Marc Crosas

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Crosasand the second or maternal family name is Luque.

Marc Crosas

Crosas with Cruz Azul in 2015
Personal information
Full name	Marc Crosas Luque
Date of birth	(1988-01-09) 9 January 1988 (age 36)
Place of birth	Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Spain
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) [1]
Position(s)	Defensive midfielder
Youth career
2002–2005	Barcelona
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2005–2006	Barcelona C	18	(2)
2006–2008	Barcelona B	34	(0)
2007	Barcelona	0	(0)
2008	→ Lyon (loan)	8	(0)
2008–2011	Celtic	36	(1)
2011–2012	Volga	26	(0)
2012–2014	Santos Laguna	78	(2)
2014–2015	U. de G.	35	(1)
2015–2018	Cruz Azul	7	(0)
2016–2017	→ Tenerife (loan)	14	(0)
2017	→ Tampico Madero (loan)	12	(0)
Total		268	(6)
International career
2004–2005	Spain U17	4	(1)
2006–2007	Spain U19	4	(0)
2009	Spain U21	1	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Marc Crosas Luque (born 9 January 1988) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Crosas is also a football analyst for TUDN. He is a Mexican naturalized citizen. ^[2]

Club career

Barcelona

Born in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Girona, Catalonia, Crosas came through the ranks at La Liga club FC Barcelona and signed a five-year contract in 2006. On 8 November 2006, Crosas made his first-team debut in a Copa del Rey tie against CF Badalona, coming on as a substitute for Andrés Iniesta in the 76th minute. Crosas was named in the Barcelona squad which competed in the 2006 Club World Cup in December, in Japan where the club finished runners-up. On 12 December 2007, he played in his first Champions League match against VfB Stuttgart at Camp Nou.

Crosas scored the winning penalty in the final of the 2007 Copa Catalunya in which Barcelona beat RCD Espanyol 5–4 on penalties after a 1–1 draw. ^[3]

Lyon

On 11 January 2008, Barcelona and Ligue 1 club Lyon reached an agreement in which Crosas would play on loan for the French champions until the end of the season, because of the number of players competing for his central midfield position. This happened due to the fact that the Spaniard could not get into the main part of the Catalan club. However, he had not given up hope of playing for the Blaugrana, saying, "I leave with the intention to return. That is my objective." ^[4] Crosas trained closely with Juninho Pernambucano in order to improve his development at Lyon. ^[4]

Crosas made his Ligue 1 debut for Lyon on 20 January 2008 in a match against Lens, starting in place of Juninho, who was out with a dislocated toe. Unfortunately for him, Lyon suffered a disappointing defeat, losing 3–0.

When his loan was coming to an end, Jean-Michel Aulas told L'Équipe "It's possible that the player will stay with us. He had a good half season at the club and people like him. We were satisfied by his performances and when we've taken a decision on the new coach, we'll see if he can continue with us." ^[5]

Celtic

Crosas during his time at Celtic in September 2009

In August 2008, Crosas joined Celtic for a fee of £415,000 rising to £1.6 million depending on appearances, and signed a four-year contract. ^[6] Barcelona retained a £1.65 million buy-back option which took effect at the end of the 2009–10 season. ^[6] He was paraded at Celtic Park before the match with St Mirren. He made his debut for the first team as a substitute for Scott Brown against Falkirk at Celtic Park on 23 August 2008 and his first on 13 September against Motherwell at Fir Park. On 4 October, he was awarded man of the match for his performance against Hamilton Academical after completing his first full 90 minutes for Celtic. On 28 January 2009, Crosas scored in the penalty shootout of the Scottish League Cup semi-final against Dundee United. Celtic won the shootout 11–10. ^[7] On 28 February 2009, Crosas scored his first Celtic goal in a 7–0 home win against St Mirren; a powerful curving shot from 30 yards, ^[8] which was later voted Celtic's Goal of the Season. He was also voted Celtic's Young Player of the Season in his first season with the club. ^[9]

In the 2009–10 season, Crosas was not initially a regular starter in midfield as Massimo Donati and loan signing Landry N'Guémo were first picks. After Donati's transfer to Bari, Crosas got a chance to shine and forged a successful partnership with N'Guemo, becoming a staple of the Celtic starting eleven. ^[10]

At the start of the 2010–11 season, Crosas fell out of favour under new Celtic manager Neil Lennon, but on 22 September he came off the bench to replace Joe Ledley in a 6–0 League Cup win over Inverness Caledonian Thistle. ^[11]

Volga

Crosas was transferred by Celtic to Russian Premier League side FC Volga in February 2011 for £300,000, signing a contract until December 2014. ^[9] Crosas also joined Volga to kickstart his career with regular first-team football. ^[12] Crosas made his debut in Volga shirt in a 2–0 victory over Tom Tomsk. Crosas made 26 appearances and assisted 5 goals in his 11 months at the Russian side.

