Saturno Villaverde

Saturno Villaverde
Personal information
Full name Saturno Villaverde Lavandera
Date of birth (1892-02-29)29 February 1892
Place of birth Gijón, Asturias, Spain
Date of death Unknown
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1914–1918 Athletic Club de Madrid
International career
1917 Madrid 3 (3)
Medal record
 Madrid
Prince of Asturias Cup
Gold medal – first place 1917 Prince of Asturias Cup Team
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Saturno Villaverde Lavandera (29 February 1892 - Unknown), nicknamed Saturnino and also known as Villaverde II[citation needed], was a Spanish footballer who played as a forward for Athletic Club de Madrid.[1] His brothers, Fernando and Senén, were also footballers and also played for Athletic Madrid.[2]

Biography

He joined Athletic in 1914, featuring alongside the likes of Pagaza, Juan de Cárcer and his brothers, Fernando and Senén, who joined in 1915, but while they left in 1916 and 1917 respectively, he stayed with the club, and in 1917, he was summoned to play for the Madrid national team in the 1917 Prince of Asturias Cup, an inter-regional competition organized by the RFEF.[3] Saturno was the star of the tournament, being the top scorer with 3 goals – a brace against Catalonia in a 2–2 draw and the winner against Cantabric in a 3–2 win – thus going from an utter unknown of the masses to the tournament's surprise package and a loved hero in Madrid. Remarkably, in the game against Cantabric, the Villaverde brothers were rivals, as Fernando and Senén were representing the Cantabrians.[4] However, his excellent campaign at the tournament almost did not happen, since initially, Saturno was not even in the radar of the dirigents to be called up for the Madrid team, but because the tournament coincided with the 1917 Copa del Rey Final between Madrid FC and Arenas, which prevented them from having the best players of Madrid FC, meaning they had to call the "second options" (players from Athletic Madrid and Racing de Madrid) to put together a team which could compete, and despite being a weaker side than in the previous tournament, they managed to win what the "first options" had failed to.[5]

Honours

International

Madrid

References

  1. ^ "S. Villaverde (Saturnino Villaverde Lavandera)". www.infoatleti.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  2. ^ "VILLAVERDE, Fernando". lagrandezadeunoscolores.blogspot.com (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 25 August 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  3. ^ "Squad of Cataluña 1917 Copa del Príncipe de Asturias". www.bdfutbol.com. Archived from the original on 27 June 2022. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  4. ^ "Centro – Cantabria (3 – 2) 11/05/1917". www.bdfutbol.com. Archived from the original on 27 June 2022. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  5. ^ Vicente Martínez Calatrava (17 August 2009). "La Copa Príncipe de Asturias" [The Prince of Asturias Cup] (in Spanish). CIHEFE. Archived from the original on 14 April 2019. Retrieved 10 July 2022.