Gustavo Munúa

Gustavo Munúa
Munúa presented as a coach of LDU in 2017
Personal information
Full name Gustavo Adolfo Munúa Vera
Date of birth (1978-01-27) 27 January 1978
Place of birth Montevideo, Uruguay
Height 1.89 m (6 ft 2 1⁄2 in)
Playing position Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team
 Cartagena (coach)
Youth career
1986–1997 Nacional
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1997–2003 Nacional 102 (3)
2003–2009 Deportivo La Coruña 27 (0)
2009–2010 Málaga 38 (0)
2010–2013 Levante 86 (0)
2013–2014 Fiorentina 0 (0)
2014–2015 Nacional 41 (0)
Total 294 (3)
National team
1998–2004 Uruguay 21 (0)
Teams managed
2015–2016 Nacional
2016–2017 LDU
2017–2018 Deportivo B
2018– Cartagena
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Gustavo Adolfo Munúa Vera (born 27 January 1978) is a Uruguayan former footballer who played as a goalkeeper, and is the current manager of Cartagena .

After starting out at Nacional he spent most of his professional career in Spain, mainly at Deportivo de La Coruña where he could never be a starter in six seasons. He also played in the country for Málaga and Levante, being first-choice and appearing in 151 La Liga games over the course of one full decade.

An Uruguayan international for six years, Munúa represented the country at the 2002 World Cup.

Club career

Nacional

Born in Montevideo, Munúa started his career at local Club Nacional de Football, where he won four Uruguyan league titles in a row. He held the record of being the first goalkeeper to score in Uruguayan football, when he netted from a free-kick in a league win against Central Español.

Munúa also scored some goals from penalties, both in the league and the Libertadores Cup.

Deportivo

Munúa left Nacional in 2003, joining La Liga side Deportivo de La Coruña on a six-year link,[1] where he struggled to gain first-choice goalkeeper status: from 2003 to 2006 he was topped by Spanish international José Francisco Molina and, subsequently, faced stiff competition from Israel's Dudu Aouate.

In January 2008, after regaining first-choice from Aouate, both goalkeepers were involved in a post-training punching session that resulted in both being suspended for the match against Villarreal CF, as well as subsequent league games.[2] In February, due to B-team keeper Fabri's inexperience, both players were reinstated in the squad, although the Israeli regained his lost spot.

After having started the following season, as Aouate, deemed surplus to requirements, Munúa eventually returned to back-up status, as Aouate was sold to RCD Mallorca and Fabri returned to the reserves. On 25 January 2009, to due the forced absence of new first-choice Daniel Aranzubia (sent off the previous week against FC Barcelona), he returned to first-team action for his only appearance of the campaign, a 0–1 loss at Real Madrid.[3]

Málaga / Levante

Munúa facing a shot from Real Sociedad's Carlos Vela in 2012

On 28 June 2009, Munúa signed a one-year contract with Málaga CF.[4] At his new club he was an instant first-choice, appearing in all the league games in his first year as the Andalusians barely avoided relegation (17th position).

After only one season, Munúa rejected a new contract offer and was released by the club, on 26 May 2010.[5] On 6 August he signed with Levante UD, returned to the top level after two years,[6] and he made his official debut on 28 August, in a 1–4 home defeat against Sevilla FC.[7]

Munúa was a starter for the Valencian Community side throughout the vast majority of his spell. However, late into his third season, he, alongside Sergio Ballesteros and Juanlu, was accused by teammate José Barkero of lack of commitment during a 0–4 home loss against Deportivo, which led to several match-fixing allegations.[8][9]

Later years

In January 2014, after a brief spell with ACF Fiorentina which consisted of two UEFA Europa League appearances, 36-year-old Munúa returned to his country and Nacional. After winning the 2015 national championship with the latter, as team captain, he was announced as Álvaro Gutiérrez's replacement as head coach.[10]

