C.D. Leganés 'B' achieved promotion to the Second Division RFEF last Sunday with two games in advance. The Blue and Whites' reserve team, unbeaten throughout the regular league, suffered three setbacks in the play-off, but ended up clinching promotion with a 1-0 win over Rayo Vallecano 'B'.
Thus, the Puebla reserve team will compete next season in the new category created after the remodeling of the different divisions, giving a qualitative leap for the club's grassroots soccer. A success that is the result of the daily work of many people on and off the field, but personified on the bench in the figure of Carlos Martínez.
Five seasons, 155 official matches and a promotion to the second division as a pepinero.
At the age of 40, the 40-year-old from Llerena was facing his first experience as head coach in Spain. A Pepinero player for five seasons divided into two stages, he arrived at Leganés in the summer of 2007 to play in Second Division B. He soon became one of the idols of the fans thanks to his dedication and his exquisite left foot. He soon became one of the idols of the fans thanks to his dedication and his exquisite left foot, so good that he became known as 'the Zizou of Llerena' and made the leap to professional soccer at the age of 30 with A.D. Alcorcón.
After two seasons in the Second Division, Carlos returned to Butarque to complete the job that had been left undone: to get Leganés back to the Second Division. He did not succeed in the first, with Pablo Alfaro on the bench, but he did succeed in the second, captaining the team coached by Asier Garitano that would end up getting the long-awaited promotion in L'Hospitalet in 2014.
From China and Saudi Arabia to be part of a First Division coaching staff.
After 155 games and 22 goals as a pepinero, he played one more year at C.F. Fuenlabrada before hanging up his boots and joining Atlético de Madrid as a youth coach. Subsequently, adventures in China and Saudi Arabia before returning to Madrid with U.D. San Sebastián de los Reyes as physical trainer, and in 2019 he returned to Leganés to become the assistant coach of the reserve team accompanying Luis Cembranos.
However, the departure of Mauricio Pellegrino and the subsequent arrival of Javier Aguirre to the first team in October led Carlos to move from the second to the first team. Until, in the summer of 2020, the club chose him to manage C.D. Leganés 'B', accompanied by his inseparable David Valleros as assistant. The rest is already history: an undefeated regular league and an unforgettable promotion to the RFEF Second Division.
"We have created a team in which everyone contributes and has made a team spirit".
Carlos was delighted on Sunday after completing the challenge: "Despite not having been able to make as much of a team as we would have liked because of the pandemic, we have created a team in which everyone has contributed and they deserve it. We have to congratulate the players, because without them no work would be possible. We also have to thank the fans, who have given us that little bit of life we needed in difficult moments".
That's Carlos Martínez, from an idol on the Butarque pitch to the architect of the promotion from the bench.
