Soccer Star - Javier Mascherano, Argentine footballer

Javier Alejandro Mascherano (born 8 June 1984) is an Argentine footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for FC Barcelona. He can also play as a central defender. Mascherano began his career at River Plate. He earned his first senior honours in 2003–04, winning the Primera División Argentina. He also won an Olympic gold medal with Argentina in the Athens Games and finished runner up in the Copa América 2004. He moved to Brazilian side Corinthians in 2005, winning the Brazilian Série A in his first season. Mascherano moved to Europe, signing for Premier League side West Ham United. However, unusual contract terms with Media Sports Investments blighted his brief time at the club and at the beginning of 2007 he joined Liverpool on loan.

He was runner up in the UEFA Champions League in his first season on Merseyside and again finished runner up in the Copa América with Argentina. He officially signed for Liverpool in February 2008 for £18.6 million, parting ways with Media Sports Investments. He won a second Olympic gold medal with Argentina in the Beijing 2008 Games, the first male footballer to achieve this since 1928. He was appointed captain of the national team by new head coach Diego Maradona in November 2008 who has repeatedly stated that his selection is "Mascherano and 10 more".

Mascherano's two most used nicknames (in Argentina) are Masche and El Jefecito (The little chief). Former Argentine footballers Jorge Valdano and Jorge Solari regard him as possibly the best central midfielder in the world.

He was considered a key part of the national side by past coach Diego Maradona who stated that his team was just Jonás, Mascherano, Messi and eight more.

Mascherano also holds an Italian passport, which makes him eligible as an EU player.

On 10 February, Liverpool added Mascherano to their Champions League squad and gave him the number 20 shirt. Eventually, on 20 February 2007, Mascherano's move to Liverpool became official after the Premier League accepted Liverpool's request to register the player at Anfield.

On 28 August 2010, he agreed terms on a four-year deal contract with Barcelona for  £22 million  On 30 August 2010, Mascherano passed his medical to complete his transfer to Barça, and told Barça TV "All is fair in fair and love". He made his league debut on 11 September 2010, starting in a home 2–0 defeat against recently promoted Hércules CF, marking the first defeat at the Camp Nou for 16 months. Mascherano had a mixed season at the Camp Nou, spending the first half of the season mainly coming off the bench but for the latter part playing out of position in a center back role. On 28 May 2011, Mascherano started alongside Gerard Piqué in the 2011 Champions League Final against Manchester United. Barcelona went on to win the game 3-1 with Mascherano dedicating the win to Liverpool fans, some of which he had upset during his move. In the run to the final, Mascherano denied Arsenal's Nicklas Bendtner a certain goal with a sliding tackle towards the end of the second round last 16 game, which the Catalan side beat the Gunners 3–1, 4–3 on aggregate.

Soccer Star - Hernán Crespo, Argentine footballer

Hernán Jorge Crespo (born 5 July 1975) is an Argentine footballer who plays for Parma in the Italian Serie A. Crespo has scored over 300 goals in a career spanning 18 years. His honors include an Olympic Games silver medal, a Copa Libertadores, an English Premier League title and three Scudettos. He was topscorer in the 2000-01 Serie A with 26 goals, while playing for Lazio. Crespo once held the world record in transfer fee, when he was bought by Lazio from Parma in July 2000.

Soccer Star - Juan Román Riquelme, Argentine footballer

Juan Román Riquelme (born 24 June 1978) is an Argentine footballer who plays for Boca Juniors as an attacking midfielder.

A playmaker, he combines passing, vision and skills with goalscoring ability from midfield. He spent most of his career with Boca Juniors, but also had a significant spell in Spain with Villarreal. He was named the Argentine Footballer of the Year three times.

A longtime Argentine international, Riquelme represented the nation at the 2006 World Cup and two Copa América tournaments.

Soccer Star - Juan Sebastián Verón, Argentinian professional football player

Juan Sebastián Verón (born 9 March 1975) is an Argentinian professional football player who is the current captain and midfielder for Estudiantes de La Plata in the Argentine Primera División.

Verón's career started in Estudiantes, continued in Argentina's Boca Juniors, and included stints in several Serie A clubs (where he won the Scudetto with Lazio and with Internazionale, and a UEFA Cup with Parma), and England's Manchester United and Chelsea. In 2006, Verón returned to Estudiantes, where he is team captain.

In 2004, he was included in the FIFA 100 centenary list of the 125 greatest living footballers, selected by Pelé as part of FIFA's centenary celebrations. Verón has both Argentine and Italian citizenship.

His nickname is La Brujita (Little Witch), a nod to his father Juan Ramón who was known as La Bruja (The Witch) and was also a championship winning player with Estudiantes.

Soccer Star - Javier Saviola, Argentine professional footballer

Javier Pedro Saviola Fernández (born 11 December 1981) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays for S.L. Benfica in Portugal, as a striker.

Known for his speed, he represented both FC Barcelona and Real Madrid during his career (amongst others), and was named, as the youngest player, to Pelé's FIFA 100 list of the 125 greatest living footballers. Due to the many years spent in Spain, he also holds Spanish nationality.

An Argentine international in the 2000s, Saviola represented the country at the 2006 World Cup and the 2004 Copa América.

Saviola starred in the 2001 edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, held in Argentina. He was top scorer and was voted player of the tournament, as the national team won the competition; with 11 goals in seven games, he became the record goal-scorer in World Youth Cups history. His vintage performance earned himself many offers from European clubs but, surprisingly, he lost his place in the Argentina national football team squad for the 2002 FIFA World Cup in favour of veteran Claudio Caniggia.

