Juan Esnáider

Juan Eduardo Esnáider (born 5 March 1973) is an Argentine retired footballer who played as a striker and a current manager. His surname is a Spanish spelling of the German Schneider, which means "tailor". He is of Volga German and Spanish descent.^[1]

Having spent most of his professional career in Spain, he was known as a powerful offensive player (an excellent aerial game) with a fierce character.^[1] In that country, he started at Real Madrid, having almost no impact with its first team, going on to represent another four teams, namely Real Zaragoza, and amassing La Liga totals of 197 games and 74 goals.

Club career

Born in Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Esnáider began his footballing career for Ferro Carril Oeste, and made his professional debuts in a game against Club Atlético Vélez Sársfield on 2 September 1990. After only six games for Ferro he was bought by Real Madrid, and still managed two first-team appearances during 1990–91, also going on to score nearly 20 goals for the reserve side in the second division.

However, Esnáider never really settled in the Madrid main side, and moved on loan to Real Zaragoza for the 1993–94 season (with the latter having the option to buy at the end of the campaign). He quickly developed into one of European football's most in-form strikers and, already property of the Aragonese outfit, helped it to the 1994–95 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, scoring in the final against Arsenal^[2] and being the tournament's best scorer (he also added 16 in La Liga).

Real Madrid paid Zaragoza more than double it had received in July 1995,^[3] but Esnáider only netted once during another disappointing season (in a rare start, against CD Tenerife). Signed by Atlético de Madrid for 1996–97 (the season after an historical double), he again displayed his best football, with 16 league goals.

After being released by Atlético, Esnáider joined RCD Espanyol in Barcelona and produced another good individual season, with 13 league goals. In January 1999 he was signed by Juventus F.C. – which had just lost Alessandro del Piero to a serious knee injury – for an estimated fee of £4,5 million,^[4] but could not settle at the club. In late December 2000 he returned to Zaragoza and,^[5] with 11 goals in just 17 contests, helped the side barely avoid relegation (that included two on 14 April 2001 in a 4–4 tie at FC Barcelona^[6]), adding his second Copa del Rey with the team.

Subsequently Esnáider's career went pretty much unnoticed, with spells at F.C. Porto (arriving the season after countryman Juan Antonio Pizzi, who also left unsettled after a few months), Cadetes de San Martín, Club Atlético River Plate,^[7] AC Ajaccio^[8] and Real Murcia, before retiring at Newell's Old Boys in Argentina.

He obtained his coaching degree in 2008 and, in April of the following year, became Getafe CF's assistant coach, to former Real Madrid teammate Míchel, who was replacing Víctor Muñoz, sacked after a string of bad results; he occupied the position until December 2010.

International career

Esnáider represented Argentina on three occasions, his debut coming in 1995.^[9] Previously, he appeared with the under-20's at the 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship held in Portugal.^[10]

Honours

Year	Club	Title
1992–93	Real Madrid	Spanish Cup
1993–94	Zaragoza	Spanish Cup
1994–95	Zaragoza	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
2000–01	Zaragoza	Spanish Cup
2002	River Plate	Clausura

Temperament

During his first spell at Zaragoza and while at Atlético Madrid, Esnáider was considered by many as one of the most promising strikers in European football. However, this was however often overshadowed by his misconduct and foul play in many matches:

1 – After missing a penalty kick in Atlético's match against Ajax Amsterdam, in the 1996–97 UEFA Champions League, he made a ferocious two-footed tackle at Ajax's Richard Witschge, but was lucky to receive only a yellow card. Minutes later, Esnáider was enraged when he was substituted by coach Radomir Antić, shouting out profanities.^[1][11][12] The next day he was transferlisted by illusive Atlético chairman Jesús Gil.

2 – In 2000–01's dying stages, as Zaragoza fought to maintain its top level status, Esnáider brutally assaulted a Celta de Vigo player with his elbow (with the consequent dismissal), allegedly after being told by Zaragoza he would be deemed surplus to requirements for the following season; the player denied, however, this as the main reason for the incident.^[1]

References

External links

• Stats at Liga de Fútbol Profesional (Spanish)
• BDFutbol profile
• Juan Esnáider at National-Football-Teams.com