| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Maximiliano Gastón López | ||
| Date of birth | April 3, 1984 | ||
| Place of birth | Buenos Aires, Argentina | ||
| Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Catania | ||
| Number | 11 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1997–2001 | River Plate | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2001–2005 | River Plate | 56 | (13) |
| 2005–2007 | Barcelona | 14 | (1) |
| 2006–2007 | → Mallorca (loan) | 29 | (3) |
| 2007–2009 | FC Moscow | 22 | (9) |
| 2009 | → Grêmio (loan) | 25 | (12) |
| 2010– | Catania | 64 | (22) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2001 | Argentina U17 | 5 | (3) |
| 2001–2004 | Argentina U20 | 29 | (8) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14 December 2011. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Maximiliano Gastón López (born 3 April 1984) is an Argentine football player who currently plays as a striker for Calcio Catania in the Italian Serie A. López also holds Italian nationality.[1][2]
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López started his career in 1997 with River Plate. On 19 August 2001, at the mere age of 17, he made his senior debut against Talleres de Córdoba. That same season, the player was officially promoted to the senior squad, following 5 years with the youth program. With River Plate, he was a standout striker and the club won the Torneo Clausura in 2002, 2003, and 2004. López remained with the club until his transfer to Spanish giants FC Barcelona in January 2005. With River Plate, Lopez made over 60 appearances, scoring nearly 20 goals.
In January 2005, FC Barcelona signed the Argentine striker for €16.2 million following an injury to striker Henrik Larsson. López failed to break into the club's first team, and despite scoring a wonder goal on his European debut, against Chelsea F.C. in the UEFA Champions League, he was not a regular in the team. In his first season with the Catalan giants, López made just 13 league appearances. He transferred to RCD Mallorca on loan for the 2006–07 season, where he failed to live up to the expectations, scoring only three goals in 25 matches, and hence returned to Barcelona in the summer of 2007, only to be sold subsequently to FC Moscow.
On August 16, 2007, López signed with FC Moscow after a transfer fee of €2 million was agreed with Barcelona.[3] With the club, López made 22 league appearances scoring 9 goals, but on February 13, 2009, Brazilian club, Grêmio signed López on a 1-year loan from FC Moscow.[4] During his season long loan, the striker managed 11 goals in 25 league starts, and was scouted as a transfer target by several European clubs including Calcio Catania, Chievo Verona, Genoa CFC, Ajax, and Vfl Wolfsburg
In February 2009 López went out on loan for one year to Gremio and made his debut the following month in a game against Santa Cruz. His first goal for the club came against Esporte Clube São José on March 18, 2009. On June 24, 2009, López was accused of racism by Cruzeirio player Elicarlos in the semifinals of the Copa Libertadores. Lopez denied the charge and, so far, nothing has been proven. Lopez scored four goals in the Copa Libertadores 2009, and the winner in the centenary Gre-Nal derby match.
On January 20, 2010 Lopez signed a 4-year contract with Calcio Catania, in the Italian Serie A.[1] He scored his first league goal on 7 February 2010 in a 1–0 away win against S.S. Lazio.[5] Lopez went on to score 12 goals in 17 appearances as Catania managed a 12th place finish in the league. During the 2010-11 season Lopez only scored 6 goals, but finished as Catania's leading scorer.
Maxi López represented his birth nation of Argentina at Under-15, Under-17 and Under-20 levels, also taking part to the 2003 South American Youth Championship. He is currently eligible for both Argentina and Italy, as he holds both citizenships and has never represented any national team at senior level. In July 2010 he explicitly stated he might accept a call-up from the Azzurri.[6]
Lopez's surprising change of luck from being a criticised forward in River Plate to being signed by world's giants FC Barcelona made him an Internet meme in his native Argentina. Satirical blogs were created lobbying for his inclusion in the Argentinean squad for the 2006 World Cup. After the Argentinean elimination of the cup (With Lopez getting any caps at all) the nature of the meme changed to a series of reasons explaining his lack of time play on Barcelona with hyperbolic claims about Lopez's virility, skilfulness and a supposed affair with the wife of Barcelona's coach Frank Rijkard which closely resembled Chuck Norris Facts. In interviews, Lopez has stated that he is ok with this unexpected following and the Church of the "White Drogba". (As he is known after missing a crucial Penalty kick for River against Arch-enemies Boca Juniors on the same week Didier Drogba missed one against Egypt in the final of 2006 African Cup of Nations) [7][8]
He is currently married to Wanda Nara (Sister of Zaira Nara, Diego Forlán's former fiancé), and has two children with her.
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Europe | Other | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| River Plate | 2001–02 | 17 | 1 | — | — | — | 17 | 1 | |||
| 2002–03 | 6 | 1 | — | — | — | 6 | 1 | ||||
| 2003–04 | 17 | 6 | — | — | — | 17 | 6 | ||||
| 2004–05 | 16 | 5 | — | — | — | 16 | 5 | ||||
| Total | 56 | 13 | — | — | — | 56 | 13 | ||||
| Barcelona | |||||||||||
| 2004–05 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | — | 10 | 1 | ||
| 2005–06 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 | |
| Total | 14 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 2 | |
| Mallorca | |||||||||||
| 2006–07 | 29 | 3 | 2 | 2 | — | — | 31 | 5 | |||
| Total | 29 | 3 | 2 | 2 | — | — | 31 | 5 | |||
| FC Moscow | |||||||||||
| 2007 | 9 | 6 | — | — | — | 9 | 6 | ||||
| 2008 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 14 | 3 | ||
| Total | 22 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 23 | 9 | ||
| Gremio | |||||||||||
| 2009 | 25 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 41 | 17 | |
| Total | 25 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 41 | 17 | |
| Catania | |||||||||||
| 2009–10 | 17 | 11 | — | — | — | 17 | 11 | ||||
| 2010–11 | 35 | 8 | 2 | 2 | — | — | 37 | 10 | |||
| 2011–12 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 12 | 3 | |||
| Total | 64 | 22 | 2 | 2 | — | — | 66 | 24 | |||
| Career totals | 210 | 59 | 6 | 5 | 13 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 236 | 70 | |
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