Fernando Redondo

For the Argentinian canoer, see Fernando Redondo (canoer).
Fernando Redondo
Personal information
Full name Fernando Carlos Redondo Neri
Date of birth June 6, 1969 (1969-06-06) (age 42)
Place of birth Adrogué, Argentina
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position Defensive midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1985–1990 Argentinos Juniors 75 (1)
1990–1994 Tenerife 103 (8)
1994–2000 Real Madrid 165 (4)
2000–2004 Milan 16 (0)
Total 359 (13)
National team
1992–1999 Argentina 29 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).
This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Redondo and the second or maternal family name is Neri.

Fernando Carlos Redondo Neri (born 6 June 1969) is a retired Argentine footballer.

A defensive midfielder with the ability to contribute both defensively and offensively, he played one full decade in La Liga, mainly for Real Madrid, then finished his career (curtailed by several injury problems) in Italy with Milan.

Redondo was a member of the Argentine national team in the 1990s, representing the nation in the 1994 World Cup.

Contents

Club career

Born in Adrogué, Buenos Aires, Redondo made his debut for Argentinos Juniors in 1985 in the Argentine first division, and played for five years for the team before moving abroad, to Spain.

He made his debut in La Liga with CD Tenerife, under the management of countryman Jorge Solari. During this period, Real Madrid twice lost the league title to arch-rivals FC Barcelona on the final day of the season, in matches against Tenerife, who were managed by Jorge Valdano. When Valdano was appointed manager of Real Madrid in the summer of 1994, the player also made the move, for a fee of $5 million dollars.

The key years of Redondo's career were spent at Real Madrid, where he was twice league champion and won two UEFA Champions League medals (in 1997–98 and 1999–2000). It was during the second victorious campaign in Europe that Redondo arguably turned in his finest performances. New coach Vicente del Bosque utilised him in a powerful midfield combination with Steve McManaman; in the quarterfinals against Manchester United at Old Trafford, he was the author of a spectacular play in which he dribbled past defender Henning Berg by backheeling the ball around him, recovering it and assisting Raúl for Real Madrid's third goal (3–2 win, 3–2 on aggregate). Sir Alex Ferguson said after the game “What does this player have in his boots? A magnet?”[1] After winning the final against Valencia CF, he was named the competition's Most Valuable Player.

In 2000, Redondo transferred to Serie A club A.C. Milan, in a highly controversial £11m move, which left many Real Madrid fans perplexed. However, he was injured in one of his first training sessions and was unable to play for the next 2½ years due to his injury. He suspended his £2.74m-a-year salary, and even tried to give back the house and car which the Milan board had given him.[2]

In 2004, at the age of 34, Redondo retired from professional football following yet another knee injury. Following his retirement, he moved back to Buenos Aires to be closer to his family. He was good friends with Diego Maradona, who acted as a mentor to the young Redondo early in his career.

Since entering retirement, Redondo often appeared in many high profile exhibition matches contested by select squads of past and present footballing greats, including; Franco Baresi, Franz Beckenbauer, Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit, Zlatko Zahovič, Aleksandr Mostovoi, Marco van Basten and Tony Yeboah, amongst others.

International career

Redondo played for Argentina 29 times, the bulk of his appearances coming during 1992–94, while Alfio Basile was the coach.

He turned down a call-up to the national team just before the 1990 FIFA World Cup, when it was coached by Carlos Salvador Bilardo. The player excused himself on account of not wanting to interrupt his law studies, but some say that he refused to play for Bilardo because he did not agree with his ultra-defensive strategy.[1] His national side debut came on 18 June 1992, in a 2-0 victory against Australia.

Redondo shone in the 1994 World Cup but, after Maradona was expelled for failing a drugs test, the Tenerife midfielder was unable to prevent the two-time world champions from falling at the round of 16, 3–2 at the hands of Romania.

In 1998, Argentina's coach Daniel Passarella excluded Redondo from the World Cup squad. Newspapers reported that Redondo was excluded because he refused to cut his long hair. The manager denied this, stating: "Twice he was asked to play for the national team and twice he refused and gave a different reason each time. Then he announced publicly he did not want to play for the national team and I do not pick any player who does not want to play for Argentina."[3] The played later explained: "I was in great form. But he had particular ideas about discipline and wanted me to have my hair cut. I didn't see what that had to do with playing football so I said no again."[4]

In 1999, when Argentina was coached by Marcelo Bielsa, Redondo was recalled to the national side for two friendlies against Brazil. Although Redondo was the man-of-the match in the 2–0 victory in Buenos Aires, he refused any subsequent call-ups from Bielsa, preferring to focus his energies on club football.

Statistics

Club

Club Season League Cup Continental Other Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Argentinos Juniors 1985–86 1 0 0 0 0 0 — 1 0
1986–87 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1987–88 16 0 0 0 — — 16 0
1988–89 44 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 44 0
1989–90 14 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 14 1
Total 75 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 75 1
Tenerife 1990–91 23 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 1
1991–92 32 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 32 2
1992–93 20 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 4
1993–94 28 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 28 1
Total 103 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 103 8
Real Madrid 1994–95 23 1 0 0 3 1 0 0 26 2
1995–96 23 2 2 0 4 0 1 0 30 2
1996–97 33 1 6 0 0 0 0 0 39 1
1997–98 33 0 2 0 11 0 0 0 46 0
1998–99 23 0 2 0 7 0 2 0 34 0
1999–00 30 0 5 0 15 0 3 0 53 0
Total 165 4 17 0 37 1 6 0 225 5
Milan 2000–01 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2001–02 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2002–03 8 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 14 0
2003–04 8 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 9 0
Total 16 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 23 0
Career totals 359 13 17 0 44 1 6 0 426 14

Honours

Club

Country

Individual

References

  1. ^ a b One-touch perfectionist; The Guardian, 21 May 2000
  2. ^ Football knowledge: Players who fell short of a century of caps; The Guardian, 13 February 2008
  3. ^ Ace Batistuta keen to play for Liverpool; Irish Examiner, 22 April 1998
  4. ^ Two-year agony over as Milan ace roars back; The Free Libraby, 13 January 2003
  5. ^ FIFA Awards; at RSSSF

External links
Argentina squad – 1992 King Fahd Cup Winners (1st Title)
Argentina squad – 1993 Copa América Winners (14th Title)
Argentina squad – 1994 FIFA World Cup