history. Even with all his goals, he never won the Pichichi Trophy, which is given to the top scorer in La Liga each season.
Santillana retired from football when he was almost 36 years old. This was after the 1987–88 season. In his last three seasons, Real Madrid won the league title three times in a row.
Playing for Spain
Santillana played 56 games for the Spanish national team. He scored 15 goals for his country. His first game for Spain was on April 17, 1975. It was a qualifying match for the UEFA Euro 1976 tournament.
He played for Spain in two World Cups: in 1978 and 1982. He also played in three European Championships. In 1976, Spain reached the quarter-finals. In 1980, they did not get past the first round.
Euro 1984 and the Malta Match
In 1984, Spain finished as runner-up. They lost to the host country, France, in the final. Santillana almost scored a goal in that final with a header, but it was saved right on the goal line.
One of his most famous international games was on December 21, 1983. It was a qualifying match for the 1984 European Championship against Malta. Spain needed to win by at least 11 goals to qualify for the tournament. Santillana scored three goals in the first half of that game. He added a fourth goal in the second half. Spain won the match by an amazing score of 12–1, and they qualified for the championship!
How He Played
Santillana was known for his amazing heading skills. Even though he was not very tall (less than 1.80 meters), he could jump very high. This made him excellent at scoring goals with his head. Many people consider him one of the best strikers in the history of Spanish football.
Honours and Awards
Santillana won many titles during his career:
Real Madrid
- La Liga (Spanish League): 1971–72, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88 (9 times)
- Copa del Rey (Spanish Cup): 1973–74, 1974–75, 1979–80, 1981–82 (4 times)
- Copa de la Liga (Spanish League Cup): 1985
- UEFA Cup: 1984–85, 1985–86 (2 times)
Spain
- UEFA European Championship runner-up: 1984
Individual
- Pichichi Trophy (Segunda División): 1970–71 (This award is for the top scorer in the second division)
Images for kids
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Learn more about Santillana in Spanish for kids!
