Luis Milla (footballer, born 1966)

Luis Milla Aspas (born 12 March 1966) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a defensive midfielder, and is a current manager.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Milla and the second or maternal family name is Aspas.

Luis Milla
Milla as a Lugo manager
Personal information
Full name Luis Milla Aspas
Date of birth (1966-03-12) 12 March 1966
Place of birth Teruel, Spain
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s) Defensive midfielder
Youth career
1982–1983 Teruel
1983–1985 Barcelona
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1984–1990 Barcelona 54 (2)
1985–1986 Barcelona C 26 (0)
1986–1988 Barcelona B 40 (5)
1990–1997 Real Madrid 165 (3)
1997–2001 Valencia 79 (1)
Total 364 (11)
National team
1989–1990 Spain 3 (0)
Teams managed
2006–2007 Puçol
2007–2008 Getafe (assistant)
2008–2010 Spain U19
2009 Spain U20
2010–2012 Spain U21
2012 Spain U23
2013 Al Jazira
2015–2016 Lugo
2016 Zaragoza
2017–2018 Indonesia U23
2017–2018 Indonesia
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He represented three clubs – including both Barcelona and Real Madrid – during a 16-year-professional career, where he won three La Liga titles (one with the former and two with the latter) and amassed totals of 338 matches and 11 goals.

Milla later worked as a manager, being in charge of Spain's youth teams for several years.

Playing career

Milla was born in Teruel, Aragon. After finishing his football formation with FC Barcelona he made his La Liga debut in 1984–85, scoring in his only appearance of the season against Real Zaragoza as Barça pitched in a team majorly composed of youth players due to a general professional's strike.[1]

Definitely promoted to the first team in 1988, Milla would be involved two years later in a sour contract renewal dispute with the board of directors and manager Johan Cruyff,[2] which eventually finished with his free transfer to Real Madrid. He was seriously injured in his debut campaign, but bounced to back to be an important first-team element in the conquest of two leagues and one Copa del Rey, being fairly used even after the 1994 purchase of Fernando Redondo.[3]

Milla finished his career in June 2001 after four years at Valencia CF, with more than 400 official appearances as a professional. Over a three-month period beginning in late 1989, he earned himself three caps for the Spain national team, the first against Hungary in a 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifier.[4]

Coaching career

Milla was first involved in professional coaching in 2007–08, assisting former Barcelona and Madrid teammate Michael Laudrup at Getafe CF.[5] In the ensuing summer he was named the national under-19's manager, after Vicente del Bosque's appointment as the senior manager.

In his first tournament, the 2009 UEFA European championship, the team did not progress through the group stage. In the 2010 edition in France, however, he led Spain to the final, which ended in defeat to the hosts.

Later in the same year, Milla replaced Juan Ramón López Caro at the helm of the under-21 side. Despite finding a delicate situation upon his arrival, he managed to qualify for the 2011 European championship, after defeating Croatia in a two-legged play-off.

In the final stages in Denmark, Milla led the Spanish under-21s to their third title, after only conceding two goals in five games (four wins and only one draw).[6] He was sacked after his team failed to qualify from the group phase at the 2012 Summer Olympics.[7]

In February 2013, Milla was appointed at UAE Pro League's Al Jazira Club. His first match in charge was a 1–3 loss to Tractor Sazi F.C. for the season's AFC Champions League.

Milla returned to Spain in the 2015 off-season, signing as Segunda División club's CD Lugo head coach and resigning in late February 2016 in unclear circumstances.[8] In the following season, in the same capacity, he joined Zaragoza also in that level,[9] being sacked after only four months in charge and six matches without a win.[10]

On 21 January 2017, Milla succeeded Alfred Riedl at the helm of the Indonesia national team by signing a two-year contract.[11] In October 2018, he had his contract terminated by the Football Association of Indonesia.[12]

Personal life

Milla's son, also named Luis, is also a footballer and a midfielder.[13]

Honours

Player

Barcelona

Real Madrid

Valencia

Manager

Spain U21

Managerial statistics
As of match played 24 August 2018[14]
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team From To Record Ref
PWDLWin %
Spain U21 1 August 2010 7 August 2012 20 15 4 1 075.0
Al Jazira 23 February 2013 25 October 2013 6 1 2 3 016.7
Lugo 1 July 2015 24 February 2016 28 9 12 7 032.1
Zaragoza 1 July 2016 24 October 2016 12 3 4 5 025.0
Indonesia 20 January 2017 24 August 2018 7 3 2 2 042.9
Total 73 31 24 18 042.5 —

References
  1. 4–0: ¡Viva la huelga! (4–0: Long live the strike!); Mundo Deportivo, 10 September 1984 (in Spanish)
  2. Real Madrid biography Archived 12 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
  3. ¿Luis Redondo o Fernando Milla? (Luis Redondo or Fernando Milla?); El País, 4 September 1995 (in Spanish)
  4. Astruells, Andrés (16 November 1989). "El remate de una gran faena" [Icing on tasty cake] (in Spanish). Mundo Deportivo. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  5. "La ansiedad te bloquea" ("Anxiety blocks you"); El País, 30 September 2007 (in Spanish)
  6. Gustems, Pol (25 June 2011). "España sub-21, campeona de Europa: El ciclo continúa" [Spain under-21, European champions: The cycle continues] (in Spanish). Diarios de Fútbol. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
  7. Milla paga el fracaso de Londres (Milla pays for London failure); El País, 7 August 2012 (in Spanish)
  8. Mora, Froilán; Angulo, Adrián (26 February 2016). "¿Cuáles son los motivos reales de la dimisión de Luis Milla?" [What are the real motives for Luis Milla's resignation?] (in Spanish). Marca. Retrieved 24 December 2016.
  9. Marín, Javier (15 June 2016). "Oficial: Luis Milla es el nuevo entrenador del Zaragoza" [Official: Luis Milla is the new coach of Zaragoza] (in Spanish). Diario AS. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  10. "Luis Milla, destituido como entrenador del Zaragoza" [Luis Milla, sacked as Zaragoza manager] (in Spanish). Mundo Deportivo. 24 October 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  11. "Luis Milla lands Indonesia head coach job". Asian Football Confederation. 21 January 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  12. Budiman, Aditya (22 October 2018). "Luis Milla farewell on a high note, criticizes PSSI on Instagram". Tempo. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
  13. Garrido, F. J. (7 November 2014). "Milla vs Milla: padre del Real Madrid e hijo del Rayo Vallecano" [Milla vs Milla: Real Madrid father and Rayo Vallecano son] (in Spanish). Diario AS. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  14. Luis Milla coach profile at Soccerway
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