It was a contribution so impressive that he really should be re-named Alberto Magnifico – Bueno, Spanish for good, doesn’t do justice to the striker’s four-goal haul against Levante. That it came in 14 minutes, almost record time, only makes the 26-year-old’s performance more remarkable.
Bebeto is the only player to record a poker – the Spanish term for four goals from one player – in a shorter span, in fact scoring all five in seven minutes against Albacete in 1995-96, but to live in such exalted company as the Deportivo La Coruna icon and title winner speaks to Bueno’s accomplishment. It was a truly astounding display of goal scoring – from a player who has at times throughout his career threatened to hit such heights – and earned him 90 EuroFantasyLeague points.
Bueno started out in the Real Madrid ranks, averaging a goal a game in the Juvenil side before he was promoted to the Castilla squad. A senior debut came in 2008, in the infamous Copa del Rey tie with Real Union. Bueno scored but Madrid were dumped out by the third tier side, his Blancos career taking a step forward and two steps back all in the same match as, without the Copa, further chances were few and far between. He joined Real Valladolid in the summer of 2009, Madrid taking a two-year buyback option that was never exercised.
Life at Jose Zorilla didn’t start all that well. Valladolid were relegated in Bueno’s first season and a year later he was allowed to leave on loan for Championship side Derby County. Bueno made a good start in England but struggled thereafter, much as the team did, and he returned to Pucela. Upon re-joining his parent club Bueno played a pivotal role in getting Valladolid out of the Segunda and keeping them up, before he was on the move again.
Rayo was next and it has been a relatively prolific stomping ground for the Madrid native. Saturday saw his 20th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd goals for the club and took Bueno to 12 for the season, an impressive tally for a forward at a club the stature of the Vallecas minnows. The goals have largely come in flurries – four in three games in August and September, two in two in November and now six in five between February and March. These purple patches are what’s keeping Paco Jemez’s side in mid-table, away from the bottom three.
With 13 games to go, Rayo are seven points clear of the drop zone and Bueno has scored almost half of the team’s League goals. At a club that every summer undergoes a personnel revolution his future is as unclear as any Rayo player but in the short term, Bueno has all-but-guaranteed top flight football for Rayo for another year. Jemez won’t say so publically and a lot can change in 13 games but with the form Bueno’s showing, more goals – and more points – should follow. After all, he needed only 14 minutes against Levante – imagine what he could do between now and May.
Do you want Alberto Bueno in your EuroFantasyLeague team? Play now!
