Alberto Rivera Pizarro (born 16 February 1978) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder.
He started out at Real Madrid, but played almost exclusively for its reserve teams during his spell. In a senior career that spanned nearly two decades, he amassed La Liga totals of 282 matches and ten goals over 12 seasons, also representing in the competition Numancia, Levante, Betis, Sporting de Gijón and Elche.
Club career Real Madrid Rivera was born in Puertollano, Ciudad Real, Castilla–La Mancha.Alberto Rivera: «Quiero llegar a cierta edad y seguir disfrutando del running» (Alberto Rivera: "I want to reach a certain age and still enjoy running"); Las Provincias, 13 April 2022 (in Spanish) A product of Real Madrid's youth academy, he made his first-team debut (his only appearance for the main squad during 1994–95), scoring in a 2–0 away win against RC Celta de Vigo with the La Liga title race already decided in their favour while becoming the youngest player to score in an official match in the club's history at the age of 17 years and 114 days.Un pasillo y muchos bostezos (Guard of honour and yawns aplenty); Mundo Deportivo, 11 June 1995 (in Spanish)El goleador más joven de la historia del Real Madrid (The youngest scorer in the history of Real Madrid); Diario AS, 29 October 2005 (in Spanish) He started his senior career with the C team in the Segunda División B, playing two additional full seasons with Real Madrid Castilla in the same level and appearing in five Segunda División games with the latter.
For 1999–2000, Rivera signed with CD Numancia in a loan deal.Breve enciclopedia numantina (Brief numantina encyclopedia); Desde Soria, 29 May 2013 (in Spanish) After helping the Sorians to barely avoid top-division relegation, he returned to Real Madrid, where he was featured in two additional league games the following season.Memoria de La Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional Temporada 2000/2001 (Memory of the Professional Football National League 2000/2001 season); at La Liga (in Spanish) In January 2002 he had another loan spell, with Olympique de Marseille to where he moved alongside Alfonso Pérez from FC Barcelona,El Barça cede a Alfonso al Marsella (Barça loan Alfonso to Marseille); ABC, 8 January 2002 (in Spanish) and appeared regularly for the French Ligue 1 side until the end of the campaign, in an eventual ninth-place finish.Dos goles de Alfonso dan el triunfo al OM (Two Alfonso goals give win to OM); Diario AS, 30 January 2002 (in Spanish)Les dossiers de l'OM (The OM files); L'Express, 11 July 2002 (in French)
Levante and Betis Rivera joined Levante UD in 2002, with the team in the second division. He was an undisputed starter in three seasons, netting a career-high 11 goals in 2003–04's promotionEl gran centrocampista Rivera, el líder del Levante UD en el mítico ascenso de Jerez (The great midfielder Rivera, Levante UD's leader in the legendary promotion of Xerez); Museo Virtual Levante UD, 5 June 2024 (in Spanish) before moving to Real Betis upon Levante's immediate relegation (having played all the matches but one, with five goals), for €3.4 million.Rivera bought by Betis; UEFA, 30 June 2005
Rivera made 34 league appearances in 2005–06, adding seven in the UEFA Champions League and three in the UEFA Cup, without finding the net however. The following campaign he played 27 times, scoring his first goal in a 3–2 defeat at Villarreal CF on 5 November 2006.Villarreal 3–2 Real Betis; ESPN Soccernet, 5 November 2006
Sporting Gijón In mid-June 2009, having rejected Betis' offer of a new deal, and with the Andalusians having been relegated, Rivera signed a one-year contract with fellow top-tier club Sporting de Gijón – with the option for a further two – which had barely retained its status, arriving on a free transfer and reuniting with former Levante boss Manolo Preciado.El Sporting cierra el fichaje del bético Alberto Rivera (Sporting complete signing of bético Alberto Rivera); Marca, 16 June 2009 (in Spanish) At the end of his second season, he received the Fair Play Award given by the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional.Rivera, premio al jugador más limpio (Rivera, fair play award) ; El Comercio, 1 December 2011 (in Spanish)
Rivera appeared in an average of 31 games during his spell in Asturias, suffering top-flight relegation in his third and final year. He retired in summer 2014 at the age of 36 after two seasons with Elche CF,Rivera jugará en el Elche las dos próximas temporadas (Rivera will play in Elche the next two seasons); Diario AS, 14 July 2012 (in Spanish) the latter spent in the main division.Rivera: "A todos nos gusta jugar, pero solo lo hacen once y en la plantilla somos veinticinco" (Rivera: "Everybody likes to play, but only eleven can do so and there's twenty-five of us in the squad"); Marca, 18 October 2013 (in Spanish)Alberto Rivera: los rizos se pasearon de norte a sur (Alberto Rivera: dreadlocks went from North to South); Cadena COPE, 31 January 2016 (in Spanish)
Post-retirement After retiring, Rivera started running marathons.Alberto Rivera, del fútbol de Primera a correr maratones (Alberto Rivera, from Primera football to running marathons); ABC, 12 October 2024 (in Spanish)
Honours Real Madrid La Liga: 1994–95, 2000–01
Levante Segunda División: 2003–04Preciado, el entrenador de los cinco ascensos (Preciado, the manager of the five promotions); Marca, 7 June 2012 (in Spanish)«Ese ascenso me cambió la vida» ("This promotion changed my life"); Super Deporte, 5 June 2024 (in Spanish)
Elche Segunda División: 2012–13El Elche, campeón de Segunda (Elche, Segunda champions); Marca, 26 May 2013 (in Spanish)
Individual La Liga Fair Play Award: 2010–11
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