Hernán Crespo

Hernán Crespo 2011

Hernán Jorge Crespo ( born July 5, 1975 in Florida, Argentina ) is a retired Italian - Argentine football player. From the Argentine fans Crespo is mentioned in reference to the former Argentine striker Jorge Valdano " Valdanito ".

In 2004 he was picked up by Pele in the list of 125 world's best footballers. Crespo is a fast, technically fogged, assertive goal striker.

Since his move to Europe, he had scored a total of five different European teams at least one goal in the UEFA Champions League and is the only footballer to have this ever made ​​it into the Champions League history. Overall, he scored 28 goals in the Champions League in 70 games.

Career

In the club

1993-1996: Beginnings in Argentina

His footballing career started when Argentine Hernan Crespo big club River Plate, for the 25 missions he scored 13 goals in his first season in 1993/94 and scorer of the Torneo Apertura was. With River he won twice (1993 and 1994) the Apertura Championship and once ( 1996) the most important South American club competition - the Copa Libertadores. In the first leg of the finals in Buenos Aires, he scored two goals. Next to him were, inter alia, the later Stars Ariel Ortega and Juan Pablo Sorin to the team.

1996-2003: move to Italy

In the summer of 1996 he moved to Italy and signed a contract with AC Parma. In his first season the Italian championship was just missed. Two years later, followed by probably the best time for Crespo in dress of yellow and blues. Only the Italian Cup was won and then defeated in the final of the UEFA Cup Olympique Marseille 3-0, he scored the first goal in the match. With Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro, Juan Sebastian Veron and Crespo Lilian Thuram formed the backbone for the success of the ACP. Also in the same year, they sought the Italian Supercup. The breakthrough, however, he succeeded in his fourth year at AC Parma, when he established himself with 21 league goals in 34 league games as one of the most sought after striker in the Serie A.

In 2000, Crespo for a then-record transfer fee of 55 million euros converted from Parma to Lazio. This is until today (2011 ) to the transfers of Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Zinedine Zidane, Kaka, Luis Figo, Fernando Torres and Hulk of the eight most expensive transfer in football history. His first season in Rome, he finished as top scorer of the Serie A with 26 goals. 2002/ 03 the club was forced by massive debt, important players for sale, including Crespo.

In September 2002, he signed a contract with the Italian tradition club Inter Milan, who bought it as a replacement for Ronaldo for the princely sum of € 36 million. His involvement with Inter Milan was characterized by a strong start with eight goals in nine CL games and a serious thigh injury that put him in early 2003 for three months out of action. The season he finished with seven league goals in 18 league games.

2003-2006: between Milan and London

On August 26, 2003 Crespo signed a contract with the major English club Chelsea for a transfer fee of € 26 million. However, he could never get used to life in England, and after a relatively weak season with 31 inserts and 12 hits in 2004, he was placed first by new coach José Mourinho on the bench and later returned to Italy, to the AC Milan awarded. There he found under coach Carlo Ancelotti back to his top form back and scored in the rest of the season 10 results. In the final of the Champions League 2004 /05 against FC Liverpool, he scored two goals, but the AC Milan lost the final on penalties.

Then his former club Chelsea became aware of him again and we brought him back to Stamford Bridge. In his first outing against Arsenal Chelsea won 2-1 with his first goal after his return he scored in the league game against Wigan Athletic. Also in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League 2005 /06 he made a good impression, scoring against Betis and Anderlecht each hit.

Prior to the 2006/07 season Crespo moved for personal reasons - he is married to an Italian - back to Italy to Inter Milan. It agreed with the club on a two year contract. However, the London reserved their option to be able to get back to Stamford Bridge Crespo after a season.

2006-2009: move to Inter and Genoa

In his first year at Inter to Crespo won by good performances a regular place and formed with his strike partner Zlatan Ibrahimović one of the strongest duos in Serie A ( together 29 goals). At the end of the season he was able to celebrate winning the league title with the club. In addition, he was a total of four hits for the best scorers in the Coppa Italia, he scored three goals in the final against AS Roma, which, however, was lost. End of May 2007 London decided against a return of the Argentine and gave him completely off of interactivity.

In the 2007 /08 season under Roberto Mancini Crespo had no regular place safe because these preferred the other two striker Julio Ricardo Cruz and Zlatan Ibrahimović, even the young Mario Balotelli has been preferred to him. Hernán often only came on as a substitute off the bench and scored a season four goals in 19 games. At the end of the season Crespo Inter defended with the Italian league title. In the summer of 2008, the expiring contract of Crespo at Chelsea was not renewed; therefore he was not a player of Chelsea more.

The 2008/09 season did not go well for Crespo. After some disagreements with José Mourinho, he completed only 17 Einstätze for Inter, of which 14 each for the Serie A and three in the Coppa Italia. He was first nominated by coach not for the Champions League. He was then linked with a move to Real Madrid. The people of Madrid needed a representative for the injured Ruud van Nistelrooy. They offered Crespo a contract of six months, but wanted this one langbefristeten contract until 2010. For this reason, the negotiations broke down.

