Marcos Llorente Moreno (born 30 January 1995) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder or right-back for La Liga club Atlético Madrid.
Developed at Real Madrid, he appeared in 39 competitive matches over three seasons, also serving a loan at Alavés. He signed with Atlético Madrid in June 2019, winning the 2020–21 La Liga while being deployed in several positions.
Llorente made his full debut for Spain in 2020, and was part of the squads at UEFA Euro 2020 and two FIFA World Cups, winning the 2026 edition of the latter tournament.
Born in Madrid, Llorente joined Real Madrid's youth setup in 2008, aged 13. In July 2014, after impressing with the Juvenil squad, he was promoted straight to the reserves by manager Zinedine Zidane.
On 24 August 2014, Llorente made his senior debut, starting in a 2–1 away loss against Atlético Madrid B in the Segunda División B. He appeared in 25 matches during the campaign, totalling 1,637 minutes of action.
Llorente spent the 2015 pre-season with the first team, appearing in friendlies against Manchester City, Inter Milan and Vålerenga. He made his professional – and La Liga – debut on 17 October of that year, coming on as a second-half substitute for Mateo Kovačić in the 3–0 home win over Levante.
On 10 August 2016, Llorente was loaned to Alavés for the season. On 10 September, he featured the full 90 minutes in a 2–1 victory at Barcelona.
On 23 September 2017, Llorente's contract was extended until 2021. He made one appearance in that campaign's UEFA Champions League, when Madrid won their third consecutive and 13th overall title in the tournament.
Llorente had played just 11 minutes in 2018–19 until late November, when Casemiro dropped out with an ankle injury. Interim coach Santiago Solari handed the former his first starts as a defensive midfielder, and he scored his first competitive goal for the team on 22 December, the second in the 4–1 defeat of Al Ain in the final of the FIFA Club World Cup to earn him player of the match honours.
At the start of 2019, Llorente was sidelined with adductor problems. During his recovery, Solari was replaced by Zidane, who preferred to use Federico Valverde in the holding midfielder role; additionally, Zidane stated that the player needed "more first-team minutes" in order to improve.
On 20 June 2019, Llorente was signed by local rivals Atlético Madrid on a five-year contract for a reported fee of £35 million; he was given shirt number 14, previously worn by Rodri who left for Manchester City during the same transfer window. He made his official debut on 18 August, playing 25 minutes in the 1–0 home win against Getafe.
In the first half of his debut campaign, Llorente was among the Atlético squad members with the fewest playing time. He became a regular starter in January 2020, scoring his first goal on 14 February when he put his team ahead in a 2–2 draw at Valencia.
On 11 March 2020, during extra time of the Champions League round-of-16 tie away to defending champions Liverpool, Llorente scored twice to tie the match 2–2 after replacing Diego Costa early into the second half, in an eventual 3–2 victory and qualification. On 17 June, he came off the bench in the 63rd minute to be named man of the match in the league game at Osasuna, scoring a solo goal and later assisting twice in the 5–0 rout.
Llorente scored a career-best 12 times in 2020–21 (second-best in the squad behind Luis Suárez's 21), adding 11 assists as the Colchoneros were crowned champions after a seven-year wait; in the process, he became the club's first player to register double digits in both categories since Diego Forlán in 2008–09.
Llorente earned his first cap for the Spain under-21 side on 10 October 2016, featuring the entire 5–0 home defeat of Estonia in the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifiers, in Pontevedra. He was called up to the senior squad in November 2020, for a friendly with the Netherlands and UEFA Nations League qualifiers against Switzerland and Germany. He made his first appearance against the first opponent, replacing Sergio Canales for the last 18 minutes of the 1–1 draw in Amsterdam.
On 24 May 2021, Llorente was included in Spain's 24-man squad for UEFA Euro 2020. He was deployed as right-back during the tournament.
Llorente was also picked for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. He only took part in one match in Qatar, the 3–0 penalty shootout loss against Morocco in the last 16.
Llorente was part of a 29-man preliminary squad for UEFA Euro 2024. However, he did not make the final cut.