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Pedro Munitis Álvarez (born 19 June 1975) is a Spanish retired footballer who played mainly as a forward, and a current manager. He was one of the shortest players in La Liga, and was best known for his fighting spirit. His professional career was mainly associated with Racing de Santander – he also represented Real Madrid for two years – and he played in 447 top flight games over the course of 17 seasons, scoring 43 goals.〔(Munitis es ya el racinguista con más partidos en Primera (Munitis is already Racing player with more games in ''Primera'') ); Marca, 12 December 2011 〕 A Spanish international in the late 90s/early 2000s, Munitis represented the country at Euro 2000. ==Club career== Born in Santander, Cantabria, Munitis played in three separate periods for hometown Racing de Santander. He first appeared with its first team on 22 January 1995, in a 0–0 home draw against Real Sociedad. After a loan to CD Badajoz (second division) and scoring 14 goals in 72 league games with Racing from 1998 to 2000, Munitis attracted attention from La Liga giants Real Madrid, who signed him for £6.8 million.〔(Munitis in "dream move" ); BBC Sport, 11 July 2000〕 He would be relatively used during his two seasons with the capital club, helping it to one league and one UEFA Champions League. Munitis spent the 2002–03 season on loan at Racing Santander, notably netting (and celebrating) against Real Madrid in a 2–0 home win on 19 October 2002.〔(Spain round-up: Madrid stumble at Santander ); UEFA.com, 19 October 2002〕〔(Racing 2 – Real Madrid 0 (2002–03) ); at YouTube〕 In the following off-season, he was purchased up by Deportivo de La Coruña on a free transfer;〔(Munitis makes ''Depor'' move ); UEFA.com, 28 August 2003〕 after a poor first year he would be one of the Galicia side's most important offensive players, also being used as a left winger, providing rest for veteran captain Fran and being his replacement when Fran retired at the end of 2004–05. Munitis returned to Racing in July 2006, forming an interesting offensive partnership with gigantic Serbian Nikola Žigić in his first season and helping it achieve a first ever qualification to the UEFA Cup in his second. On 19 April 2009 he played his 200th league match for the club, at RCD Espanyol. In the 2009–10 campaign, 34-year-old Munitis was again an undisputed starter, but did not manage to find the net in 29 league contests, and his season was over during Racing's 3–1 home win against Espanyol due to a knee injury, on 14 April 2010;〔(Munitis se perderá el resto de la temporada por sufrir una rotura del ligamento lateral interno de su rodilla (Munitis to lose rest of the season after internal lateral ligament rupture to his right knee) ); Marca, 15 April 2010 〕 at that time he ranked second in assists, only trailing FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi.〔(Munitis es clave en la recuperación del equipo (Munitis is key in team recovery) ); Diario AS, 19 January 2010 〕 On 17 October 2010, after more than one year without scoring, Munitis netted from 30 metres for the only goal of the home fixture against UD Almería.〔(Racing Santander 1–0 Almeria ); ESPN Soccernet, 17 October 2010〕 During the season, he again featured prominently in the starting XI, under both Miguel Ángel Portugal and his successor Marcelino García Toral, the latter returned to the club after nearly three years; in the following campaign he failed to score in 32 games, and Racing returned to the second level after one decade, with the player announcing shortly after his decision to leave his main club.〔(Munitis se despide orgulloso de su carrera racinguista (Munitis bids farewell to Racing with pride) ); Racing's official website, 18 May 2012 〕 Still not having announced his retirement, Munitis began his managerial career, with women's football club SD Reocín.〔(Un gol en el minuto final priva a Munitis de un estreno con triunfo en el banquillo (A goal in the last minute deprives Munitis of win in his bench debut) ); El Diario Montañés, 10 September 2012 〕 In 2014 he was appointed at Club Bansander, taking charge of the youth squads.〔(Pedro Munitis dirigirá al Juvenil del Bansander (Pedro Munitis will manage Balsander's ''Juvenil'') ); Contrameta, 25 April 2014 〕 On 4 March 2015 Munitis returned to Racing, being appointed assistant manager along with former teammate Gonzalo Colsa.〔(Hoy comienza la quinta era de Pedro Munitis en el Racing (Pedro Munitis' fifth spell at Racing begins today) ); Diario AS, 4 March 2015 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pedro Munitis」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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