Jorge Molina (footballer, born 1982)

Early years

Molina was born in Alcoy, Province of Alicante. Until the age of 23, he only played in the Tercera División, representing CD Alcoyano, Benidorm CF and CF Gandía. In 2005 he re-joined Benidorm, now in the Segunda División B.^[4]

Molina made his professional debut in 2007–08, playing in the Segunda División with Polideportivo Ejido. It would be a short-lived experience, as his five goals – squad-best, tied with three other players – in 30 matches, were not enough to prevent relegation. On 29 October 2008, he scored a hat-trick in a 5–0 home win against Villarreal CF in the round of 32 of the Copa del Rey (6–1 on aggregate).^[5]

In the summer of 2009, both Molina and teammate Juli signed with another side in the second division, Elche CF.^[6] His debut season was nothing short of spectacular, as he led the scoring charts with 26; on 19 June 2010, even though none of the teams left had anything to play for, he scored four times in the 4–1 home victory over champions Real Sociedad.^[7]

Betis

On 29 June 2010, Molina moved to Andalusia's Real Betis (also in the second tier) for €1.6 million, with the player signing a four-year contract;^[8] if his new club managed to promote at the end of the season, Elche were entitled to a €500,000 bonus.^[9] He scored 18 league goals in his first year (22 in all competitions), in spite of being sidelined for nearly three months with a knee injury.^[10] On 19 January 2011, in the domestic cup, he scored twice against FC Barcelona in a 3–1 home win (6–3 aggregate loss in the quarter-finals), thus ending the Catalans' unbeaten run of 28 games.^[11]

The attacking trio of Molina, Rubén Castro and midfielder Achille Emaná totalled more than 50 league goals in 2010–11, as Betis returned to La Liga after two years of absence.^[12] He made his debut in the competition at the age of 29, playing 30 minutes in a 1–0 away defeat of Granada CF.^[13] He scored his first goal on 15 October 2011, in a 4–1 loss to Real Madrid.^[14]

Molina and his team achieved another promotion at the end of the 2014–15 campaign, with him contributing 19 goals.^[15]

Getafe

On 24 June 2016, the 34-year-old Molina signed a two-year contract with Getafe CF on a free transfer.^[16] He scored 20 goals in his first year, ranking fourth in the individual charts to help his team return to the top flight.^[17]

On 31 August 2019, Molina scored in a 1–1 draw against Deportivo Alavés at the age of 37 years and 131 days, becoming the club's oldest player to achieve the feat in the Spanish top tier.^[18]

Granada

Molina agreed to a two-year deal with Granada on 25 August 2020.^[19] The following 29 April, he scored a header after coming on as a substitute against Barcelona, putting his team 2–1 ahead for their first ever win at the Camp Nou.^[20]

On 28 October 2021, Molina scored a last-minute equaliser to salvage a 1–1 draw against Getafe.^[21] On 13 December, he scored in the same fashion for the same result, this time against Cádiz CF.^[22] In the next match, he scored his first hat-trick in La Liga to help to a 4–1 victory over RCD Mallorca and, in doing so at the age of 39 years and 241 days, he not only became the oldest player to do so,^[23][24] breaking the previous record held by Joaquín (38 years and 140 days), but also became the oldest to net three times in Europe's top five leagues, surpassing the previous mark by Rodrigo Palacio in Serie A (39 years and 86 days).^[25] Three days later, Molina scored in his third game in a row, thus becoming the oldest to do so in the main five leagues in the continent, completing the 2–1 comeback defeat of Atlético Madrid; this was also his eighth goal contribution in the last five fixtures, with only Bayer 04 Leverkusen's Patrik Schick having more in the same timeframe.^[26]

On 7 May 2022, Molina scored twice against relegation rivals Mallorca in a 6–2 away win, becoming at 40 years and 15 days the oldest player to score a brace in the main division as well as only the second to achieve this after his 40th birthday after Donato.^[27] Granada entered the last matchday needing only a win to secure survival amidst a three-way battle with that opposition and Cádiz, but he missed a 72nd-minute penalty in an eventual 0–0 draw at home with RCD Espanyol, allowing Cádiz to stay up while his team was relegated.^[28]

On 13 November 2022, Molina closed a 3–2 win over Yeclano Deportivo in the first round of the domestic cup and, at the age of 40 years and 205 days, became the oldest scorer in the history of the tournament, breaking the previous record held by Elche's Nino in 2021 (40 years and 189 days).^[29] After never suffering a muscle injury in his two-decade career, he was four games away from renewing when he ruptured his cruciate ligament on 12 March against SD Ponferradina;^[30] he still helped his side to achieve promotion in July, and announced his retirement shortly after.^[31]

Molina retired with nearly 800 appearances and more than 300 goals to his credit.^[30]