Francisco "Paco" Buyo Sánchez (born 13 January 1958) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
Best known for his Sevilla and Real Madrid spells, he appeared in 542 La Liga matches, third all-time highest at the time of his retirement, winning 12 major titles with the latter club.
Buyo was born in Betanzos, Province of A Coruña. At the age of 14, he began playing football for local Ural, for which he appeared as both a goalkeeper and right winger during his one-year spell, achieving the feat of being both unbeaten between the goalposts and also the team's top scorer.[1]
Buyo's performances at Sevilla made Real Madrid require his services, signing him in 1986 as a replacement for veteran Miguel Ángel.[3] In his first season, he played all 44 league games (the campaign featured a second stage), the first being a 3–1 away win over Real Murcia,[4] being instrumental to the Merengues' national title. He would remain in the Spanish capital until his retirement in 1997, aged 39.[5]
The local success Buyo met with Madrid (six leagues and two Copa del Rey) could not be translated into international accolades, as they kept being eliminated in European Cup competition. However, in his first season, he did have a memorable performance against Michel Platini's Juventus in the round of 16 of the 1986–87 edition: after the Spaniards won 1–0 in the first leg and the Italians did the same in the second meeting, the winner was decided in a penalty shootout, won by the former after he saved two of the opposition's shots.[6] He earned his first Ricardo Zamora Trophy in the 1987–88 campaign after conceding only 23 goals in 35 league fixtures, and his second came in 1991–92 where he played as many matches, with 27 goals against.[7]
Madrid would win two more league titles with Buyo in goal, the first of which came in 1994–95, during which he also had a streak of 709 minutes without conceding a goal in league play, between 3 December 1994 and 12 February 1995,[8] the fifth-longest streak ever in the Spanish league; in total, he kept 17 clean sheets throughout the course of the season.[9] In his final year, the club won another league, but he did not feature at all as he was only third choice behind Bodo Illgner and Santiago Cañizares.[10]