Marcelo Gallardo

Marcelo Gallardo
Personal information
Full nameMarcelo Daniel Gallardo
Date of birth18 January 1976
Place of birthMerlo, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Playing positionAttacking midfielder
Club information
Current team
River Plate (manager)
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1993–1999River Plate109(18)
1999–2002Monaco103(18)
2002–2006River Plate132(38)
2007–2008Paris Saint-Germain22(2)
2008D.C. United15(4)
2009–2010River Plate21(7)
2010–2011Nacional12(3)
Total414(90)
National team
1994–2003Argentina44(13)
Teams managed
2011–2012Nacional
2014–River Plate
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Marcelo Daniel Gallardo (born 18 January 1976) is a former Argentine footballer and current manager of River Plate.[1] He played as an attacking midfielder in the role of playmaker and represented Argentina in two FIFA World Cups.

Club career

Early years

Nicknamed El Muñeco (the doll) due to his small frame (169 cm, 70 kg), Gallardo started his football career back in 1992-93 season with River Plate and won 4 Argentinian Torneo de Apertura (93, 94, 96 and 97), 1 Argentinian Torneo de Clausura (1997) and 1 Copa Libertadores (1996).

His initial spell with los millonarios lasted until season 1998-99; by then he had played 109 league games for them and scored 18 goals.

Europe

In 1999, he was snapped up by Monaco. In his first season in Europe, Gallardo proved his worth and played 28 games, scoring 8 goals and formed lethal partnership with Ludovic Giuly in Midfield.

In the following season, Gallardo won his first Première Division and Trophée Des Champions with Monaco. As a team containing many big-name players such as Marco Simone, Fabien Barthez, Willy Sagnol, Martin Djetou, Pablo Contreras, Ludovic Giuly, Philippe Christanval, Rafael Márquez, Sabri Lamouchi, David Trezeguet, and John Arne Riise, Monaco enjoyed their success domestically and it was evident Gallardo was one of the star players, having won the French League Footballer of the Year that year.

However in his third season, things did not go well off the pitch for Gallardo as he was not in good terms with his coach Didier Deschamps after being named on the bench midway through 2000-01 season. Following the examples of Panucci and Simone, Gallardo decided to leave Monaco at the end of the season.

Back to Argentina

After making 102 appearances and scoring 18 goals for Monaco, Gallardo returned to his old club River Plate as club captain, he helped them win another Clausura in 2004.

Back to France

Marcello Gallardo was bought by the Parisian club PSG for an undisclosed fee in January 2007. Paris Saint-Germain signed a two year contract with Marcelo and made his debut in a 3-0 cup win against Nîmes on 7 January.

On 13 January 2007 he played his first Ligue 1 match for PSG against Valenciennes[2]

After spending only one season with the club, Gallardo terminated his contract, looking to move to Major League Soccer in the United States.[3]

Major League Soccer with D.C. United

On 29 January 2008 Gallardo was presented as the newest member of D.C. United. With a 2008 salary of $1.87 million, Gallardo is the highest-paid player in United history and its first Designated Player. Gallardo has the third-largest salary in MLS for 2008, behind English midfielder David Beckham of the Los Angeles Galaxy ($6.5 million guaranteed) and Mexican forward Cuauhtémoc Blanco of the Chicago Fire ($2.67 million).[4] He scored his first league goal for United on 5 April 2008 against Toronto FC. On 17 and 19 July Gallardo underwent surgery for a sports hernia. In February 2009 he left D.C. United and returned for the third time to his old club River Plate.

Nacional

In 2010 he signed at Nacional de Montevideo in the Uruguayan League. On 12 June 2011, Gallardo played his last match winning the Uruguay Tournament making him one of the few players to win a championship or a league in every team that he played. He retired as a player, and was hired a few days later as new manager of Nacional, his first job as a football manager.

International career

Gallardo made his international debut for Argentina in 1994 against Chile and made 44 appearances and scored 13 goals.

He was also in the Argentina squad for the 1998 World Cup and 2002 World Cup.

Manager

Nacional

He won the 2011/2012 championship and left the club. He was assisted by Matías Biscay, Pablo Rodríguez and professor Marcelo Tulbovitz during his time at Nacional Montevideo.

