Maxi López
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Maximiliano Gastón López | ||
| Date of birth | April 3, 1984 | ||
| Place of birth | Buenos Aires, Argentina | ||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Milan | ||
| Number | 21 | ||
| 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) |
| 2012– | → Milan (loan) | 3 | (1) |
| 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 professional footballer who currently plays as a striker for Serie A club Milan, on loan from Catania.
López also holds both an Argentine passport and an Italian passport.[1][2]
Contents |
[edit] Club career
[edit] River Plate
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.
[edit] FC Barcelona
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 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.
[edit] 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
[edit] Loan to Grêmio
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.
[edit] Catania and Milan
On January 20, 2010 Lopez signed a four-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 8 goals, but finished as Catania's leading scorer.[6] On January 27, 2012, Lopez finally reached a deal with Milan and officially signed by Milan on a Loan deal and definitive option to buy him in summer.[7] He scored his first goal as a Milan player on February 11 , 2012 in an away game against Udinese Calcio, equalizing for Milan before going on to assist Stephan El Shaarawy to score the game-winning goal.
[edit] International career
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.[8]
[edit] Maxilopezian "Church"
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 Argentinian squad for the 2006 World Cup. After the Argentinian elimination of the cup (without 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 Rijkaard 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) [9][10]
[edit] Personal life
Maxi López is currently married to an Argentine model, Wanda Nara and has two children with her.
[edit] Club statistics
- As of 12 December 2011.
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | 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 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 1 | — | — | 15 | 4 | |||
| Total | 66 | 22 | 3 | 3 | — | — | 69 | 25 | |||
| Milan | |||||||||||
| 2011–12 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 3 | 1 | |||
| Total | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 3 | 1 | |||
| Career totals | 215 | 60 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 242 | 72 | |
[edit] Honours
[edit] River Plate
- Torneo Clausura: (3) 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04
[edit] Barcelona
- La Liga: (2) 2004–05, 2005–06
- Supercopa de España: (1) 2005
- UEFA Champions League: (1) 2005–06,
[edit] References
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2012) |
- ^ a b "Maxi Lopez al Catania" (in Italian). Calcio Catania. 2010-01-20. http://www.calciocatania.it/comunicati/comunicati.php?id=18561. Retrieved 2010-01-20.
- ^ "Milito To Be Checked In Passport Scandal". goal.com. 15 July 2009. http://www.goal.com/en/news/8/main/2008/07/15/777091/milito-to-be-checked-in-passport-scandal. Retrieved 2009-11-01.
- ^ Lopez signs with FC Moscow
- ^ "MAXI LOPÉZ IS OFFICIALLY PRESENTED". Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense. 2009-02-17. http://www.gremio.net/news/view.aspx?id=7284. Retrieved 2010-01-20.
- ^ "Lazio 0–1 Catania". ESPN Star. 2010-02-07. http://www.espnstar.com/football/serie-a/news/detail/item393362/Lazio-0-1-Catania-/. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
- ^ "Maxi Lopez - Performance Data 2010-11 season". transfermarkt.co.uk. 2011-07-01. http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/maxi-lopez/leistungsdaten/spieler_26263.html. Retrieved 2011-07-02.
- ^ . http://www.football-italia.net/node/15074.
- ^ "Catania, Maxi Lopez: "Pronto a indossare la maglia della Nazionale italiana"" (in Italian). TuttoMercatoWeb. 2010-07-15. http://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/catania/?action=read&idnet=aXRhc3BvcnRwcmVzcy5pdC0zMDUxNA. Retrieved 2010-07-31.
- ^ "Conocer a Wanda fue mi mejor golazo" (in Spanish). Ole. 2009-01-09. http://edant.ole.com.ar/notas/2009/01/11/futbollocal/01837280.html. Retrieved 2011-01-07.
- ^ "Los hinchas copan la web" (in Spanish). La Manhana de Cordoba. 2008-01-02. http://www.lmcordoba.com.ar/2008/01/02/nota156539.html. Retrieved 2011-01-07.
[edit] External links
- European Champions Cup/UEFA Champions League Winning Squads
- Maxi López – FIFA competition record
- Profile and statistics at FootballDatabase
- Guardian statistics
- team profile and statistics at FK Moscow website
- (Spanish) Argentine Primera statistics
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- 1984 births
- Living people
- People from Buenos Aires
- Argentine footballers
- Argentine people of Italian descent
- Naturalised citizens of Italy
- Italian people of Argentine descent
- Primera División Argentina players
- River Plate footballers
- Argentine expatriate footballers
- Expatriate footballers in Spain
- La Liga footballers
- FC Barcelona footballers
- RCD Mallorca footballers
- Expatriate footballers in Russia
- Russian Premier League players
- FC Moscow players
- Expatriate footballers in Brazil
- Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense players
- Expatriate footballers in Italy
- Serie A footballers
- Calcio Catania players
- A.C. Milan players
- Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Brazil
- Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy
- Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Russia
- Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain
