Former Man Utd Star Antonio Valencia Retires From Football
Former Ecuador and Manchester United captain, Antonio
Valencia on Wednesday announced his retirement from football.
The 35-year-old, who was playing for Queretaro in Mexico,
had been suffering from a long-standing foot problem.
Valencia first broke his foot in 2015 in the Manchester
derby.
He spent a decade at United from 2009-19 and ended his spell
there as club captain after Michael Carrick retired in 2018.
Originally a dashing and explosive right winger, Valencia
later played as a full-back.
He began his career at Nacional de Quito in 2003 before
moving to Villarreal in Spain in 2005 after winning the Ecuadoran league.
He joined Wigan Athletic a year later where he caught the
eye of former United manager, Alex Ferguson.
Valencia joined United in 2009 and went on to win two
Premier League titles, the FA Cup, Europa League and the League Cup twice with
the Red Devils.
In 2019 he returned home to join Liga de Quito, the only
Ecuadoran side to ever win the Copa Libertadores (2008) and Copa Sudamericana
(2009) — the respective equivalents of the Champions League and Europa League.
A year later, with the coronavirus pandemic wreaking havoc
on South American club football competitions, Valencia switched to Queretaro.
He played 99 times for Ecuador, scoring 11 goals and
represented his country at the World Cup in 2006 and 2014, and four Copa
America tournaments.
He was awarded the National Order of Merit in 2019.
