Nicolás Burdisso

Nicolás Burdisso

Personal information
Full name	Nicolás Andrés Burdisso
Date of birth	12 April 1981 (1981-04-12)
Place of birth	Altos de Chipión, Córdoba, Argentina
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Roma
Number	29
Youth career
1997–1999	Boca Juniors
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1999–2004	Boca Juniors	102	(3)
2004–2010	Internazionale	93	(4)
2009–	Roma	71	(5)
National team‡
2003–	Argentina	43	(2)
Honours Competitor for Argentina Men's Football Gold 2004 Athens Team Competition
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 12 July 2011. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 16:36, 12 July 2011 (UTC)

Nicolás Andrés Burdisso (born 12 April 1981) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a central or right defender for A.S. Roma. He also holds European Union nationality.

Club career

Boca Juniors

Burdisso is the product of Argentine club Boca Juniors's youth system. He began his professional career with them in 1999 at age 18. With Boca Juniors, he won two Argentine Championships (2000 Apertura and 2003 Apertura), three Copa Libertadores (2000, 2001, 2003), and two Intercontinental Cups (2000, 2003).

Internazionale

In 2004, he moved to Internazionale, signing a four-year contract. However, he missed almost all of the 2004–05 season with Inter helping his daughter to fight leukemia. Returning to the squad in mid-2005, he won the 2006 Coppa Italia. On 31 August 2006, he extended his contract until 2009. During 2006, when Giacinto Facchetti died, Burdisso was given the number 16 jersey for the retirement of Facchetti's beloved number 3 jersey. In spite of being a defender, he has scored a number of goals, including two goals scored with headers on 29 November 2006 in the 4–0 victory against Messina. He again scored twice on 24 January 2007, in the 3–0 victory against Sampdoria. He has scored many goals from headers off of corner-kicks.

During the Champions League tie between Valencia CF and Inter on 5 March 2007, a fracas broke out between players of the two teams. Burdisso suffered a broken nose from a punch in the face from Valencia defender David Navarro. As punishment for his part in the brawl, Burdisso was handed a six match ban from all European club competitions with an additional two match suspension. Navarro was sentenced to a seven month ban from domestic, European, and international matches. He returned to duty on 12 March 2008 in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League match against Liverpool but was sent off in the 60th minute after receiving his second yellow card of the game. With Internazionale, he played left and right back and central defender as a key member of the squad in three different competitions.

In 2009, Burdisso won his fourth consecutive Serie A title with Inter, making his personal title tally 19. This makes him the second-leading Argentine behind Alfredo di Stéfano, who has 21.

AS Roma

On 22 August 2009, Burdisso was signed by A.S. Roma on loan, which offered him €3 million salary per year. He played the opening match of the league on 23 August. Burdisso scored his first goal for Roma on 20 December 2009, opening the scoring in a 2–0 win over Parma.

He was then signed by A.S. Roma on 28 August 2010 for a €8 million transfer fee. He signed a four-year contract, in which he would earn €3.8 million his first year, increasing to €4.5 million in the next 3 years.

In 2007, Burdisso expressed his desire to finish his career at Boca Juniors.

He scored his fifth goal (first in season 2011–12) for Roma against Milan on 29 October. Roma lost that game 3–2.On 15 November 2011 he had serious injury of his left knee, that will force him to stay out of the field for six months.

International career

Burdisso starred in the Argentina Under-20 team with Javier Saviola and Maxi Rodríguez. They won the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship together.

On 15 May 2006, he was named as a squad member for the 2006 FIFA World Cup by his youth U-20 coach José Pekerman and went on to play in all three group matches. He also played for Argentina in the Copa América 2007.

On 4 June 2008, Burdisso scored his second goal for Argentina during a friendly against Mexico in San Diego, California. Burdisso was selected to the Argentina squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup by manager Diego Maradona.

On 15 November 2011, Burdisso injured his left knee during a World Cup Qualifying match against Colombia. During a disputed ball with Colombian James Rodriguez, Burdisso partially tore his left knee ligaments and initially assessments predicted a recovering period of six to eight months.

National team statistics

Burdisso at the friendly match against Portugal on 9 February 2011.

Argentina national team
Year	Apps	Goals
2003	3	0
2004	1	0
2005	2	0
2006	5	0
2007	6	0
2008	8	2
2009	2	0
2010	10	0
2011	5	0
Total	42	2

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	26 March 2008	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo, Egypt	Egypt	2–0	2–0	Friendly
2.	4 June 2008	Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, USA	Mexico	1–0	4–1	Friendly

Personal life

His younger brother Guillermo, is also a professional footballer who previously played for AS Roma.

Honours

Boca Juniors

• Argentine Primera División (2): Apertura 2000, Apertura 2003
• Copa Libertadores (3): 2000, 2001, 2003
• Intercontinental Cup (2): 2000, 2003

Internazionale

• Coppa Italia (2): 2004–05, 2005–06
• Supercoppa Italiana (4): 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010
• Serie A (4): 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09

Argentina national team

• FIFA U-20 World Cup (1): 2001
• CONMEBOL Men Pre-Olympic Tournament (1): 2004
• Gold Medal at the Summer Olympics (1): 2004 Athens

External links

• Stats and profile (footballdatabase.com)
• inter.it profile