Javier Saviola

Javier Saviola

Personal information
Full name	Javier Pedro Saviola
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	Real Madrid
Number	18
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 15:59, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

Javier Pedro Saviola (born 11 December 1981 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is an Argentinian professional football player, who plays for Real Madrid. His usual position is as striker. He is known for his speed and ability to score from almost any position. He has scored 10 goals in 34 games for the Argentina national team, and represented his country at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. In 2005, he was the youngest named on the FIFA 100 list of the 125 greatest living footballers.

Club career

River Plate

Nicknamed El Conejito (The Little Rabbit), Saviola made his debut for Argentine side River Plate at the age of 16, and went on to be a prolific goalscorer for the club. He helped River Plate win the 1999 Apertura and 2000 Clausura championships, and earned the 1999 South American Footballer of the Year award. Still only 18, he gained a reputation as a phenomenal prospect.

FC Barcelona

That summer, aged 19, he moved abroad to play for FC Barcelona in Spain. He obtained Spanish citizenship, and thereby wasn't restricted by the Spanish league maximum on the number of non-European Union citizens allowed in each club. Under coach Louis Van Gaal, he scored 17 goals in his first season, finishing third best scorer in La Liga.

Saviola with Barcelona

His second year at the club did not start well, as he only scored two goals in the first half of the season. When Van Gaal was fired and Radomir Antić became new Barcelona manager, Saviola went on to score eleven goals in the latter half of the 2002-03 season. At the start of the 2003-04 season, Frank Rijkaard was appointed as new manager. Saviola scored 14 goals during the season, but was deemed surplus at the club.

Saviola was sent on loan the following year, as he moved to AS Monaco in the French Ligue 1 championship in the summer 2004. As he did not fit into Rijkaard's plans, Saviola was again loaned out in the summer of 2005, this time to Spanish club Sevilla FC, in order to replace attacking player Júlio Baptista who moved to Real Madrid. At Sevilla, Saviola won his first title in Europe, when the club won the 2006 UEFA Cup.

Saviola returned to Barcelona for the 2006/07 La Liga season, playing in 18 league games (6 as a starter, 12 as a substitute) and scoring 5 goals. In the Copa del Rey, he appeared in 5 games (3 starts, 2 substitutions), scoring 5 goals. He also made a solitary Champions League appearance.

Real Madrid

On July 10, 2007 it was reported that Real Madrid signed Javier Saviola after his Barcelona contract expired. The club's website published Saviola's first interview in Madrid on July 12, confirming that he would be presented to the press the next day as a new Real Madrid player. On July 13, Saviola completed his free transfer to Real Madrid CF, signing a contract that ends in 2011. However Real Madrid's coach Bernd Schuster showed little interest in Saviola and by March 13, 2008 he is officially up for sale.

National Career

Saviola starred in the 2001 edition of the World Youth Cup, held in Argentina. He was top scorer and was voted player of the tournament, as the Argentine youth national team won the competition. With 11 goals in seven games, he became the record goal-scorer in World Youth Cup history. His vintage performance earned himself a offer from the European clubs, but surprsingly, he failed to get a call up of the Argentina national football team to take part in the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Two years later, Saviola played in the 2004 Olympic Games and won the Olympic Gold Medal with the Argentine squad. Under coach Marcelo Bielsa, Saviola was given few playing opportunities for Argentina, but after Bielsa's resignation in 2004, new coach José Pekerman, who was the Argentine youth national team in 2001, gave Saviola more chance to play for the national team.

Saviola was called up to represent Argentina at the 2006 FIFA World Cup by José Pekerman. Striker Luciano Figueroa and winger Luciano Galletti were in contention for a place on the roster, but Saviola's excellent form for Sevilla, scoring a handy 20 goals in 55 games and winning UEFA Cup with the Andalusian team, secured his place in the squad. Saviola made his presence felt at the tournament, as he scored a goal against Côte d'Ivoire in Argentina's opening game, and made two assists in the 6-0 victory against Serbia and Montenegro.

Career statistics

Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1998-99||rowspan="3"|River Plate||rowspan="3"|Primera División||20||7||colspan="2"|-|||||||| |- |1999-00||31||17||colspan="2"|-|||||||| |- |2000-01||35||20||colspan="2"|-|||||||| Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2001-02||rowspan="3"|Barcelona||rowspan="3"|La Liga||32||17||colspan="2"|-||11||4||43||21 |- |2002-03||36||13||colspan="2"|-||14||7||50||20 |- |2003-04||33||14||colspan="2"|-||7||3||40||17 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2004-05||Monaco||Ligue 1||29||7||colspan="2"|-||7||4||36||11 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2005-06||Sevilla||La Liga||30||9||12||6||13||5||55||20 |- |2006-07||Barcelona||La Liga||18||5||5||5||1||0||24||10 |- |2007-08||Real Madrid||La Liga||6||2||6||0||2||0||14||2 Template:Football player statistics 386||44||colspan="2"|-|||||||| Template:Football player statistics 4155||60||23||11||48||19||226||90 Template:Football player statistics 429||7||colspan="2"|-||7||4||36||11 Template:Football player statistics 5270||111||23||11|||||||| |}

Honours and awards

Javier Saviola

Medal record
Olympic Games
Men's football
	2004 Athens	Team

• FIFA U-20 World Cup: 2001
• Olympic Games: 2004

• Primera División Argentina: 1999A, 2000C

• UEFA Cup: 2005-06

• Primera División Argentina Top Scorer: 1999A
• South American Footballer of the Year: 1999
• FIFA U-20 World Cup Top Scorer: 2001
• FIFA U-20 World Cup MVP: 2001

External links

• Goal.com profile