Santos Laguna

After having trouble adapting to life in Russia with FC Volga, ^[13] Crosas signed a three-year deal with Mexican side Santos Laguna. ^[14] Following his move to Mexico, Crosas revealed that his Celtic teammate Efraín Juárez played a part in his surprise move to Mexico. ^[15] Crosas was introduced to the supporters of Santos Laguna before the match between Santos Laguna and Jaguares which Santos Laguna won 1–0. ^[16] He made his team debut as a substitute in an away match against Monarcas Morelia where Santos lost 3–1 on 12 February 2012. ^[17] On 7 March 2012, he made his first appearance in the CONCACAF Champions League against MLS team Seattle Sounders FC. He assisted Herculez Gomez on the 1–1 draw, with Santos losing the tie 2–1. On 20 May 2012, he played the entire final match of Torneo Clausura 2011–12 against Rayados de Monterrey where Santos Laguna won the title after a 2–1 victory (3–2 in global). He scored his first goal with Santos Laguna on 13 March 2013 during the second leg versus Houston Dynamo in the CONCACAF Champions League ^{[ citation needed ]} which Santos ended up winning 3–1 on aggregate score.^{[ citation needed ]}

Later career

After leaving Santos Laguna in 2014, Crosas played for U. de G. and Cruz Azul, serving subsequent loan stints at CD Tenerife ^[18] and Tampico Madero. He retired in 2018.

International career

Between 2004 and 2005, Crosas was capped eight times by the Spain under-17 team. He was included in the Spain under-19 team in 2007, but pulled out through injury.

He also represented the Catalonia team from the region of Catalonia in Spain. The team, which is organised by the Catalonia Football Federation, is not affiliated to FIFA or UEFA, but regularly plays friendly matches against other nations.

He made his debut coming on in the 73rd minute to replace Sergio García during a 1–1 draw against the Basque Country and his second appearance against Colombia.

Personal life

Crosas had always lived in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, until moving on loan to Lyon in 2008. His best friend is former FC Barcelona teammate Bojan Krkić.^{[ citation needed ]} He has a boot sponsorship deal with Nike. He is the younger cousin of Albert Jorquera. ^[19] As of 2014, he holds Mexican citizenship. ^[20]

Career statistics

As of match played 29 August 2015 ^[21]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup		League cup		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Celtic	2008–09	Scottish Premiership	18	1	3	0	1	0	0	0	–		22	1
	2009–10		17	0	4	0	2	0	3	0	–		26	0
	2010–11		1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	–		3	0
	Total		36	1	8	0	4	0	3	0	0	0	51	1
Volga Nizhny Novgorod	2011–12	Russian Premier League	26	0	2	0	–		–		–		28	0
Santos Laguna	2011–12	Liga MX	15	0	0	0	–		5	0	–		22	1
	2012–13		36	0	0	0	–		7	2	–		26	0
	2013–14		19	0	5	0	–		1	0	–		3	0
	Total		70	0	5	0	0	0	13	2	0	0	88	2
Universidad de Guadalajara (loan)	2014–15	Liga MX	34	1	0	0	–		–		–		34	1
Cruz Azul	2015–16	Liga MX	7	0	0	0	–		–		–		7	0
Career total			173	2	15	0	4	0	16	2	0	0	208	4

Honours

Lyon

• Ligue 1: 2007–08
• Coupe de France: 2007–08

Celtic

• Scottish League Cup: 2008–09

Santos Laguna

• Mexican Primera División: Clausura 2012

Individual

• Clydesdale Bank Goal of the Season: 2008–09, vs St. Mirren ^[22]

References

1. "Football (Sky Sports)". SkySports. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
2. "'Porque la vida puede ser maravillosa', Marc Crosas fichó con Univisión Sports" (in Spanish). Univision. 23 July 2017.
3. Barça 1 Espanyol 1 (Barça win 5–4 on penalties) Archived 14 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine FCB news, OleOle, 5 June 2007
4. Marc Crosas Eyefootball, 24 May 2008
5. Crosas could stay in Lyon FC Barcelona Blog, 14 June 2008
6. "Crosas buoyed by Celtic reception". BBC Sport. 11 August 2008. Retrieved 15 August 2008.
7. "Celtic 0-0 Dundee United (11-10 pens)". BBC Sport. 28 January 2009. Retrieved 28 January 2009.
8. "Crosas Goal vs St Mirren". YouTube. 3 August 2009.
9. Volga sign midfielder Marc Crosas from Celtic BBC Sport, 18 February 2011
10. Marc Crosas 2009/10 stats Archived 1 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine Celtic Stats
11. "Celtic 6-0 Inverness CT". BBC Sport. 22 September 2010. Retrieved 22 September 2010.
12. "Celtic midfielder Marc Crosas set to join FC Volga to kickstart career". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. 14 February 2011. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
13. SA, Sarenet (5 January 2012). ""Me gustaría entrenar al Sporting" - Sporting de Gijón [I would like to train Sporting]". Canal Sporting (in Spanish). El Comercio Digita.
14. Santos presentó al nuevo refuerzo Marc Crosas La Africión (archived), 13 January 2012 (in Spanish)
15. "MARC CROSAS EXPLAINS TRANSFER TO SANTOS LAGUNA". Video Celts. 16 January 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
16. "Marc Crosas introduced at Santos Laguna". Video Celts. 23 January 2012. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
17. Marc Crosas aprueba su debut en el futbol mexicano (in Spanish) Archived 7 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine
18. El 'trotamundos' Marc Crosas jugará en el Tenerife, sport.es, 29 June 2016 (in Spanish)
19. 1 Bojan, Giovani and Crosas added to squad Archived 22 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine FC Barcelona Web, 12 June 2007
20. "Error-404 - Deportes Production". Deportes. Televisa. 22 July 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
21. "Marc Crosas". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
22. Crosas Goal vs St Mirren YouTube

External links

• Marc Crosas – Liga MX stats at MedioTiempo.com (archived) (in Spanish)
• Marc Crosas at Soccerbase
• Marc Crosas at BDFutbol
• Marc Crosas at Soccerway