Marcelo Gallardo

Marcelo Gallardo

Personal information
Full name	Marcelo Daniel Gallardo
Height	1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s)	Attacking midfielder
Team information
Current team	Paris Saint-Germain
Number	10

Marcelo Daniel Gallardo (born January 18, 1976 in Merlo, Buenos Aires, Argentina) is an Argentine footballer who currently plays for Paris Saint-Germain having joined them from River Plate of Primera División Argentina in January 2007. He is an attacking midfielder in the role of playmaker.

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 3 Argentinian Torneo de Apertura (93, 94 and 96), 1 Argentinian Torneo de Clausura (1997) and 1 Copa Libertadores (1996).

His initial spell with the Los Millonarios lasted until season 1998-99, by then he had played 109 first-class games for them and scored 17 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, Christian Panucci, Ludovic Giuly, Philippe Christanval and Rafael Márquez, 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[1] 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 75 appearances and scoring 17 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 has signed in January 2007 for two years in Paris Saint-Germain and made his debut in a 3-0 cup win against Nîmes on January 7.

On January 13, 2007 he played his first Ligue 1 match for PSG against Valenciennes

National team

Gallardo made his international debut for Argentina in 1994 against Chile and made over 43 appearances and scored 14 goals. He was also in the Argentina squad for the 1998 World Cup and 2002 World Cup.

Honours

Olympic medal record
Representing Argentina
Men's Football
	1996 Atlanta	Team Competition

With Argentina national football team

• FIFA U-20 World Cup (1997)

With Club Atlético River Plate

• Primera División Argentina (1993A, 1994A, 1996A, 1997C, 2004C)
• Copa Libertadores (1996)
• Recopa Sudamericana (1997)

With AS Monaco FC

• Ligue 1 (2000)
• Trophée des champions (2000)
• Coupe de la Ligue (2003)

Individual

• French Ligue 1 Footballer of the Year (2000)

External links

• Profile and statistics of Marcelo Daniel Gallardo at FootballDatabase