Andrés Guardado

José Andrés Guardado Hernández (born 28 September 1986) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Liga MX club León.

Popularly known as Principito (Spanish for Little Prince), Guardado came through the youth ranks at Atlas, making his professional debut in 2005 before signing with Spain's Deportivo two years later, where he spent five seasons.

A Mexican international since 2005, Guardado represented the country in five World Cups, four Gold Cups – winning the 2011, 2015 and 2019 tournaments – two Copa Américas and two Confederations Cups.

He is the most-capped player in the history of the national team with 179 appearances, and joint tenth on the all-time scorer list with 28 goals.

Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, to Andrés Manuel and Teresa (née Hernández), Guardado began playing professionally for local side Atlas, joining the team's youth system at the age of seven and going on to appear in two full Primera División seasons.

He made his league debut on 20 August 2005, in a 3–2 home win against C.F. Pachuca, and on 15 October, scored his first goal against Tigres UANL in a 2–1 away victory.

At the end of the tournament, he was voted best rookie.

On 19 August 2006, Guardado scored his first professional brace against Club América in a 2–0 home victory, both of them being long-range shots from outside the box.

His performances in his second season led him to win back-to-back (Apertura and Clausura) awards for best full-back.

In the summer of 2006, press speculation linked Guardado to several Serie A teams as well as Real Madrid, but Deportivo de La Coruña moved quickly and made an offer of €7 million for 75% of his rights.

An offer was accepted and the transfer was finalised on 7 July 2007, making him the most expensive ever Mexican player at the time; Atlas retained a 25% sell-on-fee as long as it held the remaining 25% of his rights.

Guardado played his final match at the Estadio Jalisco in a friendly against the Argentine champions San Lorenzo de Almagro, featuring 30 minutes.

At half-time, he was awarded the club's highest honor, the Athletic Excellence Award.

Guardado was officially introduced on 24 July 2007, with the Spanish team giving him the number 18 shirt.

He made his La Liga debut on 26 August in a 3–0 home loss to UD Almería and on 16 September scored his first goal against Real Betis, attacking a long throw-in at the back post, in which his attempt was described as "karate style" finish, in a 1–0 victory.

He finished his first season with 26 games and five goals as Depor finished in ninth position, eventually qualifying to the UEFA Intertoto Cup – and the subsequent UEFA Cup, where he scored in a 3–0 group stage home win over Feyenoord; he was voted by fans as the best player.

Halfway through his second year, fans chose Guardado as the best player of 2008.

Coach Miguel Ángel Lotina stated that he was a key player for Deportivo, and admired his talent and character.

He solidified himself as first choice, providing several assists and being charged with set pieces; he was also hampered by several injuries, however.

On 20 September 2010, Guardado scored a brace within seven minutes of each other, both penalties, in a 2–2 draw against Getafe CF.

He only managed to take part in 20 matches in 2010–11, and the Galicians were relegated to Segunda División after 20 years.

On 15 May 2011, he made his 100th La Liga appearance in a scoreless draw at FC Barcelona, the third Mexican to achieve this feat behind Rafael Márquez and Hugo Sánchez.

In 2012 he joined Valencia, with brief loan stints at Bayer Leverkusen and PSV, before permanently joining the latter club in 2015 and winning two Eredivisie titles and two Johan Cruyff Shield titles.

He returned to Spain two years later with Real Betis, where he won a Copa del Rey and made 218 appearances before returning to his native Mexico in 2024.

In January 2012, Guardado was voted by fans as the best player of the previous year.

On 27 March 2012 he confirmed that he would leave the Estadio Riazor on 30 June, and contributed career-bests of 11 goals and 12 assists as his team returned to the top level as champions.

At the end of the campaign he was again voted by fans as best player, and was also named the competition's best attacking midfielder; additionally, he eventually surpassed Juan Carlos Valerón as the highest provider of assists.

On 28 May 2012, Guardado signed a four-year contract with Valencia CF.

He made his debut on 19 August, playing 66 minutes in a 1–1 away draw against Real Madrid; two days later, following his five-year residence in the country, he attained his Spanish citizenship.

His debut appearance in the UEFA Champions League took place on 12 September, in a 2–1 group stage loss at eventual winners Bayern Munich.

During his first season he featured regularly at left-back, mainly due to the serious injury of Jérémy Mathieu.

Guardado scored his first goal for the Che on 12 May 2013, contributing to a 4–0 rout at Rayo Vallecano, and he featured mostly in the backline the following months.

On 30 January 2014, Bundesliga club Bayer 04 Leverkusen announced that they had signed him on loan for the rest of the season, with an option to buy afterwards.

He made his debut on 2 February in a 1–0 loss against 1. FC Kaiserslautern for the DFB-Pokal, playing as a left wing-back.

Guardado's playing time at both the Mestalla Stadium and the BayArena was hampered by injuries and loss of form.

For 2014–15, still owned by Valencia, Guardado joined PSV Eindhoven, who had previously attempted purchasing him in 2007.

He made his Eredivisie debut on 31 August 2014 against Vitesse Arnhem at Philips Stadion.

He managed to wear the captain's armband within his first months, won the Player of the Month award for November, and on 7 March of the following year he scored his first goal for his new club, contributing to a 3–0 away victory over Go Ahead Eagles.

On 15 March 2015, prior to the match against FC Groningen and amidst rumours of a transfer to AFC Ajax, PSV fans displayed a Mexican flag tifo and a banner in Spanish which read "Andrés Guardado, our Golden Mexican Eagle. He has to stay in PSV Eindhoven. Our house is your house, Andrés".

On 27 March, PSV announced that they had reached a deal with Valencia over a permanent transfer, for an undisclosed fee and three years.