Pedro Ignacio Cordero Sánchez (born 17 August 1968) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a midfielder,[1] and is now the sporting director of Real Murcia.
[4] Cordero's fine performances with Cartagena earned him a move to the region's top team, La Liga side Real Murcia.
[3] He made his top flight debut in the first match of the 1987–88 season, a 1–0 away defeat at the hands of Osasuna at Estadio El Sadar on 30 August.
[7] In the home first leg against Rayo Vallecano, Murcia grasped a 2–0 lead just before the hour mark, with goals from Salvo Mejías and Juanjo.
Cordero was brought on in place of Eugenio with 15 minutes left, and Murcia put themselves in a commanding position with a third goal from Manolo just before the end.
The icing on the cake was Cordero's third goal of the season arriving in injury time, as Murcia retained their La Liga status with a 4–1 aggregate victory.
Salamanca's tie with Recreativo de Huelva at Helmántico Stadium ended in a 2–2 draw, which eliminated the hosts thanks to a 2–1 loss in the first leg.
He played 46 matches[3] as the club ended the year as runners-up in their group, missing out on the title to Barcelona Atlètic only on goal difference, and qualified for the promotion playoffs.
[14] Cartagena finished their playoff group level on points with Racing Santander, but missed out on promotion thanks to inferior goal difference.
[3] He began the season with four goals, split evenly across the two legs of Cartagena's 9–1 Copa del Rey first round victory over Algar.
[16] A further 2–0 win at home against Badajoz left the two clubs tied on points, meaning a draw in the return fixture would earn Cartagena promotion.
[18] Badajoz scored early through José Luis Sarabia, but Cordero equalised after 21 minutes to put Cartagena back in contention.
However, Badajoz then took control of the game, and eventually ran out 5–1 winners, meaning Cartagena had failed at the final hurdle for the second year in a row.
[1] His last game for Cartagena was at home to Gimnàstic de Tarragona on 31 January,[20] which he marked by scoring a late equaliser from the penalty spot,[21] his 14th goal of the season.
[3] He returned to La Liga action in February 1993 after three and a half years in lower divisions by joining Albacete Balompié.
[1][3] He made his debut away to Real Sociedad at Anoeta Stadium on 14 February,[20] coming on for José Luis Zalazar with three minutes left in the 2–1 defeat.
[22] His first start came a week later in a home fixture against Real Madrid at Estadio Carlos Belmonte, and it was an unflattering occasion as Cordero was sent off and the hosts were defeated 3–0.
His third match, on 28 February, was more encouraging, as he scored his first Albacete goal in a 2–2 draw with Tenerife at Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez López.
He ultimately played sixteen matches,[31] but following a 2–2 home draw with Real Betis B on the last day of the season, Cacereño found themselves 18th in the table and were relegated to the Tercera División.
[1] In the summer of 2000, Cordero returned to Estadio de La Condomina, scene of some of his greatest success with Real Murcia in the late 1980s.
Cordero made his debut for the Segunda División B club on 7 January 2001, in a 1–1 draw with Gimnàstic de Tarragona at Cartagonova's eponymous stadium.
He helped the club to second place in their group in the 2011–12 Segunda División B campaign, but their promotion dreams were dashed at the last hurdle in the playoffs by Ponferradina.
The following month, he became a technical analyst in the scouting team at Elche, working with his other brother Jorge, but he left in December to become sporting director at Real Murcia.
The opening night was attended by many celebrities including his brothers, former teammate and Tenerife colleague Manolo Sánchez, and Cartagena left winger Chus Hevia.