Sebastián Battaglia

Sebastián Battaglia
	Battaglia in March 2015.
Personal information
Full name	Sebastián Alejandro Battaglia
Date of birth	8 November 1980 (age 44)
Place of birth	Santa Fe, Argentina
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Defensive midfielder
Youth career
–1998	Boca Juniors
Senior career*
Years	Team
1998–2003	Boca Juniors
2004–2005	Villarreal
2005–2013	Boca Juniors
Total
International career‡
2003–2009	Argentina
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 14:31, 25 June 2011 (UTC); ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 12:28, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

Sebastián Alejandro Battaglia (born 8 November 1980) is a former Argentine football midfielder who played with Argentine club Boca Juniors. Battaglia is described in his club profile as displaying good positioning, being a ball-winner and possessing good aerial ability.^[1]

Battaglia is the most decorated player in Boca Juniors' history, having won 18 titles with the club between 1998 and 2012.^[2]^[3] His last championship playing for Boca was the 2011–12 Copa Argentina.

Career

Even though he was born in Santa Fe Province, Sebastián began his career with the Boca Juniors' reserve team. He made his professional debut on 31 May 1998, and quickly became an important player for Boca Juniors'. He played for 5 years at the club, when in the middle of the 2003–2004 season, Villarreal CF of Spain bought 50% of his contract for 2.8 million euros and acquired his services. Villarreal was considered an excellent destination for Battaglia as there were already plenty of former Boca players such as Martín Palermo, Juan Román Riquelme, Diego Cagna, Rodolfo Arruabarrena and Fabricio Coloccini at the club.

Battaglia played only a season and a half at Villareal, and never displayed the form that had made him such a hot property in Argentina. His family also had trouble adjusting to their new life in Spain. After an injury stopped him playing for almost 6 months, he decided to return with his family to Argentina. In July 2005, after some prolonged negotiations between Boca Juniors and Villarreal, he got his wish.

Back at Boca Juniors he recaptured his old form and started to improve his game, becoming club captain and being called up to the Argentina national squad to participate in the World Cup Qualifiers match against Peru on 8 October 2005. He was also a starter in the friendly match against Qatar in November of the same year.

During the 'Torneo de Verano' of 2008, Battaglia scored in the Superclásico against arch rivals River Plate, in a game where which Boca Juniors won 2–0. On 4 May 2008, in the 'Torneo Clausura' Battaglia would again score against River Plate, by heading in a goal from a corner which won Boca the game at 1–0.

On 11 December 2011, Battaglia entered the pitch as a substitute to play the last minutes of the final match of the 2011 Apertura (that Boca Juniors had already won two matches earlier), therefore being part of the title-winning squad. Thus, he became the most successful player in Boca Juniors history, with 17 championships.