| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ronald Lázaro García Justiniano | ||
| Date of birth | December 17, 1980 | ||
| Place of birth | Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia | ||
| Height | 1.84 m (6 ft 1⁄2 in) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Aris FC | ||
| Number | 88 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Tahuichi Academy | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1998–2001 | Bolívar | 72 | (9) |
| 2001–2004 | FC Alverca | 55 | (5) |
| 2004–2005 | Bolívar | 14 | (3) |
| 2005– | Aris FC | 93 | (7) |
| 2010 | → Anorthosis Famagusta (loan) | 11 | (0) |
| 2011 | → Bolívar (loan) | (0) | |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2002–present | Bolivia | 39 | (2) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of May 14, 2009. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Ronald Lázaro García Justiniano, nicknamed "Nacho" (born December 17, 1980 in Santa Cruz de la Sierra) is a Bolivian footballer. He currently plays as a defensive midfielder for Aris Thessaloniki F.C. in Greece. He is considered as a fan favourite. He "graduated" from Bolivia's famous football academy called Tahuichi Aguilera located in Santa Cruz, which produced some popular Bolivian football stars, including Erwin "Platiní" Sanchez, Marco Antonio "El Diablo" Etcheverry, Jaime Moreno.
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García's first professional Bolivian club was Club Bolívar from La Paz. From there, he moved to FC Alverca in Portugal. He played for 3 years there and 2 stories about him are interesting: First, at some point in his younger age, he was considered and positioned in the top 50 of world's football potentials. Second, the story with him is related to his days in Benfica.
After his days in Portugal he returned once again to play in Bolivia. During his second spell at Bolívar he reached the quarter finals of the Copa Libertadores, only to be defeated by Club América on May 25, 2000. His notable performances earned him a second chance at his European dream and signed for, which at the time was in the second division, Aris Thessaloniki FC (apparent fee was 100,000 euros).
In most of his first season with them he was plagued by several problems. First, his adapting process lasted longer than expected. Second, his from-time-to-time injuries and his longer recoveries, made it difficult for him to become a regular starter. Towards the end of the second division season he gradually started to gain confidence and trust by his coach Nikos Anastopoulos. As a result of a strong campaign from Aris, Nacho along with Aris were promoted to the first division after just 1 year.
In the big "roster sweeping" summer 2006, Aris Management gave him another chance and left him in the team for the 2006–2007 season. The first 2/3 of the season were more or less successful. However, his career continued to hampered with injuries. He was a regular starter under Guillermo Hoyos, the first coach of rebuilding 2006/07 Aris. Lost his starting 11 place to Ruben Palazuelos under Enrique Hernandez (Hoyos' successor).
In mid-August 2008, after a lengthy series of negotiations, García finally signed a 5-year contract extension (up to 2013), earning 2 million euros, in total, for 5 years.
After a year he returned to Aris with less money in September 2011.His first unofficial appearance with the black and yellow shirt was in the friendly against Doxa Dramas on September,4 in which he had a notable performance.
He is the club's longest-serving non-Greek player ever and current squad's longest-serving player.
In the period of his first season at Aris (and even earlier, but not that often) Nacho was always knocking on the Bolivian national team's door and its starting 11. Finally in 2007, he was capped by the Bolivian National team playing for Copa America 2007 (equivalent to the Euro Cup). In 2007/08 season he finally became an essential, irreplaceable part and core of the Bolivian national team and Aris Thessaloniki. Now, Garcia is considered as one of Bolivia's and Aris FC's top and most consistent stars.
In the September round of the World Cup qualifiers for South Africa 2010, he achieved a great performance leading his national team to a historic 0:0 draw at Brazil, being one of the best men on the field as Bolivian and the "wider" media were reporting. A month later, at the October pair of matches helped his national team improve their qualifying group position scoring a goal in a 3:0 win over Peru at home and playing again decently in the 3-day later match with Uruguay (2:2). Half a year later (on April 1), was again a participant in yet another historic result for his country as Bolivia thrashed Argentina 6:1, in La Paz, noting an assist on his match stats account.
| Goal | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | June 18, 2008 | Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia | Paraguay | 2–0 | 4–2 | 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 2. | October 11, 2008 | Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia | Peru | 3–0 | 3–0 | 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification |
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