Javier Saviola

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Javier Saviola
Personal information
Full name Javier Pedro Saviola
Date of birth December 11, 1981 (age 25)
Place of birth    Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height 169 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Nickname El Conejo (The Rabbit)
Playing position Forward
Club information
Current club FC Barcelona
Number 22
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1998-2001
2001-
2004-2005
2005-2006
2006-2007
 River Plate
FC Barcelona
Monaco (loan)
Sevilla (loan)

Barcelona

 86 (44)
114 (49)
29 (7)
30 (9)   
National team2
2000- Argentina 36 (11)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 7 February 2007.
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 7 February 2007.
* Appearances (Goals)

Javier Pedro Saviola (born December 11, 1981 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine professional football player, who currently plays as a striker for Spanish team FC Barcelona.He is known for his speed and able to score in mostly any postion. He has scored 10 goals in 34 games for the Argentina national team, and represented his country at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. In 2005, he was named for the FIFA 100 list of the 125 greatest living footballers.

Contents

[edit] Professional career

[edit] River Plate

Nicknamed El Conejo (The Rabbit), Saviola made his debut for Argentine side River Plate at the age of 16, and went on to be a prolific goalscorer for the club. He helped River Plate win the 1999 Apertura and 2000 Clausura championships, and earned the 1999 South American Footballer of the Year award. Still only 18, he gained a reputation as a phenomenal prospect.

Saviola starred in the 2001 edition of the World Youth Cup, held in Argentina. He was top scorer and was voted player of the tournament, as the Argentine youth national team won the competition. With 11 goals in seven games, he became the record goal-scorer in World Youth Cup history.

[edit] FC Barcelona

That summer, aged 19, he moved abroad to play for FC Barcelona in Spain. He obtained Spanish citizenship, and thereby wasn't restricted by the Spanish league maximum on the number of non-European Union citizens allowed in each club. Under coach Louis Van Gaal, he scored 17 goals in his first season, finishing third best scorer in La Liga. His second year at the club did not start well, as he only scored two goals in the first half of the season. When Van Gaal was fired and Radomir Antić became new Barcelona manager, Saviola went on to score eleven goals in the last half of the 2002-03 season. At the start of the 2003-04 season, Frank Rijkaard was appointed as new manager. Saviola scored 14 goals during the season, but was deemed surplus at the club.

Saviola played in the 2004 Olympic Games and won the Olympic Gold Medal with the Argentine squad. Under coach Marcelo Bielsa, Saviola had few playing opportunities for Argentina, but after Bielsa's resignation in 2004, new coach José Pekerman gave Saviola more playing time.

Saviola was put on loan the following year, as he moved to AS Monaco in the French Ligue 1 championship in the summer 2004. As he did not fit into Rijkaard's plans, Saviola was again loan out in the summer 2005, this time to Spanish club Sevilla FC, in order to replace attacking player Júlio Baptista who moved to Real Madrid. At Sevilla, Saviola won his first title in Europe, when the club won the 2006 UEFA Cup in May 2006.

[edit] 2006 World Cup

Saviola was called up to represent Argentina at the 2006 FIFA World Cup by José Pekerman. Striker Luciano Figueroa and winger Luciano Galletti were in contention for a place on the roster, but Saviola's excellent form for Sevilla, scoring a whopping 14 goals in 43 games and winning UEFA Cup with the Andalusian team, secured his place in the squad. Saviola made his presence felt at the tournament, as he scored a goal against Côte d'Ivoire in Argentina's opening game, and made two assists in the 6-0 victory against Serbia and Montenegro.

[edit] Back at Barça

Following the 2006 World Cup, Saviola's one-year loan contract with Sevilla was set to end, and a number of European clubs wanted to sign Saviola. English clubs Arsenal and Bolton Wanderers joined Dutch club PSV Eindhoven and Panathinaikos from Greece in the chase for Saviola in July 2006.[1] In August, Racing de Santander from Spain[2] and English club Aston Villa[3] made their interest felt, though Saviola quickly ruled out a move to Aston Villa.[4]

With his Barcelona contract expiring in 2007, Saviola decided to remain at Barcelona for the 2006-07 season, citing that he was motivated to prove himself in the team, rather than by financial reasons.[5] He was praised by Frank Rijkaard, and Saviola started the season as a member of Barcelona's first team squad, having been assigned the squad no. 22.[6] After 854 days away from the club, Saviola played his first game of the season facing Valencia CF home at the Camp Nou stadium in September 2006.[7] He replaced Lionel Messi after 84 minutes of the game, and came close to scoring a goal three minutes later. After a serious injury to Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o, Rijkaard indicated that Saviola would gain more opportunities in the first team.[8] In his first game filling in for Eto'o, Saviola scored his first goal back at the club. It came in the game against Athletic Bilbao, when Saviola scored the last goal in Barcelona's 3-1 victory.[9]

