Gonzalo Higuaín
Gonzalo Higuaín
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Gonzalo Gerardo Higuaín | ||
| Date of birth | 10 December 1987 | ||
| Place of birth | Brest, France | ||
| Height | 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)[1] | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Real Madrid | ||
| Number | 20 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| River Plate | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2004–2006 | River Plate | 35 | (15) |
| 2007– | Real Madrid | 139 | (80) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2008 | Argentina U23 | 1 | (2) |
| 2009– | Argentina | 22 | (12) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19 November 2011. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 15 November 2011 |
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Early life
Higuaín was born in Brest, France, the son of the Argentine former footballer Jorge Higuaín, who was playing for Stade Brestois 29 as an expatriate. Therefore, he holds dual French-Argentine nationality. Having left the country at the age of 10 months, he did not return to France until the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Even though he does not speak French, he holds a French passport because his father was naturalized in France. He successfully applied for Argentine nationality in January 2007.Higuaín has two older brothers, Nicolas and Federico and one younger brother, Lautaro.[2] His mother, Nancy Zacarías, is an artist of Palestinian Christian origin.
Club career
River Plate
Higuaín started playing in the youth teams and made his debut with River Plate in a 2–1 defeat against Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata on 29 May 2005.[3] On 12 February 2006, he scored his first league goal in a 3–1 victory over Banfield.[4] Higuaín ended the 2005–06 season with five goals in 12 appearances.[5]Following his brace in the Superclásico derby against Boca Juniors on 8 October 2006, River Plate manager Daniel Passarella declared that Higuain had an "enormous future" and was "destined for superstardom."[6] In the following season, he scored eight goals in 17 league matches.[5]
Real Madrid
2006–07 season
In December 2006, Spanish club Real Madrid signed Higuaín for €13 million, after River Plate had earlier turned down a €10 million offer for the 19-year-old striker.[7] His debut came on 11 January 2007 against Real Betis in the second round of the Copa del Rey in Seville. His presentation at the League came 3 days later, on 14 January 2007, against Real Zaragoza at home. Higuain was involved in the creation of numerous scoring chances and in the assistance for the only goal, which earned Madrid the victory. His first goal with Real came on 24 February when the team faced Atlético Madrid in the Madrid derby, scoring the tying goal (1–1) at the Estadio Vicente Calderón. Later on the season, Higuaín showed an impressive performance by scoring a last minute goal on a league match against Espanyol to earn his team a 4–3 victory when the tie was rampant on the scoreboard.[8] However, during his first season in the Bernabeú, Higuaín arose some doubts over his performance due to his lack of goals.2007–08 season
During the 2007–08 season, Higuaín faced a rather intermittent performance. Yet, during the last stages of the league he managed to consolidate an impressive display. He first scored a last minute goal to earn his team a victory in a 2–1 comeback against Osasuna, which allowed Real Madrid to be mathematically crowned League Champions for the second consecutive year.[9] Four days later, Pipita arose to the spotlight once more by scoring the 3rd goal of a 4–1 trashing over Barcelona in El Clásico. This performance was particularly praised due to Higuaín scoring his goal barely 57 seconds after coming in from the bench.[10]2008–09 season
In the 2008–09 season Higuaín was offered the chance to be a starter due to the serious injury suffered by the Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy.[11] On 21 April 2009, he accounted another great performance when he defined the match against Getafe with a goal in the last minute, giving Real Madrid a 3–2 victory which enabled the team to follow the trail of Josep Guardiola´s Barcelona.[12] In August 2008, Higuaín scored the winner in Madrid's victory over Valencia in the Spanish Supercup.[13] Shortly afterwards, he scored all four goals in a 4–3 win against Málaga. Because of this, he started to gain international recognition, at the same time he got to be one of the leading goalscorers of the Spanish League, alongside his Barcelona counterpart, Samuel Eto'o.[14] That season, the striker was devoted as one of the great promises of world football in the wake of spectacular games, and particularly dazzling last-minute goals. Higuaín ended the season with 22 league goals,[15] 24 in all competitions, shining alongside longtime football stars like Diego Forlán, David Villa and Thierry Henry.2009–10 season
