Enric Gensana

Enric Gensana

Personal information
Full name	Enric Gensana Merola
Date of birth	3 June 1936
Place of birth	Lleida, Spain
Date of death	28 September 2005 (aged 69)
Place of death	Barcelona, Spain
Playing position	Center Back
Youth career
	Lleida
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
1954–1956	Lleida	19	(0)
1956–1966	Barcelona	131	(13)
1964–1965	→ Osasuna (loan)
1965–1966	→Condal (loan)
National team
1956–1958	Spain B	4	(0)
1957–1961	Spain	10	(2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (goals)

Enric Gensana Merola (3 June 1936 – 28 September 2005) was an important man in FC Barcelona at the end of the fifties and beginning of the sixties. A very physical player, spent eight seasons at the club and only a meniscus injury, of which he never recovered, forced him to leave the club, with which he played 131 matches and scored 13 goals.

Career

Born in Lleida, Catalonia, Gensana began to play football in the youth ranks of UE Lleida, the team with which he made his debut in the Second Division and where he played along Gonzalvo III, Basora and Moreno, who gave very good reports of him to Barça's technical staff. He signed for Barça in 1956 and in the same year the team won the Cup and he made his debut with the national team. His debut with UE Lleida was on 3 April 1955 at the age of 19 in a Second Division game between UE Lleida and España Industrial (1–4).^[1]

Gensana's main personal achievement was that being elected the best player of the Little World Cup held in Caracas, ahead of his teammate Segarra and of players like Garrincha or Didí. His successful career was truncated by the above-mentioned meniscus injury, which caused his transfer to Osasuna in 1964 and one year later to Condal, where he retired in 1967. Capped 10 times, Gensana made his debut with the national team in May 1957 against Scotland in Madrid and said goodbye in May 1961 also in the capital of Spain, against Wales.

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	14 October 1959	Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid, Spain	Poland	2–0	3–0	1960 European Nations' Cup Round of 16
2.	2 April 1961	Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid, Spain	France	1–0	2–0	International Friendly

Honours

FC Barcelona

• Inter-Cities Fairs Cup: 1955–58, 1958–60
• Spanish League: 1958–59, 1959–60
• Spanish Cup: 1956–57, 1958–59, 1962–63

References

1. "Galería de Internacionales: Enrique Gensana Meroles" (in Spanish). Mundo Deportivo. 12 January 1989. p. 33.

External links

• BDFutbol profile
• National team data (Spanish)
• Enric Gensana at National-Football-Teams.com
• FC Barcelona archives (Spanish)
• FC Barcelona profile