Luis Enrique Martinez Garcia, most commonly known simply as Luis Enrique, is a former Spanish international football player who used to feature prominently during the 1990s and 2000s. He was a versatile footballer who could play either as a midfielder or a striker and is considered a Spanish football legend. He was named by Pele in March 2004 as one of the 125 greatest living footballers and is one of the few players to have played both for Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.
Luis Enrique commenced his professional club football career at Sporting de Gijon in 1989 and played for them until 1991, scoring 14 goals in 36 league matches. He was then signed by Spanish and European powerhouse Real Madrid. He played for the Merengues between 1991 and 1996 and scored 15 goals in 157 league matches. At the end of the 1995-1996 season, his contract at the Bernabeu ran out and he signed by Real’s archrivals FC Barcelona on a free transfer. He went onto feature for the Catalan giants from 1996 to 2004 and scored 73 goals in 204 La Liga matches and became a legend at Camp Nou. He even became the captain of the club and won back-to-back league title in 1998 and 1999.
Luis Enrique Martinez made his international debut for Spain in 1991 and went onto feature in 62 international matches for his nation and scored 12 goals. He represented Spain at the 1994,1998 and 2002 World Cup finals as well as at Euro ‘96. He is best remembered for having suffered a bloody face against Italy in the quarter-final of the 1994 US World Cup when Italian player Mauro Tassotti elbowed him in the face. Luis Enrique won Gold at the 1992 Summer Olympics with the Spanish national football team.
In June, 2008 Luis Enrique was appointed the coach of FC Barcelona B, which was rechristened as FC Barcelona Atletic, for the 2008-2009 season.
