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Antonio de la Cruz
	de la Cruz (standing, third to left) playing for Barcelona in 1975
Personal information
Full name	Jesús Antonio de la Cruz Gallego
Date of birth	7 May 1947 (age 77)
Place of birth	León, Spain
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s)	Defender
Youth career
	Júpiter Leonés
	Valladolid
Senior career*
Years	Team
1966–1970	Valladolid
1970–1972	Granada
1972–1979	Barcelona
Total
International career
1971	Spain U23
1972–1978	Spain
Managerial career
1987–1988	Sabadell
1995–1996	Barcelona C
1998–1999	Yokohama F. Marinos
2003	Barcelona (interim)
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Jesús Antonio de la Cruz Gallego (born 7 May 1947) is a Spanish former football defender and manager.

He appeared in 247 La Liga games over the course of nine seasons, scoring a total of six goals for Granada and Barcelona. He won three titles with the latter club, including the 1979 Cup Winners' Cup.

A Spain international in the 70s, de la Cruz represented his country in the 1978 World Cup.

Club career

Born in León, de la Cruz started his senior career with Real Valladolid in the Segunda División. Even though he suffered relegation at the end of the 1969–70 season, he moved straight into La Liga with Granada, making his debut in the competition on 13 September 1970 in a 1–1 away draw against Elche.^[1]

In early March 1972, de la Cruz signed with fellow top-division club Barcelona for six million pesetas, pending a medical that almost went wrong and with the deal being made effective in July.^[2] He went on to feature in more than 230 official matches during his tenure at the Camp Nou, scoring his first goal on 7 January 1973 in a 2–0 win at Real Zaragoza.^[3] On 16 May 1979, the 32-year-old came on as a second-half substitute in the final of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in Basel, the 4–3 extra time defeat of Fortuna Düsseldorf.^[4]

De la Cruz worked as a coach after retiring. This included two brief spells with Sabadell, also in Catalonia (which included top-flight relegation in the 1987–88 campaign).^[5]

In January 2003, following the dismissal of Louis van Gaal and prior to the appointment of Radomir Antić, de la Cruz was named interim manager at Barcelona.^[6] He was in charge of the squad for one league match, the 3–0 away loss to Atlético Madrid.^[7]

International career

De la Cruz earned six caps for Spain in as many years. His debut arrived on 12 April 1972, in a 0–0 friendly draw in Greece.^[2]

Selected by coach László Kubala for the 1978 FIFA World Cup, de la Cruz took part in the 2–1 group stage defeat against Austria,^[8] as the tournament in Argentina ended after three games.

Honours

Barcelona

Managerial statistics (Japan only)

Team	From	To	Record^[9]
Team	From	To	G	W	D	L	Win %
Yokohama F. Marinos	1998	1999	47	29	3	15	061.70
Total			47	29	3	15	061.70

References

^ "1–1: El Elche se derrumbó al fallar Iborra un penalty" [1–1: Elche collapsed as Iborra missed penalty]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 14 September 1970. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
^ ^a ^b Yepes, Sergio (29 October 2016). "El nexo entre el Granada, el Barça y 'La Roja'" [The link between Granada, Barça and 'La Roja']. Ideal (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 September 2017.
^ Pardo, Carlos (8 January 1973). "0–2: El Barcelona en línea de campeón" [0–2: Barcelona like a champion]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 September 2017.
^ "1978/79: Barcelona win seven-goal thriller". UEFA. 1 June 1979. Archived from the original on 3 May 2010. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
^ "La directiva del Sabadell destituye como entrenador a Martínez" [The Sabadell board of directors dismisses Martínez as coach]. El País (in Spanish). 3 November 1987. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
^ Ares, Carlos; Carbonell, Rafael (31 January 2003). "Antic está mejor colocado que Menotti para entrenar al Barça" [Antic is better placed than Menotti to coach Barça]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 September 2017.
^ Llamas, Fernando (2 February 2003). "El Atlético empuja al Barça al abismo" [Atlético push Barça to the abyss]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 September 2017.
^ Castillo, José Javier (4 June 1978). "1–2: Para empezar, naufragio ante Austria" [1–2: For starters, shipwreck against Austria]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 September 2017.
^ デラクルス [Jesus Antonio DE LA CRUZ Gallego] (in Japanese). J. League Data. Retrieved 14 September 2016.