MORENO

A native of Jaén, Benjamín Moreno had to leave his hometown of Guarromán, like many other families of the time, to settle in the Spanish capital. He joined Real Madrid’s youth academy, reaching the junior level, and it was there that he learned his most famous dribble: “la morena.” Our protagonist, along with several teammates, tried to emulate a first-team player, Touriño, an Argentine defender who used this move whenever he pushed forward in attack.

After stints with Murcia and Valdepeñas, a director of the Leganés club and fellow Guarromán native, Juan Belmonte, recommended him to Jesús Polo, suggesting he sign Moreno. The team was then in the old Tercera División, where football wasn’t enough to make a living and the fields weren’t grass. On the dirt pitches of Luis Rodríguez de Miguel, he honed his skills over five seasons alongside players such as Osa, Aguilera, and Trobbiani, with whom he formed one of the most lethal partnerships in the division.

He scored the first goal of the Villa de Leganés trophy in 1980, in a four-team tournament that pitted them against Getafe and was ultimately won by Rayo Vallecano, who had previously eliminated Torrejón. However, three years later, he got his revenge by defeating Real Madrid Castilla—featuring names like Pardeza, Martín Vázquez, Míchel, and Butragueño—by a score of three to one, with Moreno scoring the final goal.

Always recognizable by his mustache, he was a forward who left a lasting mark on the fans who came every weekend to watch Leganés play. He was the group’s top scorer in his first two years with 16 and 22 goals respectively, later dropping to 8, 6, and 3 in the following three seasons. He left the Madrid club with 168 appearances and 52 goals in the white-and-blue shirt, placing him among the club’s all-time top scorers. He later went on to play for Móstoles, Fuenlabrada, and Sonseca until his retirement.

After retiring as a worker for the Madrid Metro, Leganés restored the fame he had earned more than thirty years earlier with his goals, thanks to journalist Julio Maldonado “Maldini,” who claimed that his first great football idol was Moreno, whom he watched play for the Leganés team and whose famous dribble, “la morena,” remains permanently etched in his memory. He passed away on May 1, 2020, at the age of 65.