In the 2009 summer break Crespo moved free transfer to league rival Genoa. The Argentine received a repayable by 30 June 2011 contract with the Genoese. His debut for Genoa he was 23 August 2009 against AS Roma in the grid. In his second competitive match for Genoa at Napoli he scored one goal in the 4-1 victory.

2010: return to Parma

After half a year in Genoa Crespo moved to the winter break of the 2009/10 season for FC Parma. The change came about through a deal with the clubs Genoa, Parma and Atalanta Bergamo. Hernán Crespo moved to Parma to Nicola Amoruso, who went to Bergamo to replace. In return, joined Robert Acquafresca from Bergamo to Genoa to replace Crespo. In Parma, he received a contract until the end of the season with an option for another year. After an extension for a further year, broke the club and Crespo the contract at the end of the transfer period in the winter of 2012, however, on. Crespo said so his career in Europe ended, but wanted to end his active time in America or Asia.

In the National Team

1995-1998: Silver in Atlanta

His first race for the Argentine national team had Crespo in February 1995 in a friendly match against Bulgaria (2-1). However, his next assignment was a long time and was only 16 months later. His first goal he scored only two years after its debut. However, he had with the Argentina Olympic team at the 1996 Olympics more success and won the silver medal, while he was with six goals in six games next to Bebeto scorer of the tournament.

Crespo had most of the time in a difficult position in the national team, since both Daniel Passarella and Marcelo Bielsa Gabriel Batistuta who preferred him over and over again. At the 1998 World Cup in France, he traveled with only as a reserve player, and came only once, in the second round against England, as a substitute for use.

1998-2006: Master player and scorer

In the qualifying matches for the 2002 World Cup Crespo was the most prolific player in the South American Zone with nine goals. At the tournament itself Hernán Crespo faced the same problems as already in 1998. Due to the similar style of play came for Bielsa a duo with Batistuta and Crespo out of the question, as the two strikers were simply too similar and would hardly fit together. Therefore, one of the two top stars had to have to take as a consequence on the substitutes' bench. Although the season for runny Batistuta was very unhappy, and his World Cup participation after lengthy knee problems was in danger, Crespo was again only in the second row. The coach at the tournament rather familiar to the semi- fit Batistuta. Finally, the Albiceleste could not meet the high expectations and failed in the first round. However, Hernán came in all three games for use and scored a goal against Sweden.

Even in the qualifying matches for the 2006 World Cup he was very accurate. His two goals in the 3-1 victory against Brazil in June 2005 meant not only the early qualifiers Argentina, but has since Crespo with 19 goals in 33 matches including the player who has scored the most goals for Argentina in World Cup qualifying matches.

In the 2006 World Cup in Germany he failed with his team in the quarterfinals against hosts Germany with 3:5 on penalties. Crespo came 4 times to insert and scored three goals, but he won the Silver Shoe. Due to its excellent performance Hernán was elected to the All- Star Team of the World Cup.

2007 Copa America in Venezuela

On 21 June 2007, was nominated in 2007 Venezuela Hernán Crespo of Argentina's national team coach Alfio Basile for the Copa America. This was his first participation in this tournament in his career to date, twelve -year-old national team.

On 28 June 2007, he scored two goals in the first group match in a 4-1 win against the United States. In the second group match, he scored a goal from the penalty spot. This was his 35th goal in the national team, since he is in front of Diego Maradona (34 goals) and behind Gabriel Batistuta (55 goals) the top scorer in his country. However, his goal was a Pyrrhic victory: The center forward retired at the Turn of the penalty kick namely a pulled muscle in the thigh. Crespo had to be immediately replaced by Diego Milito was quoted as saying "It probably needs a medical miracle, so I can play again in this tournament. " Quotes. After all, could shoot to victory playmaker Juan Román Riquelme Argentina still. For the final, which was lost 0-3 against Brazil, Crespo was ready again, but put him Alfio Basile in the running game is no longer a.

Achievements / Title

As a national player

• Confed Cup runner-up: 1995
• Gold medal at the Pan Play: 1995
• Silver medal at the Olympic football tournament: 1996
• Copa America runner-up: 2007

With its clubs

• Argentine champion ( Torneo Apertura ): 1993, 1994
• Copa Libertadores: 1996
• Italian Super Cup winner: 1999, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2008
• Italian Cup Winners' Cup: 1999
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1999
• FA Community Shield: 2005
• English Champion: 2006
• Italian Champion: 2007, 2008, 2009

Individual Achievements / Honors

• Admission to FIFA 100
• Inclusion in the All Star list of WC 2006
• Scorer in the Argentine Primera División ( Apertura Torneo ) 1993/94 ( 11 goals in 19 games )
• Scorer of the 1996 Summer Olympics
• Scorer in the Italian Serie A 2001 /02 ( 26 goals in 32 games )
• Scorer in the Coppa Italia 1998/99 (6 goals), 2006/ 07 ( 4 goals)
• Second best scorer at the 2006 World Cup ( " Silver Shoe " )
• Top scorer at the World Cup qualifying matches of the South zone for Argentina ( 19 goals in 33 games )

Personal

Crespo is married to the former Italian model Alessia Rossi, and this has two daughters.