Iñaki Lafuente

Iñaki Lafuente Sancha (born 24 January 1976) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
He appeared in 146 La Liga games over the course of ten seasons, mainly with Athletic Bilbao. He also represented in the category Espanyol and Sporting de Gijón.

Club career

Born in Barakaldo, Biscay, Lafuente was a graduate of Lezama, the famed Athletic Bilbao youth academy. He made his debuts with the first team in 1999–2000 after serving two loans at modest Basque neighbours, adding another with Elche CF three years later. He competed with Daniel Aranzubia for Athletic's first-choice status during several La Liga seasons, appearing in 36 games in 2000–01 and adding 30 the following campaign.

For 2007–08, Lafuente was loaned to RCD Espanyol as Gorka Iraizoz was sold in the opposite direction. At his new club he backed up Carlos Kameni, and when the Cameroonian left for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations he became the starter, but retired injured in just his second appearance.

In July 2008, Lafuente returned to Athletic Bilbao, being only third-choice. On 13 January 2009, due to Sporting de Gijón starter Iván Cuéllar's serious ankle injury, precisely in a match against Bilbao, he was loaned to the Asturias side until the end of the campaign; in his first start, on the 25th, Sporting were crushed 1–5 at Getafe CF.

Lafuente was released by Athletic in the 2009 summer, ending a 16-year relationship. Late in that month, the 33-year-old moved to CD Numancia (freshly relegated into the second division), being used mostly as a backup during his two-year spell and retiring subsequently.