Pedro Ignacio Cordero Sánchez (born 17 August 1968) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a midfielder, and is now the sporting director of Real Murcia. He made 44 appearances for Murcia in La Liga in the 1980s, and a further 52 for Albacete Balompié in the 1990s.
Club career
Cartagena FC
Cordero was born in Cartagena in the Region of Murcia, and began his career with local side Cartagena FC. He made his debut for the Segunda División club at the age of 18, in a 1–0 home win over Sestao Sport on 17 December 1986. He came on as a substitute for Jesús Crespo with 12 minutes remaining. He made his first start in a 4–0 away loss to Real Oviedo at Estadio Carlos Tartiere on 11 January, and two weeks later he scored his first goal in a 2–1 away win over Hércules at Estadio José Rico Pérez.
This earned him his first home start, which came on 1 February in a 2–1 win over Recreativo de Huelva. He made 20 appearances that season, and scored twice more.
Real Murcia
Cordero's fine performances with Cartagena earned him a move to the region's top team, La Liga side Real Murcia. 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. A week later, he marked his home debut with a goal in a 2–1 win over Las Palmas at Estadio de La Condomina. At the end of the season, Murcia found themselves 17th in the table, and so faced a relegation playoff.
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. Cordero started in the return match at Vallecas, and despite a second half own goal by José Luis Brown, Murcia held a 3–1 aggregate lead as the match entered its closing stages. 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.
The following season, Cordero was less heavily used, playing only 16 matches. It was another tough season for Murcia, who ended the season in 19th place, meaning they were relegated directly, without the opportunity for redemption offered by a playoff. Cordero departed the club at the end of the season, his last Murcia appearance being a 1–0 home loss to Cádiz on 25 June.
Salamanca
Like Murcia, Cordero descended to the Segunda División in 1989–90 Segunda División, but he joined divisional rivals Salamanca. His debut came in a 1–0 away loss to Racing Santander at El Sardinero on 17 September, and he made his home debut four days later in the first round of the Copa del Rey. 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. His first goal for Salamanca came against the same opponents as his debut, Racing Santander, in the return fixture on 4 February. Cordero's eighth minute effort helped Salamanca to a 3–0 win. He made 33 appearances that season, but his time at Salamanca was to be just one season, and so the 1–0 loss away to Figueres on 27 May was his last outing for the club.
Return to Cartagena
In the summer of 1990, Cordero moved back to his first club, Cartagena. They had slipped back to Segunda División B in his absence, but his first season was a successful one. He played 46 matches 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. Cordero played in five of the playoff matches, missing one due to suspension after a late red card at home to Córdoba. Cartagena finished their playoff group level on points with Racing Santander, but missed out on promotion thanks to inferior goal difference.
1991–92 was Cordero's busiest as a professional, as he made a huge 48 appearances for Cartagena. He also found excellent goal scoring form, scoring 21 times. 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. He would score a brace on three further occasions that season: both goals in a 2–0 away win over Torrent on 15 September, again both goals in a 2–0 home win against Valdepeñas on 8 March, and, including a penalty, in a 4–0 away win over Alzira on 26 April. This form helped Cartagena go one place better than the year before: they were champions of their group, and qualified for the playoffs once again.