On 7 November 2017, Munúa returned to his former club Deportivo as manager of the reserves in Segunda División B.[11]

International career

Munúa made his debut for Uruguay aged 20, in a friendly match against Chile on 24 May 1998. As a backup, he represented the nation at the 2001 Copa América and the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Club statistics

[12]

Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
SeasonClubLeague AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Uruguay League Cup League Cup South America Total
1997NacionalPrimera División10––––??10
1998110––––??110
1999110––––??110
200000––––??00
2001270––––??270
2002331––––??331
2003192––––??192
Spain League Copa del Rey Supercopa de España Europe Total
2003–04DeportivoLa Liga5040––10100
2004–0517020––20200
2005–060000––0000
2006–070060––––60
2007–084020––––60
2008–091000––0010
2009–10Málaga38000––––380
2010–11Levante20040––––240
2011–1237020––––390
2012–1318000––00180
Italy League Coppa Italia Supercoppa Italiana Europe Total
2013–14FiorentinaSerie A0000––2020
Total Uruguay 1023––––??1023
Spain 1400200––301630
Italy 0000––2020
Career total 2423200––502673

Managerial statistics

As of 26 May 2018
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team Nat From To Record Ref
G W D L GF GA GD Win %
Nacional Uruguay 29 June 2015 5 June 2016 44 20 14 10 67 50 +17 045.45 —
LDU Ecuador 13 December 2016 3 July 2017 22 2 11 9 23 35 −12 009.09 —
Deportivo B Spain 7 November 2017 28 May 2018 27 13 5 9 31 25 +6 048.15 [13]
Cartagena Spain 10 July 2018 Present 0 0 0 0 0 0 +0 !— [14]
Total 93 35 30 28 121 110 +11 037.63 —

Honours

Club

Nacional
Deportivo

Country

References

  1. ↑ Deportivo dive in for Munúa; UEFA.com, 26 August 2003
  2. ↑ Deportivo keepers axed after fight; CNN, 11 January 2008
  3. ↑ "Un gol de Raúl da otro triunfo al Real Madrid (1–0)" [Raúl goal gives another win to Real Madrid (1–0)]. 20 minutos (in Spanish). 25 January 2009. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  4. ↑ "Duo make Málaga moves". Sky Sports. 28 June 2009. Retrieved 28 June 2009.
  5. ↑ "El Málaga no renovará a Munúa" [Málaga will not renew Munúa]. Diario Sur (in Spanish). 26 May 2010. Retrieved 26 May 2010.
  6. ↑ "El Levante UD llega a un acuerdo con Munúa para la próxima temporada y será presentado esta misma tarde" [Levante UD reach an agreement with Munua for the next season and he will be presented this afternoon] (in Spanish). Levante UD. 6 August 2010. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
  7. ↑ "El Sevilla se sacude sus penas con goles" [Sevilla shake off their chagrins with goals] (in Spanish). RTVE. 29 August 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  8. ↑ Incendio en el vestuario del Levante por las acusaciones de amaño entre jugadores (Fire in Levante locker room for match-fixing accusations between players); Libertad Digital, 1 May 2013 (in Spanish)
  9. ↑ Levante thrown into doubt; Football España, 6 May 2013
  10. ↑ Gustavo Munúa se retira para ser el nuevo DT de Nacional (Gustavo Munúa retires to become the new HC of Nacional); ESPN FC, 30 June 2015 (in Spanish)
  11. ↑ Gustavo Munúa, nuevo entrenador del Fabril (Gustavo Munúa, new manager of Fabril); Deportivo La Coruña, 7 November 2017 (in Spanish)
  12. ↑ "G. Munúa". Soccerway. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  13. ↑ "Munúa: Gustavo Adolfo Munúa Vera: Matches 2017–18". BDFutbol. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  14. ↑ "Munúa: Gustavo Adolfo Munúa Vera: Matches 2018–19". BDFutbol. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
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