River Plate

On June 6th 2014, Gallardo was presented as the new manager of River Plate following the controversial resign of Ramón Díaz on May 27th.[5] Key players from the previous tournament, Carlos Carbonero, Manuel Lanzini, and Cristian Ledesma left the club, while players relegated by Ramón Díaz such as Carlos Sánchez and Rodrigo Mora returned. River Plate only bought two players: an attacking midfielder, Leonardo Pisculichi (who had been relegated to second division with Argentinos Juniors) and goalkeeper Julio Chiarini (from Instituto de Córdoba).

Gallardo's style of play was widely lauded by the Argentine press, with the team matching the club's all-time unbeaten record on November 9th with 32 undefeated games, losing to Estudiantes de La Plata three days later.[6] Out of the 32 games, 8 belonged to Ramón Díaz's tenure. River Plate led the Torneo de Transición for the better part, until Gallardo's team reached the Copa Sudamericana's semi-finals, where River would face rivals Boca Juniors. Planning to rest the players for the semi-finals, Gallardo played a substitute team against second-placed Racing Club, ultimately losing the match from an own goal by Ramiro Funes Mori.[7] Racing would go on to win its first championship since 2001 by two points over River Plate.

River eliminated Boca with a lone goal from Leonardo Pisculichi in the second leg played at the Monumental.[8] In the 2014 Copa Sudamericana Finals, Pisculichi scored once again to draw 1-1 against Atlético Nacional in the away leg at the Estadio Atanasio Girardot. Defenders Gabriel Mercado and Germán Pezzella, in the span of four minutes, scored with headers in the second leg at the Monumental, giving River Plate a 2-0 win and its first international title since 1997, remaining unbeaten in the competition. Marcelo Gallardo became the first River Plate player to win an international title both as a player and a coach.[9] Following the end of the game, Gallardo dedicated the win to his mother, who had passed away shortly before the second game against Boca Juniors.

Playing style

He tended to play as a central playmaker. He is well known for his free kicks and corners, and he is also skillful in confrontation and possesses an intelligent footballing brain, although he is best known for his defense splitting passes.

National team statistics

Argentina national team
YearAppsGoals
199420
1995115
199600
199785
199890
199940
200021
200152
200210
200320
Total4413

Honours

Marcelo Gallardo
Medal record
Competitor for  Argentina
Men's Football
Olympic Games
Silver 1996 Atlanta Team Competition
Pan American Games
Gold 1995 Mar del Plata Team Competition

Player

River Plate
Monaco
Paris Saint-Germain
D.C. United
Nacional

Manager

Nacional
River Plate

Individual

References

  1. ↑ «Gallardo es el técnico»
  2. ↑ "Tactical Formation". Football-Lineups.com. Retrieved 5 February 2007.
  3. ↑ "Gallardo Leaning Towards MLS". Soccer365.com. Retrieved 24 January 2008.
  4. ↑ Goff, Steven (4 April 2008). "Gallardo Is United's Highest-Paid Player Ever". The Washington Post. Retrieved 4 April 2008.
  5. ↑ "Marcelo Gallardo presentado como nuevo técnico de River Plate" [Marcelo Gallardo presented as new manager of River Plate] (in Spanish). La Nación. 6 June 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  6. ↑ "Por un error de Barovero, River perdió el invicto ante Estudiantes" [Due a mistake from Barovero, River lost the undefeated record against Estudiantes] (in Spanish). infobae. 12 November 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  7. ↑ "Racing le ganó a River con una 'carambola', se subió a la punta del campeonato y podría consagrarse campeón el próximo domingo en Rosario" [Racing defeated River with a lucky goal, got in first place and could be crowned champion of the tournament the next Sunday in Rosario] (in Spanish). infobae. 23 November 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  8. ↑ "¡River a la final! El gol de Pisculichi le dio la clasificación frente a Boca, que falló un penal y jamás pudo encontrarle la vuelta al partido" [River to the final! Pisculichi's goal gave River the ticket to the final against Boca, which missed a penalty in the first minutes of the game and could never turn it around] (in Spanish). infobae. 26 November 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  9. ↑ "¡River campeón de la Copa Sudamericana!" [River champion of the Copa Sudamericana!] (in Spanish). mundoD. 10 December 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2015.

External links