Luis Montes


Luis Arturo Montes Jiménez is a Mexican professional footballer who plays for Liga MX club Léon and the Mexico national team.

Club career

He started his career playing for Pachuca's youth team. When he was 19 years old, he was loaned out to Indios de Juarez de la Primera 'A', now Ascenso MX.
He made his professional debut on January 8, 2006, in a league game against Irapuato, entering the game as a substitute for Luis Esqueda in the 79th minute in the Olimpico Benito Juarez Stadium.
He returned to Pachuca for the Clausura 2007 tournament and remained at the team through the Clausura 2011 tournament. He played 86 official league games for the first team, plus 25 international games in the Copa Sudamericana, CONCACAF Champions League, Club World Cup, Copa Libertadores and the now-defunct North American SuperLiga.
At the start of the 2011-12 season, he was transferred to, then second division side, Club Léon on a yearlong loan. He became an important first team player, playing a total of 38 games between the Apertura 2011 and the Clausura 2012 Tournaments. Club Léon clinched the Liga de Ascenso title, now Ascenso MX, and the promotion to the Primera Division.
In 2014, he was injured by a tackle after he had scored in a friendly international match against Ecuador, breaking his tibia and fibula making him ineligible for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

International career

Montes made his senior international debut for Mexico as a second-half substitute in a goalless friendly with Peru on 17 April 2013. He was selected by coach José Manuel de la Torre to participate in the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup held in the United States, and scored his first international goal on his third Mexico appearance, in a 3–1 win over Martinique in the group stage of the Gold Cup on 14 July.
Montes was selected in October 2013 by new coach Miguel Herrera to dispute the Intercontinental play-off between Mexico and New Zealand in which he played both games and helped Mexico qualify to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Luis Montes received his first call up in 2014, in Mexico's first game in 2014 against South Korea. Eventually Montes was called up to be in Mexico's squad for the 2014 World Cup along with teammates, Carlos Peña, José Vázquez, and Rafael Márquez.
On 31 May 2014, in a friendly match against Ecuador two minutes after scoring a long range goal, Montes suffered a double fracture in a challenge with Segundo Castillo. Due to the injury Montes missed the 2014 FIFA World Cup and did not return to action until 8 February 2015 against UNAM.
On 23 March 2019, Montes returned to international football in a 3–1 victory against Chile after a two-year absence. He also scored Mexico's fourth goal three days later in a 4–2 victory over Paraguay.

Career statistics

International goals

GoalDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
114 July 2013Sports Authority Field at Mile High, Denver, United States2–03–12013 CONCACAF Gold Cup
224 July 2013Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, United States1–11–22013 CONCACAF Gold Cup
331 May 2014AT&T Stadium, Arlington, United States1–03–1Friendly
426 March 2019Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, United States4–24–2Friendly
59 June 2019AT&T Stadium, Arlington, United States2–13–2Friendly

Honours

Club

;León
;Mexico