Roque Santa Cruz

In the jersey of Blackburn Rovers - 2009

Roque Luis Santa Cruz Cantero ( born August 16, 1981 in Asunción ) is a Paraguayan football player who also has Spanish nationality. The striker stands since 2012 with FC Málaga under contract.

Career

Clubs

Santa Cruz made ​​his debut at the age of 16 years in the Primera División de Paraguay, the Paraguayan first division. During the Junior World Championship 1999 FC Bayern Munich became aware of him, which obliged the striker in May 1999 for the equivalent of around five million euros Olimpia Asunción.

After a successful first season 1999/2000, in which he scored five goals in eleven games and won two titles with Bayern to Santa Cruz injured often and came permanently in any of the next seasons are used. The injuries included a lateral ligament tear ( drawn on 3 November 2001 ), an ankle injury (14th July 2002), a metacarpal fracture (30 October 2002), an inner band plan (10 January 2003), another internal ligament tear ( April 2, 2003 ), a meniscus damage (5 September 2004) and a knee injury (24 October 2004).

After a six-month convalescence, where he had to handle the blow by his brother's death on January 30, 2005 Santa Cruz was able to build on his earlier sporting success. After good performances in the fall of 2005, he was recalled to the senior team. On October 29, 2005, however, he withdrew in the Bundesliga match against 1 FC Cologne a torn ACL and a partial tear of the medial collateral ligament in his right knee. Despite the severity of the injury, his contract at Bayern Munich on 15 November 2005 was extended for another three years. His highly acclaimed return to the team he gave ( 32 Matchday) on 3 May 2006 in the Bundesliga match against VfB Stuttgart from the start behind the strikers Roy Makaay and Claudio Pizarro.

On 28 July 2007, he moved for the transfer fee of five million euros to England for the first division club Blackburn Rovers, for whom he met in the first competitive match on August 11 (1st Round ) against Middlesbrough FC. 15 December 2007 (17th Round ) succeeded Santa Cruz a hat-trick against Wigan Athletic, with Blackburn lost the game 3:5. It was the first time in over ten years in England's top flight that a team lost, despite their own hat-tricks. At the end of his first season in England was Santa Cruz with 19 goals in 37 games fourth top scorer in the league. In the season 2008/ 09 he was in 20 missions only four times successfully.

For the season 2009/10 joined Santa Cruz for the transfer fee of around 21 million euros to Manchester City. For the club he gave on 28 September 2009 ( 7th Round ) in the 3-1 home win over West Ham United after Substitutes in the 80th minute for Shaun Wright-Phillips made ​​his debut. In January 2011, Santa Cruz joined on loan back to Blackburn Rovers after he had arrived at Manchester City in one and a half years only 20 bets.

On August 29, Betis Sevilla announced the commitment of Santa Cruz for a season from Manchester City on loan. He made his debut on 11 September 2011 ( 2nd Round ) in a 1-0 victory in the home match against RCD Mallorca, after he was brought on in the 75th minute for Jorge Molina. On 22 September 2011 ( 5th Round ) he scored in a 4-3 victory at home to Real Zaragoza his first two goals in the Primera División.

On August 31, 2012 Santa Cruz moved again on loan for a season to league rivals FC Málaga, who signed him after the season for three more years.

National

Roque Santa Cruz participated in the South American Championships in 1999, 2007 and 2011. In the two first-named tournaments he reached with the national team of Paraguay, respectively, the quarter-finals and scored in four tournament inserts three gates. In 2011 he scored in four tournament inserts a goal and pushed on with the team to the finals, which Paraguay lost 0-3 against Uruguay.

He also participated in the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, in 2006 in Germany and 2010 in South Africa in part.

Achievements

Second in the Copa America 2011

  • 3 × Paraguayan champion: 1997, 1998, 1999

Awards

  • Paraguayan Footballer of the Year 1999
  • Player of the Month December 2007 in Premier League

Others

2004 Santa Cruz worked with in a music video of Sportfreunde Stiller. In their song dedicated to him, "I, Roque ," he brings verbally with "I, Roque! " One that can be understood as a phonetic play on words as " I rock! ".

Santa Cruz is married and has three children. He has a younger brother, Julio Santa Cruz, and a cousin, Sixto Santa Cruz, both of which are also professional footballers. Another brother, Oscar Santa Cruz, was also a football player, but died in 2005 in a car accident.

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