Iván de la Peña

Iván de la Peña
Personal information
Full name Iván de la Peña López
Date of birth 6 May 1976 (1976-05-06) (age 35)
Place of birth Santander, Spain
Height 1.69 m (5 ft 6 1⁄2 in)
Playing position Midfielder
Club information
Current club Roma (technical collaborator)
Youth career
Racing Santander
1991–1993 Barcelona
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1993–1996 Barcelona B 37 (5)
1995–1998 Barcelona 80 (11)
1998–2002 Lazio 15 (0)
1999–2000 → Marseille (loan) 12 (1)
2000–2001 → Barcelona (loan) 9 (0)
2002–2011 Espanyol 179 (8)
National team
1991–1992 Spain U16 17 (2)
1992 Spain U17 4 (1)
1994 Spain U18 7 (3)
1995 Spain U20 5 (2)
1995–1996 Spain U21 10 (1)
1996 Spain U23 4 (0)
2005 Spain 5 (0)
* 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 De la Peña and the second or maternal family name is López.

Iván de la Peña López (Spanish pronunciation: [iˈβan delaˈpeɲa]; born 6 May 1976 in Santander, Cantabria) is a retired Spanish footballer who played as a central midfielder. During his career, de la Peña earned the nicknames Little Buddha[1] and Lo Pelat (The Shaven One) due to his shaven head and slight frame.

Having started as a youth prodigy at FC Barcelona, he incidentally closed out his extensive career at neighbouring Espanyol, amassing La Liga totals of 267 games and 19 goals over the course of 12 seasons.

De la Peña was also known for his skills and accurate passing, and gained five caps for Spain.

Contents

Playing career

Club career

De la Peña was recruited by FC Barcelona as a youth player in 1991 and made his debut for the B team in 1993. He went on to play 37 games for them, and then manager Johan Cruyff gave him his debut with the senior team on 3 September 1995, as he came on as a substitute and scored, in a 2–0 win at Real Valladolid. At 19 he was initially regarded as the natural successor to Josep Guardiola. However, he gradually fell out of favour with Cruyff and found himself dropped, although he achieved a career-best seven league goals in that rookie season.

With the arrival of Bobby Robson in 1996, de la Peña was given a second chance to establish himself in the team. He subsequently developed a partnership with Ronaldo and was a prominent member of the team that won the Spanish Cup/European Cup Winners' Cup/European Supercup treble in 1997. He was also voted the best young player by El País in both 1996 and 1997.

De la Peña found himself out of favour at Barça once again, after the arrival of Dutch coach Louis van Gaal,[2] and he was consequently transferred to S.S. Lazio, along with Fernando Couto.[3] However, he failed to establish himself in Serie A and was loaned to Olympique de Marseille during the 1999–00 season. This move was not successful either and he returned to Barcelona, on loan, for 2000–01. After only appearing nine times (one start, against Racing de Santander) throughout the season, under then coach Lorenzo Serra Ferrer, de la Peña returned to Italy, being released.

In 2002, de la Peña moved to Barcelona neighbours RCD Espanyol,[4] where he found the continuity and stability to produce some of the best football in his career. In 2005 he helped the Catalan outfit finish fifth in La Liga, enabling them to qualify for the UEFA Cup. In the 2006 domestic cup final, de la Peña masterminded a 4–1 victory against Real Zaragoza, setting up two goals. Raúl Tamudo scored after two minutes when he headed in a rebound following a de la Peña free-kick. The pair combined again to carve open the Zaragoza defence to lay on a goal for Luis García. As a result, Espanyol again for the qualified for the UEFA Cup and eventually reached the competition final, losing to Sevilla FC on penalties.

From 2007–09, after extending his contract,[5] de la Peña was severely hindered with injury problems. However, on February 21, 2009, he managed to net twice in a 2–1 derby win at Barça, with one side ranking first in the league and the other last;[6] Espanyol eventually finished in 10th position.

