Isidro Lángara

Early career

Lángara was born in Pasaia, Gipuzkoa. He began his football career playing for local teams, Bildur Guchi, Esperanza de San Sebastián, Siempre Adelante de Pasajes and Andoain in his native Basque country, eventually signing for then third division team Tolosa CF. When he turned 18, his goalscoring abilities were recognized by second division team Real Oviedo, a club with whom he would remain for six years, until the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936.

Real Oviedo

At Oviedo Lángara was the figurehead of the Delantera Eléctrica ("The electric forwards"), but for the onset of war the team would have improved upon the two third places in the seasons that preceded the war. He was the winner of the Pichichi Trophy, awarded to the top scorer in the Spanish League, in the three seasons before the war, with 27 goals in 1933–34, 26 goals in 1934–35 and 28 goals in 1935–36. Even before that he was top scorer in the Spanish second division the year Real Oviedo was promoted. During his first spell in Oviedo, he is recognized to have scored 281 goals in 220 games, this includes 231 goals in 160 competitive games. In the season 1933–34 he scored an unprecedented 60 goals in 32 games for Oviedo and another 9 goals in 5 games for Spain, the standing highest single season goalscoring count for any native-born Spanish footballer. In December 1936, he played one match for Athletic Bilbao. With the onset of war, he joined the Republican side. In 1937 he played…

As a footballer, Lángara was famed for his athleticism. Author of numerous "Impossible goals," he often scored from far out on the pitch. One particular famous occasion was on the opening matchday of the 1933–34 season when his Oviedo faced FC Barcelona winning the match 7–3. On that day, Lángara scored twice from set pieces around 50 metres out. When recounting the event, then Espanyol goalkeeper Lázaro Florenza noted "he scored an impossible goal, not once but twice". A few weeks later, Lázaro was himself victim of a similar free kick by Lángara. His physical stature was noted by teammates the day of his debut with San Lorenzo, when he was asked whether he was a footballer or a wrestler. At San Lorenzo, he became famous for his extremely powerful shot scoring often from long distance.