Roberto Canella Suárez (born 7 February 1988) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left-back.

Roberto Canella
Canella with Sporting Gijón in 2014
Personal information
Full name Roberto Canella Suárez[1]
Date of birth (1988-02-07) 7 February 1988 (age 36)[1]
Place of birth Laviana, Spain
Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10+12 in)[1]
Position(s) Left-back
Youth career
1995–1999 ACD Alcava
1999–2005 Sporting Gijón
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2005–2006 Sporting Gijón B 16 (0)
2006–2019 Sporting Gijón 305 (8)
2014–2015Deportivo La Coruña (loan) 9 (0)
2019–2022 Lugo 72 (0)
2022–2023 Calahorra 12 (0)
International career
2006–2007 Spain U19 5 (0)
2007 Spain U20 3 (0)
2008–2010 Spain U21 11 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:12, 19 January 2023 (UTC)

He spent most of his professional career with Sporting de Gijón since making his debut with the first team at the age of 18, going on to appear in 313 official matches. Of those, 129 were in La Liga (four goals).

Canella represented Spain at under-19, under-20 and under-21 levels.

Club career

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Sporting Gijón

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Canella was born in Laviana, Asturias. A product of Sporting de Gijón's cantera[2] he first appeared with the main squad during 2006–07, and established himself as first choice the following season as they returned to La Liga after a ten-year hiatus.[3]

Canella scored his first top-flight goal on 5 October 2008 in a 2–0 away win against RCD Mallorca,[4] being a starter throughout the campaign. According to Cadena COPE, Real Madrid was likely to acquire his services for 2009–10.[5] Eventually nothing came of it, and the player again occupied the left-back position for the vast majority of the season, with Sporting again retaining their league status.[6]

In the following years, Canella continued battling for position with another club youth graduate, José Ángel, with both players appearing in roughly the same number of matches.[7][8] In 2011–12, following the latter's departure to AS Roma, he became the starter for the Manuel Preciado-led side.[9][10]

On 27 June 2014, Canella was loaned to Deportivo de La Coruña, recently returned to the top tier.[11] On 22 June 2019, the 31-year-old left Sporting after spending 20 years at the club and playing more than 300 competitive games for them.[12]

Later career

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On 27 July 2019, free agent Canella signed a two-year deal with CD Lugo of Segunda División.[13] Three years later, the 34-year-old joined Primera Federación team CD Calahorra.[14]

International career

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Internationally, Canella helped Spain to win the 2006 UEFA European Under-19 Championship,[15][16] played at the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup still being under-19[17] and then moved to the under-21s.[18]

Honours

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Spain U19

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Canella". Diario AS. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  2. ^ El Sporting ata a Roberto Canella para los próximos cuatro años (Sporting tie Roberto Canella for the next four years); El Comercio, 23 August 2006 (in Spanish)
  3. ^ El Sporting regresa a la élite (Sporting return to the elite); Mundo Deportivo, 16 June 2008 (in Spanish)
  4. ^ Mallorca 0–2 Sporting Gijon; ESPN Soccernet, 5 October 2008
  5. ^ De Roberto Canella y el Real Madrid (Of Roberto Canella and Real Madrid); Real Madrid Web, 13 January 2009 (in Spanish)
  6. ^ El Atlético cumple el trámite en Gijón (Atlético go through the procedures in Gijón); Mundo Deportivo, 9 May 2010 (in Spanish)
  7. ^ José Ángel y Canella, premiados con el 'Mets Bat' (José Ángel and Canella, awarded the 'Mets Bat'); Marca, 26 March 2009 (in Spanish)
  8. ^ La gripe frena a Canella (Flu stops Canella); La Nueva España, 21 November 2009 (in Spanish)
  9. ^ El lateral asume que Roberto Canella siga como titular (Fullback resigned to Roberto Canella being the starter); La Nueva España, 2 February 2011 (in Spanish)
  10. ^ Canella, el bicentenario (Canella, the bicentennial); La Nueva España, 8 November 2013 (in Spanish)
  11. ^ Canella llega al Deportivo cedido por una temporada (Canella arrives to Deportivo on loan for one season); La Voz de Galicia, 27 June 2014 (in Spanish)
  12. ^ "Roberto Canella: "Este fue el sueño de un 'guajín' de Laviana"" [Roberto Canella: "This was the dream of a child from Laviana"] (in Spanish). El Comercio. 22 June 2019. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  13. ^ "Rober Canella, nuevo jugador del CD Lugo" [Rober Canella, new player of CD Lugo] (in Spanish). CD Lugo. 27 July 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  14. ^ "Sobre la bocina, Roberto Canella encuentra equipo en Primera RFEF" [At the buzzer, Roberto Canella finds a team in Primera RFEF] (in Spanish). El Desmarque. 1 September 2022. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  15. ^ Europeo Sub-19 (Under-19 European Championship); Mundo Deportivo, 16 July 2006 (in Spanish)
  16. ^ a b Bueno double gives Spain glory Archived 5 January 2013 at archive.today; UEFA, 29 July 2006
  17. ^ Empieza la sucesión de Messi (Messi's succession begins); Mundo Deportivo, 30 June 2007 (in Spanish)
  18. ^ Canella, José Ángel, Botía y Azpilicueta, de Gijón a la sub-21 (Canella, José Ángel, Botía and Azpilicueta, from Gijón to the under-21); La Nueva España, 28 February 2010 (in Spanish)
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