After the shocking death of new team captain Daniel Jarque, in August 2009, de la Peña was named as his replacement. His physical problems continued to bother him tremendously, to a point which he said that if this became a major issue he would retire, which happened on 22 May 2011 at the age of 35, immediately after a home match against Sevilla.[7]

International career

De la Peña, alongside the likes of Fernando Morientes, Raúl and Gaizka Mendieta, played for the Spanish U-21s at both the 1996 European Under-21 Championship and the 1996 Olympic Games, helping the nation reach the quarterfinals in the latter.

Despite this, he did not make his debut for the senior Spain team until 9 February 2005, at the age of 28 years and 9 months, in a 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier against San Marino (Almería, 5–0). He subsequently played for Spain on five occasions during the year, with his last coming against the same opponent.

Post-playing career

On 8 June 2011, de la Peña was announced as part of the new coaching staff that will work alongside new manager Luis Enrique - a former teammate at Barcelona - at Serie A club A.S. Roma.[8] It was announced in August that he would be taking a leave of absence for family reasons.[9]

Statistics

Club

Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Spain League Copa del Rey Copa de la Liga Europe Total
1995–96 Barcelona La Liga 30 7 0 0 0 0 7 2 37 9
1996–97 33 2 1 0 0 0 6 0 39 2
1997–98 17 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 19 2
Italy League Coppa Italia League Cup Europe Total
1998–99 Lazio Serie A 14 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 18 0
France League Coupe de France Coupe de la Ligue Europe Total
1999–00 Marseille Ligue 1 12 1 0 0 0 0 7 0 19 1
Spain League Copa del Rey Copa de la Liga Europe Total
2000–01 Barcelona La Liga 9 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 12 0
Italy League Coppa Italia League Cup Europe Total
2001–02 Lazio Serie A 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Spain League Copa del Rey Copa de la Liga Europe Total
2002–03 Espanyol La Liga 29 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 29 0
2003–04 25 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 25 1
2004–05 30 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 30 3
2005–06 30 0 1 0 0 0 8 0 39 0
2006–07 26 0 0 0 0 0 10 1 36 1
2007–08 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 0
2008–09 22 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 22 4
2009–10 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
2010–11 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Total Spain 241 19
Italy 15 0
France 12 1
Career total 255 20

International

Spain national team
Year Apps Goals
2005 5 0
Total 5 0

Honours

Club

Barcelona
Lazio
Espanyol

National team

Spain U-21

Individual

References

  1. ^ Espanyol bank on 'Little Buddha'; UEFA.com, 16 May 2007
  2. ^ "The lost boys of Barcelona". Ezilon. 16 October 2005. http://www.ezilon.com/information/article_11653.shtml. Retrieved 10 February 2011. 
  3. ^ "Lazio: presi De la Pena e Couto. Inter: Torricelli e' vicino [Lazio: De la Peña and Couto snapped. Inter: Torricelli close]" (in Italian). Corriere della Sera. 25 June 1998. http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/1998/giugno/25/Lazio_presi_Pena_Couto_Inter_co_0_98062511924.shtml. Retrieved 16 April 2010. 
  4. ^ De la Peña seals Spanish return; UEFA.com, 29 August 2002
  5. ^ Espanyol confirm De la Peña deal; UEFA.com, 19 June 2007
  6. ^ Barcelona humbled while Madrid strike six; UEFA.com, 21 February 2009
  7. ^ "De la Peña, el último romántico, cuelga las botas [De la Peña, the last romantic, hangs boots]". Marca. 19 May 2011. http://www.marca.com/2011/05/19/futbol/equipos/espanyol/1305804613.html. Retrieved 20 May 2011. 
  8. ^ "Luis Enrique ha firmato "Farò calcio spettacolo" [Luis Enrique said "I will produce spectacular football"]" (in Italian). La Repubblica. 8 June 2011. http://www.repubblica.it/sport/calcio/serie-a/roma/2011/06/08/news/luis_enrique-17390463/?ref=HRLS-3. Retrieved 8 June 2011. 
  9. ^ Schiavone, David (13 August 2011). "De La Pena leaves Roma for family reasons". Forza Italian Football. http://forzaitalianfootball.com/2011/08/de-la-pena-leaves-roma-for-family-reasons/. Retrieved 6 October 2011. 

External links