The 2009–10 season saw Higuaín become Real's top goalscorer with 27 league goals, 29 in total, being at the same time the Spanish League's 2nd top goalscorer, behind only Lionel Messi but surpassing Swedish international Zlatan Ibrahimovic and even his fellow teammate Cristiano Ronaldo. This season included him scoring his first two goals in the Champions league and his 2nd hat-trick for the club. He also played at the 2010 FIFA world cup held in South Africa for Argentina. He scored the only hat-trick of the tournement against South Korea in a 4–1 victory, in Argentina's second group match[16]2010–11 season
On the first weeks of December 2010, Higuaín was diagnosed with a herniated lumbar disc, and was suggested by Real's medical staff to have it operated.[19] On 5 January 2011, Real Madrid announced he would finally undergo surgery at the Department of Neurological Surgery of Chicago's Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine under the command of Dr. Richard G. Fessler, M.D.[20] The surgery took place on 11 January, and Higuaín was discharged from the hospital the next day following a successful operation.[21] He was expected to spend at least four months away from the field in the recovery process. Two months spent to recover from the surgery and another two to train with the team, however he was able to make an early comeback. On 23 April 2011, Higuaín scored a hat-trick against Valencia in a 3–6 away win in Estadio Mestalla, giving him 8 goals in 8 matches against Valencia. Higuaín also assisted two other goals for Karim Benzema and Kaká in that same match.
2011–12 season
Gonzalo Higuaín opened his tally for the new league season with a goal against Getafe on September 10.[22] On September 24, 2011 he scored his second goal of the season in a game against Rayo Vallecano which ended in a 6–2 win. On October 2, 2011 he scored his first hat-trick of the season against Espanyol in a 4–0 away win. On October 8, 2011 he scored a hat-trick for Argentina in a 4–1 win against Chile, to take his tally of goals for the Argentina shirt to 12 goals from 20 games. On October 15, 2011 he scored yet another hat-trick in a 4–1 win against Real Betis. That meant "El Pipita" has scored 9 official goals in less than two weeks time.International career
Higuaín was selected for Argentina by coach Diego Maradona for the last 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification games against Peru and Uruguay. He scored his first goal on his full debut, a 49th minute strike during a 2–1 win over Peru on 10 October 2009. He netted his second goal for Argentina in the 1–0 win over Germany at the Allianz Arena in Munich on 3 March 2010, right on the stroke of half-time, pouncing on a mistake made by German goalkeeper Rene Adler, in which Higuaín tapped into an open net from about 25 yards out.[27] Following Argentina's qualification, Higuaín was included in the squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He scored a hat-trick in Argentina's 4–1 win over South Korea in their second group match,[28] becoming the third Argentinian to score a hat-trick in the World Cup finals, after Guillermo Stábile in 1930 and Gabriel Batistuta in 1994 and 1998,[29] and the first player to score a hat-trick in the tournament since 2002. His goal in the 3–1 defeat of Mexico in the Second Round took him to a total of four, and he remained one of the top scorers for Argentina in the competition.
Shortly after a disappointing World Cup campaign, on 7 September 2010, Higuaín scored in a friendly match against newly crowned world champions Spain making it 2–0, a game that ended 4–1.
Higuaín is one of only three foreign-born players to have played for Argentina in a FIFA World Cup, along with Pedro Arico Suárez[30] and Constantino Urbieta Sosa.[31]
Higuain scored the equalizer against Uruguay in the Copa America quarter-finals, and he scored a goal hitting the upright twice before going into the net in the penalty shootout where they lost 4-5.
Team in the Asian tour with Argentina, led by new coach Alejandro Sabella On September 2, Gonzalo Higuain played in the match against Venezuela in the city of Calcutta in India, Argentina won 1-0 in Argentina scoring Nicolás Otamendi. Higuain scored the first goal September 6, for Argentina when they beat Argentina 3-1 to Nigeria In the city of Dhaka, Bangladesh, with the help of Lionel Messi and had a role in the third goal, but did not record his name. On 8 October 2011, Gonzalo scored a hattrick and assisted one goal for Messi in a 4-1 win against Chile, To take his tally of goals for the Argentine national team shirt 12 goals from 22 games.
