Juanele


Juan Castaño Quirós, known as Juanele, is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a forward.
He achieved La Liga totals of 346 games and 61 goals in representation of Sporting Gijón, Tenerife and Zaragoza, and won the Copa del Rey twice with the last of those clubs.
Juanele earned five caps for Spain all in 1994, and went to that year's World Cup.

Club career

Born in Gijón, Asturias, Juanele started playing professionally for hometown club Sporting de Gijón, making his first-team – and La Liga – debut at the age of 20 and finishing his first season with three goals in 24 games. He became an undisputed starter the following years.
In June 1994, Juanele signed a five-year contract with CD Tenerife, being an essential attacking unit as the Canary Islands side reached the semi-finals in the 1996–97 UEFA Cup, scoring twice against S.S. Lazio and at Feyenoord. In addition, he netted 15 league goals in 60 matches as they achieved back-to-back top-ten finishes, which included the fifth place in 1996 that led to the European exploits.
Juanele joined Real Zaragoza after Tenerife's 1999 relegation, helping the Aragonese to two Copa del Rey trophies in the early 2000s, even though he was already a fringe player in the second conquest. He left in 2004 to Terrassa FC in the second division, joining lowly Real Avilés Industrial after one season.
In 2006–07, Juanele had brief amateur stints with SD Atlético Camocha and TSK Roces, both in the Asturian regional leagues, retiring from football altogether at the end of the campaign.

International career

Juanele earned five caps for the Spain national team in 1994, scoring twice. He was subsequently named in the 1994 FIFA World Cup squad, but did not play in the tournament.
Juanele also appeared twice for the Asturias autonomous team. His debut came in a friendly with Macedonia on 23 December 2000, in which he scored the only goal of their first game in 64 years.

International goals

Personal life

After some episodes of depression and a battle to overcome an addiction to prescription drugs, Juanele was admitted in early 2008 to a Gijón hospital due to an excessive intake. He later recovered, eventually opening a football school with former Sporting teammate Iván Iglesias.
On 13 June 2015, Juanele was sentenced to five months in prison for hitting his former partner with a baseball bat, which was to be complemented with an obligatory medical treatment. In 2011, he had already been incarcerated for violation of a restraining order.

Honours

Zaragoza