Antonio Pinilla Miranda is a Spanish retired footballer who played mainly as a forward. Best known for his stints with Tenerife and Gimnàstic – he began playing professionally for Barcelona, but had virtually no impact for its first team – he also served as general manager at the latter club, playing in more than 500 official matches for seven different clubs in exactly 20 years, 242 of those in La Liga over the course of 11 seasons.
Pinilla was finally released in the summer of 1993, signing for CD Tenerife where he remained seven seasons, helping the Canary Islands team to the semi-finals of the 1996–97 UEFA Cup. He previously entered the club's history books when scoring its first goal ever in European competition, against AJ Auxerre on 15 September 1993; 1998–99 brought with it relegation, and the player followed the side into the second division. After one season with UD Salamanca, also in the second level, Pinilla joined Catalonia's Gimnàstic de Tarragona, freshly promoted into that tier. His seven goals, however, proved insufficient to prevent the team from being immediately relegated; in addition, a serious knee injury in the final months of the campaign forced him into the operating room which led two a six-month period of inactivity, in turn prompting his release. After recovering on his own, Pinilla was re-taken by Gimnàstic in the 2003 winter transfer window. Although he barely managed to make the team while they were in division three, he became a basic element in their return to the second level, adding five goals in the last ten days of 2005–06 in an historic return to the top flight. Pinilla served as captain during Gimnàstic's short-lived spell in the top division, netting twice from 28 appearances for the last-ranked team, against RCD Espanyol and against Athletic Bilbao. On 11 September 2007, the club was proclaimed champion of the Catalonia Cupfor the first time after a 2–1 defeat of Barcelona – the player, who started the final, netted one of the Grana. At the end of the 2007–08 season, after helping Nàstic retain its second tier status, Pinilla announced his retirement after having competed in 200 games overall with the club, promptly being named its general manager and leaving the post in early February 2010.
International career
Pinilla never earned one full cap for Spain, but did represent the nation in various youth levels. Additionally, he was a member of the squad that won the gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics, appearing in two of six games. Pinilla also played seven matches with the unofficial Catalonia national team.