In October 2006, Saviola's agent was reported to consider signing a five-year contract with Sevilla FC,[10] while Saviola expressed his desire to stay and extend his contract with Barcelona.[11]

On November 12, Saviola injured in the game versus Real Zaragoza and was out for 4 to 6 weeks,[12] returning on January 10 in a Copa del Rey quarter-final against Alavés and scoring Barça's 2 goals in the 2-0 victory. On January 16, 2007, in which Barcelona faced Alaves, Saviola scored all three goals for Barcelona, with the final outcome of Bacelona 3 - Alaves 2, and went on to score 8 goals in 6 consecutive games.

[edit] Career statistics

All-Time Club Performance
Club Season Domestic League Domestic Cups Continental games[13] Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
FC Barcelona 06-07
Total
FC Sevilla 05-06 30 9 12 6 13 5 55 20
Total 30 9 12 6 13 5 55 20
AS Monaco 04-05 29 7 7 4 36 11
Total 29 7 7 4 36 11
FC Barcelona 03-04 33 14 7 3 40 17
02-03 36 13 14 7 50 20
01-02 32 17 11 4 43 21
Total 101 44 32 14 133 58
River Plate 00-01 35 20 ? 4? 35? 24?
99-00 31 17 ? 3? 31? 20?
98-99 20 7 ? 2? 20? 9?
Total 86 44  ? 9? 86? 53?
Career Totals 246 104 52? 32? 298? 136?

[edit] Honours and awards

Medal record
Olympic Games
Men's football
Gold 2004 Athens Team
Argentina
River Plate
Sevilla
Individual

[edit] References

  1. ^ "PREM PAIR JOIN PSV IN SAVIOLA HUNT", Sporting Life, 2006-07-05.
  2. ^ "Racing target Saviola", 4THEGAME.com, 2006-08-06. Retrieved on 2006-08-28.
  3. ^ "Villa chase Saviola, Petrov", Soccerway, 2006-08-30. Retrieved on 2006-08-30.
  4. ^ "Saviola turns down Villa switch", TEAMtalk, 2006-08-31. Retrieved on 2006-08-31.
  5. ^ "Saviola: "I see myself as just another member of the squad"", FC Barcelona, 2006-09-06.
  6. ^ "2006/07 squad numbers announced", FC Barcelona, 2006-08-07.
  7. ^ Tactical Formation. Football-Lineups.com. Retrieved on January 23, 2007.
  8. ^ "Rijkaard - We can cope", Sky Sports, 2006-09-28.
  9. ^ "Gudjohnsen and Saviola give Barca win in Bilbao", Reuters, 2006-09-30.
  10. ^ "Saviola set for Sevilla", Sky Sports, 2006-10-02.
  11. ^ "Saviola after Barca extension", Sky Sports, 2006-10-07.
  12. ^ "Saviola out for four to six weeks", FC Barcelona, 2006-11-13.
  13. ^ Counts for apareances at the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup, Copa Libertadores de América and Copa Mercosur.

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Martín Palermo		 South American Footballer of the Year
1999		 Succeeded by
Romário


Flag of Argentina Argentina squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup Quarter-finalists Flag of Argentina

1 Abbondanzieri | 2 Ayala | 3 Sorín | 4 Coloccini | 5 Cambiasso | 6 Heinze | 7 Saviola | 8 Mascherano | 9 Crespo | 10 Riquelme | 11 Tévez | 12 Franco | 13 Scaloni | 14 Palacio | 15 Milito | 16 Aimar | 17 Cufré | 18 Rodríguez | 19 Messi | 20 Cruz | 21 Burdisso | 22 González | 23 Ustari | Coach: Pekerman
FC Barcelona - Current Squad

1 Valdés | 2 Belletti | 3 Motta | 4 Márquez | 5 Puyol | 6 Xavi | 7 Guðjohnsen | 8 Giuly | 9 Eto'o | 10 Ronaldinho | 11 Zambrotta | 12 van Bronckhorst | 15 Edmílson | 16 Sylvinho | 18 Ezquerro | 19 Messi | 20 Deco | 21 Thuram | 22 Saviola | 23 Oleguer | 24 Iniesta | 25 Jorquera | 26 Jesús | 31 dos Santos | Coach: Rijkaard
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