Ludovic Giuly

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Personal information
Ludovic Giuly

Full name	Ludovic Giuly
Date of birth	July 10, 1976 (age 30)
Place of birth	Lyon, France
Height	164 cm (5 ft 4½ in)
Nickname	Ludo, Magic Imp
Playing position	Winger, Attacking Midfielder, Striker
Club information
Current club	FC Barcelona
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1994-1998 1998-2004 2004-present	Olympique Lyonnais AS Monaco FC Barcelona	110 (25) 213 (55) 76 (19)
National team
2000- 2006	France	17 (3)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 10 february 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Ludovic Giuly (born July 10, 1976 in Lyon) is a French footballer who plays as a winger for FC Barcelona.

After starting his career with Olympique Lyonnais in 1994, Giuly was signed by AS Monaco FC in January 1998. He then signed with FC Barcelona on June 28, 2004. Giuly has been capped for France, but was removed from his country's Euro 2004 squad due to a heart-breaking leg injury he sustained in the 2004 Champions League Final.

Honours earned by Giuly include helping France to victory in the 2003 Confederations Cup and winning the French Ligue 1 with AS Monaco FC in the 1999-00 season. He also captained AS Monaco FC on an amazing run to the Champions League final where they lost to FC Porto in the 2003-04 season. More recently he helped his club, FC Barcelona, win La Liga in the 2004-05 season. He was the second top scorer for the club scoring 11 goals. Although his season was disrupted by several muscle injuries, Giuly was able to fulfill his promise to reach double digits in goals in his first year at his new club. In 2005-06 he helped FC Barcelona win the Spanish title again, as well as capture the second Champions League trophy for the Catalan club. Giuly propelled Barca into the Champions League Final by scoring the only goal in their semi-final against A.C. Milan. Amazingly, he was not selected for the French World Cup 2006 squad, as young Marseille playmaker Franck Ribéry was selected over Giuly. However, with Djibril Cissé having broken his leg in a World Cup warm-up match against China, Giuly could have been called up, but he asserted after the initial France squad was announced that he would go on holiday to Dubai and Kish instead of waiting idly in the stand-by squad, and Sidney Govou was called up instead. Even after the World Cup, Raymond Domenech said "there is no need for Giuly to keep on playing for France, there are younger and better alternatives for him".^{[citation needed]} French and Barcelona fans were extremely annoyed about this, but Giuly told his fans to respect the manager's decisions. However, he also added that if he got a chance to play for his country again, he would take it.

During his career Giuly has been employed as a wide midfielder and as a "second striker" playing behind and to the side of an out-and-out forward, such as Fernando Morientes at Monaco. At Barcelona, Giuly plays on the right side of a three man forward line which includes Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto'o.

[edit] Trivia

He earned himself the nicknames Ludo, Petit Prince de Monaco, Magic Imp, The Atomic Goblin, El Raton and Speedy Giuly.
During the 2005/06 season, his teammates at Barcelona decided that Giuly looked like Freddie Mercury and started calling the Frenchman by the name of the former Queen singer.
Before the 2006 Champions League Final, Giuly pledged to come to the next preseason with a moustache (in honor of Mercury) if Barca won.
A cult hero in his native France, Ludovic Giuly has spawned many fan clubs and dedicated fans. A lady from Blackburn, UK, named Helen Ashcroft even changed her name to Mooduvic Giuly in dedication to the lightning winger.

[edit] External links

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