Javier Saviola
Javier Pedro Saviola Fernández ( born December 11, 1981 in Belgrano, Buenos Aires ) is an Argentine football player.
Saviola also has Spanish citizenship. In Argentina, El Conejo was (rabbit) initially acted as a successor to Diego Maradona.
Career
In the club
Saviola played since the age of eight at River Plate, where he made his debut on 18 October 1998 at the age of 16 in the first Argentine league and scored the equalizer to make it 2-2 against Gimnasia Jujuy. He was elected to Argentina's footballer of the year 1999. He was younger than Diego Maradona, the first time in 1979 it succeeded.
He was in the history of the Argentine League 1999 ( Torneo de Apertura ) at 18 years and 9 days, the second youngest scorer, just eight days older than the time Diego Maradona. He won with River Plate, the Torneo de Apertura 1999, the Torneo de Clausura 2000.
At age 19, he moved to the 2001/02 season with FC Barcelona, where he stood until the summer of 2007 under contract.
For the 2004/ 05 season he was loaned out to AS Monaco. In the 2005/06 season he played for Sevilla FC. On 10 May 2006 he won with FC Sevilla the final of the UEFA Cup. However, Saviola was replaced in this game after the first half. At the beginning of the 2006/07 season he was back in the squad of FC Barcelona.
In July 2007, Saviola moved to arch rivals Real Madrid free transfer. There he graduated in two years, 17 matches and scored four goals.
For the season 2009/10 he moved for a transfer fee of five million euros for the Portuguese giants SL Benfica. After 69 league games and 24 league goals he left Benfica at the end of the transfer window in summer 2012 for the Spanish side Málaga CF. There Saviola signed a one year contract. In July 2013 he transferred to Greek giants Olympiakos Piraeus. He signed a two-year contract with the Greeks.
In the National Team
In the U-20 World Championships in 2001 in Argentina, he was world champion and top scorer of the tournament. Saviola was voted South America's Footballer of the Year in 1999, 2004 he was taken " FIFA 100 " list of the 125 greatest living footballers in and appointed to the Olympic Team of Argentina at the Olympic Summer Games in Athens. There he won with his team the gold medal.
At age 18 he made his debut on 16 August 2000, the Argentine national team in a match against Paraguay (final result 1:1).
He participated in the Confederations Cup 2005. Since he had seen the red card in the semi-final against Mexico, he had in the final, which lost his team against South American rivals Brazil with 1:4, pause. He also participated in the qualification for the FIFA World Cup 2006 with Argentina, who qualified for the World Cup in Germany, in part.
At the 2006 World Cup he scored the 2-0 to Argentina in the match against the Ivory Coast and prepared also 6-0 against Serbia and Montenegro 2 goals before. Against the Netherlands he was rested by coach José Pekerman.
Achievements / Title
As a national player
- Junior World Champion: 2001
- Second place in the Confederations Cup: 2005
- Gold medal at the Olympic football tournament: 2004
With its clubs
- Spanish Champion: 2008
- Argentine champion: 1999 ( Torneo Clausura ), 2000 ( Torneo Apertura )
- UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 2006
- Spanish Supercup: 2008
- Torneig Gamper: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
- Portuguese Cup: 2010
- Taça da Liga: 2010, 2011, 2012
Awards
- Scorer in the Torneo Apertura: 1999
- South America's Footballer of the Year: 1999
- Best player and top scorer in the Junior World Cup: 2001