Juan Antonio Pizzi

Juan Antonio Pizzi Torroja (born 7 June 1968) is a retired Argentine-born Spanish professional footballer who played as a striker, and a current coach.

He spent the bulk of his club career in Spain, namely at the service of Tenerife, helping to the side's consolidation in La Liga, and amassing top division totals of 221 games and 92 goals over the course of eight seasons - he also played for Valencia and Barcelona.

Pizzi represented the Spanish national team for four years, appearing with it in one World Cup and one European Championship. After retiring, he embarked in a managerial career.

Club career

Born in Santa Fe, Pizzi started his professional career with Rosario Central, before transferring to Mexico's Deportivo Toluca. After only one season he moved to CD Tenerife, with great individual success (30 goals in his first two seasons combined), while also helping the Canary Islands outfit qualify for the UEFA Cup in his second year.

This performances prompted interest from fellow La Liga club Valencia CF. Highly unsettled, Pizzi returned after only one season to Tenerife. In the second season in his second spell, he fired the club into another UEFA Cup qualification, topping the goal charts at 31, in 41 contests, also good enough for the European Golden Boot.

After that, Pizzi transferred to FC Barcelona. Never an undisputed starter (barred by Ronaldo, Sonny Anderson and the versatile Luis Enrique during his two-season stint), he managed to net 11 goals in the league alone, being very popular among the Culé fans.

With Barcelona he won the Spanish Supercup in 1996, the UEFA Super Cup and Spanish Cup in 1997, winning the latter again in the following year, in which he also won his only league title. Arguably, his most memorable moment was the decisive goal in the 5–4 victory over Atlético Madrid in the King's Cup quarterfinals second leg, after Barcelona trailed 3–0 at half-time.

Subsequently, Pizzi returned to Argentina to play for Club Atlético River Plate, then had an unassuming spell in Portugal (only 11 matches) for F.C. Porto. After starting 2001–02 back with Rosario, he signed with Villarreal CF for its closure, as the club had lost to a severe leg injury countryman Martín Palermo.

After his retirement, aged almost 34, Pizzi played polo in the Barcelona region, then started his coaching career. Together with Peruvian José del Solar, he managed Argentine first division's Colón de Santa Fe at the beginning of the Clausura 2005, but both were sacked after three losses in the first three matches.

On 13 April 2006, Pizzi became the coach of Universidad San Martín de Porres, in the Peruvian first division.^[1]

International career

Pizzi played 22 matches for Spain, scoring eight goals. His debut came on November 30, 1994, in a 2–0 friendly win with Finland. In the following year, on September 20, he helped beat country of birth Argentina 2–1, in a friendly played in Madrid.

Pizzi was part of the squads for UEFA Euro 1996 and the 1998 FIFA World Cup. In the latter, after replacing Fernando Morientes in a 0–0 draw against Paraguay, as Spain exited in the group stage, he retired from the international scene.

Club statistics

Managerial statistics

References

External links

• Argentine League statistics (Spanish)
• ArgentineSoccer profile
• BDFutbol profile
• El Mundo profile (Spanish)
• National team data (Spanish)
• International appearances; at RSSSF
• USMP coach profile