Injury-plagued De la Pena retires

Veteran Espanyol playmaker Ivan de la Pena announced his retirement from football in a tearful press conference on Thursday.

De la Pena, 35, said: "I would have liked to have continued for a few more years but now I need to look towards the future. My head wanted to continue but my body has said "enough"."

The bald-headed, diminutive midfielder has been plagued with various injuries in recent years, and has hardly played since 2009.

He will be given what will surely be an emotional send-off just before Saturday's home game against Sevilla.

De la Pena was one of Spain's brightest prospects in the 1990s, one of the many youngsters given their chance at Barcelona by coach Johan Cruyff. However, Barca controversially sold him to Lazio in 1998 and he failed to convince in Italy.

He joined Espanyol in 2002, after an unsuccessful spell back at Barca and a fruitless loan period at Marseille.

He rebuilt his career at Espanyol, helping them to win the King's Cup in 2006 and winning five caps for Spain.