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Manuel Almunia (born
May 19,
1977 in
Pamplona)
is a Spanish
football player who currently plays for
Arsenal
as a goalkeeper. The first team he played for was Spanish side
Recreativo de Huelva. He then joined
Celta Vigo
for whom he played for nearly a year before moving to
Albacete Balompie on a loan deal on
November 1,
2003, forging his
way quickly into the first team squad and making 24 league appearances.
He was signed for
Arsenal
on July 14,
2004 and made his
debut in a 2-1
League Cup
win over
Manchester City on
October 27,
2004. He played in
all the Gunners' League Cup matches that season, including the quarter-final
against
Manchester United on
December 1,
2004; Almunia
fumbled a save from
David
Bellion after 19 seconds, gifting him the only goal of the game.
Despite his occasional mistakes, Arsenal manager
Arsène Wenger has not given up faith in the keeper, and he has since played
in some important matches for Arsenal when
Jens
Lehmann was not available. This included a win over
Sheffield United in the
2004-05 FA Cup,
where Almunia made two saves in a
penalty shootout after the game finished 0-0, to take the Gunners through to
the quarter-finals.
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