Quique Setién

Enrique "Quique" Setién Solar (born 27 September 1958) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a central midfielder.

As a player, he was nicknamed El Maestro, and was best known for his two spells with Racing de Santander, starting and finishing his 19-year professional career at the club.

Over 15 seasons in La Liga, he played 374 matches and scored 58 goals.

He also won three international caps for Spain.

Born in Santander, Setién made his La Liga debut in 1977, with his hometown club Racing de Santander.

During his first spell with the Cantabrians, although he played regularly, he was not yet a regular starter, and he missed the entire 1982–83 season as well as being relegated twice.

Afterwards, Setién represented Atlético Madrid for three years.

He enjoyed a good first two seasons, but appeared rarely in his last after some spats with elusive club chairman Jesús Gil.

His debut came on 20 November 1985 in a 0–0 friendly with Austria, in Zaragoza.

Setién appeared three times for Spain and was selected for the 1986 FIFA World Cup squad, but did not leave the bench during the tournament in Mexico.

Setién then moved to CD Logroñés in 1988 where, after a slow start, he was essential in helping the Riojans retain their top-tier status.

The 34-year-old returned to Racing in 1992, and scored a career-best 11 goals in the first year in his second spell as the side returned to the top flight.

He played three more years with the latter, and retired in June 1996 at nearly 38 after featuring for Levante UD in the Segunda División B play-offs, which also ended in promotion.

Setién started a managerial career in 2001, going on to coach several teams including Racing.

In 2001, Setién was voted by Racing's fans as their best player of all time.

He appeared in almost 600 official matches in nearly two decades of play, totalling 95 league goals.

Setién began working as a manager on 5 October 2001, succeeding the dismissed Gustavo Benítez at a Racing side that had started poorly following relegation to Segunda División.

For the 2003–04 campaign, Setién returned to the second division with Polideportivo Ejido.

He was dismissed on 17 November, with the team in the relegation zone.

In 2005, Setién was appointed assistant coach to the Russia national beach soccer team.

For three months during the following year, he was in charge of Equatorial Guinea.

After that he moved to another team he played for, Logroñes in division three, being relieved of his duties midway through the 2007–08 campaign.

In June 2009, Setién became CD Lugo's coach.

He led the side to promotion to the second tier in his third year, a second-ever for the Galicians.

In the following three years they managed to stay afloat, ranking between positions 11th and 15th.

He arrived with them in the relegation zone, and led them to 11th place in his first season.

On 19 October 2015, following the dismissal of Paco Herrera, Setién became the new manager of UD Las Palmas in the top flight.

He took the team from 17th to promotion as runners-up to Atlético, but left at the end of the season due to pressure and handed the reins to his former teammate Manuel Preciado.

On 18 March 2017, Setién announced that he would leave the Canary Islands club at the end of the campaign due to disputes with the board.

On 26 May 2017, Setién was appointed manager of Real Betis on a three-year deal.

He led the team to the sixth place in his first year, with the subsequent qualification to the group stage of the UEFA Europa League.

Setién was linked with a move to FC Barcelona in January 2019, but it did not materialise.

On 19 May, he announced that he would leave the Estadio Benito Villamarín.

Starting in January 2020, he was in charge of Barcelona for seven months, being dismissed following an 8–2 loss against Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League.

Setién signed as head coach of Barcelona on 13 January 2020, replacing the dismissed Ernesto Valverde on a contract lasting to June 2022.

In his first match in charge, six days later, he managed a 1–0 home victory over Granada CF.

The team eventually finished the domestic league in second position, behind Real Madrid.

On 14 August 2020, they lost 8–2 to FC Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, which was the first time in 74 years that the club had conceded eight goals in a game; it was also the first loss by a six-goal margin since 1951.

He was officially dismissed three days later, subsequently confirming he would take legal actions as he felt the terms of his contract were not respected.

Setién returned to management on 25 October 2022, replacing Aston Villa-bound Unai Emery at the helm of Villarreal CF.