Manuel Pablo García

Manuel Pablo García Díaz, Manuel Pablo (born 25 January, 1976 in Arucas, Las Palmas), is a football (soccer) player from Spain, who plays for Deportivo de La Coruña, as a quick right back. He has played for the Spain national football team on 13 occasions.

The Canary Islands was only 22, when he joined Deportivo de La Coruña from hometown UD Las Palmas in the summer of 1998. He was signed together with Argentinian striker Turu Flores, but was more or less considered a ‘bonus’ in this package deal. Pablo made his La Liga debut on November 15, 1998, a 2-2 draw at home against Deportivo Alavés, but faced serious competition from Armando Álvarez that season. He played a total of 14 league matches, but displayed enough promise to prompt Deportivo to release Armando at the end of 1998-99.

He played 74 league matches from 1999-2001 and was a vital part of Depors defense, as the Galicia (Spain) were crowned La Liga 1999-00 for the first time in their history. His performances earned him a debut in the Spain national football team on August 16, 2000, in a 4-1 away friendly defeat to Germany national football team.

In his fourth season at La Coruña, disaster struck: on September 30, 2001, Pablo sustained an horrific tibia injury during the Galician derby against Celta de Vigo, in a televised match, after an unlucky tackle by Brazil Everton Giovanella.

One year later, he returned, playing 90 minutes against CD Corralejo in a Copa del Rey outing. On October 6, Pablo was offered a league return by then-coach Javier Irureta, playing the dying minutes of a 0-2 home loss against Racing de Santander.

In La Liga 2003-04's closing stages, Pablo proved he was fully recovered, as displayed in an excellent individual display on April 7, 2004, in a 4-0 second leg quarterfinal crushing of AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League. From 2004-05 on, he was the undisputed right-back at Riazor (although he faced stiff competition from Álvaro Arbeloa in 2006-07, until the latter departed for Liverpool F.C in January 2007).