Two years later, Saviola played in the 2004 Olympic Games and won the gold medal. Under coach Marcelo Bielsa, he was given few playing opportunities for the senior team but, after Bielsa's resignation in 2004, new coach José Pekerman, who also coached the player at youth level, turned the tide in the player's favour.

Saviola was called up to represent Argentina at the 2006 World Cup. Luciano Figueroa and winger Luciano Galletti were also in contention for a place on the roster, but Saviola's excellent form for Sevilla secured his place in the squad. He made his presence felt at the tournament, as he scored a goal against Côte d'Ivoire in Argentina's opening game, and made two assists in the 6–0 victory against Serbia and Montenegro.

Saviola retired from international football on 5 December 2009, although not yet 28. He stated that he felt his career as an Argentina player had come to an end, and that he wanted to concentrate on club football.

Soccer Star - Gabriel Batistuta, prolific Argentine striker

Gabriel Omar Batistuta (born 1 February 1969), nicknamed Batigol, is a former professional footballer. The prolific Argentine striker played most of his club football at Fiorentina in Italy, and he is the tenth top scorer of all-time in the Italian Serie A league, with 184 goals in 318 matches. On the international level, he is Argentina's all-time leading goal scorer, with 56 goals in 78 national team matches, and he represented his country at three World Cups. In 2004, he was named in the FIFA 100 list of the "125 Greatest Living Footballers". Blessed with an all round game with immense finishing, heading and free kick taking abilities, he is known as one of the most complete strikers of his generation.

When his club Fiorentina was relegated to Serie B in 1993, Batistuta stayed with the club and helped it return to the top-flight league a year later. A popular sporting figure in Florence, the Fiorentina fans erected a life-size bronze statue of him in 1996, in recognition of his performances for Fiorentina. He never won the Italian league with Fiorentina, but when he moved to Roma in 2000, he finally won the Serie A championship to crown his career in Italy. He played his last professional season in Qatar with Al-Arabi before he retired in 2005.

Batistuta was born on 1 February 1969, to slaughterhouse worker Omar Batistuta and school secretary Gloria Zilli, in the town of Avellaneda, province of Santa Fe, Argentina, but grew up in the near city of Reconquista. He has three younger sisters, named Elisa, Alejandra, and Gabriela.

At the age of 16, he met Irina Fernández, his future wife, at her quinceañera, a rite of passage on her 15th birthday. She is reported to have ignored him but five years later, on 28 December 1990, they were married at Saint Roque Church. The couple moved to Florence, Italy, in 1991, and a year later their first son, Thiago, was born. Thanks to good performances in the Italian championship and with the Argentine national team, Batistuta gained fame and respect. He filmed several commercials and was invited onto numerous TV shows, but in spite of this, Batistuta always remained a low-profile family man.

In 1996, during Fiorentina's 2–1 victory at Milan, he celebrated scoring the match's decisive goal by saying Te amo, Irina ('I love you, Irina', to his wife) for the cameras. The mix of sex appeal and faithfulness cemented Batistuta's heart-throb reputation among Argentine and Italian women. In 1997, Batistuta's second son, Lucas, was born, and a third son, Joaquín, followed in 1999. He now has a fourth son Shamel. In 2000, Batistuta and his family moved to Rome, where he played for Roma. Two years after Shamel was born, Batistuta was loaned to Inter. In 2002, after more than 10 years in Italy, the family moved to Qatar where Batistuta had accepted a lucrative celebrity playing contract with a local team, Al-Arabi.

Batistuta ended his career at Al-Arabi, retiring in March 2005, after a series of injuries that prevented him from playing. Soon afterwards he moved to Perth, Australia. In April 2006, the city's established A-league franchise, Perth Glory was put up for sale however Batistuta was not interested in the purchase seeing no real potential in the club.

  

  

Soccer Star - Diego Maradona, retired Argentine football player

Diego Armando Maradona (born 30 October 1960) is a retired Argentine football player, and current manager of Al Wasl FC in Dubai. Many people, football critics, former and current players consider Maradona the greatest football player of all time. He won FIFA Player of the Century award which was to be decided by votes on their official website, their official magazine and a grand jury. Maradona won the Internet based poll by wide margins, garnering 53.6% of the votes against 18.53% for Pelé.

He is the only player in football history who set world-record contract fees twice. The first, when he was transferred to Barcelona for a then world record £5m and the second, when he was transferred to Napoli for another record fee £6.9m. Over the course of his professional club career Maradona played for Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla and Newell's Old Boys. In his international career, playing for Argentina, he earned 91 caps and scored 34 goals.

He played in four FIFA World Cup tournaments, including the 1986 tournament, where he captained Argentina and led them to their victory over West Germany in the final, winning the Golden Ball award as the tournament's best player. In that same tournament's quarterfinal round, he scored both goals in a 2–1 victory over England that entered football history, though for two different reasons. The first goal was via an unpenalized handball known as the "Hand of God", while the second goal followed a 60 m (66 yd) dribble through six England players, voted "The Goal of the Century".

Maradona is considered one of the sport's most controversial and newsworthy figures. He was suspended from football for 15 months in 1991 after failing a drug test, for cocaine, in Italy, and he was sent home from the 1994 World Cup in the USA after testing positive for ephedrine. After retiring from playing on his 37th birthday in 1997, he gained weight, suffered ill health and the effects of cocaine use. In 2005, a stomach stapling operation helped control his weight gain, and he overcame his cocaine addiction. His outspoken manners have sometimes put him at odds with journalists and sport executives. Although he had little managerial experience, he became head coach of the Argentina national team in November 2008, and held the job for eighteen months, until his contract expired after the 2010 World Cup.

 

Soccer Star - Ángel di María, Argentine footballer

Ángel Fabián di María Hernández (born 14 February 1988) is an Argentine footballer who currently plays as a winger for Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid and the Argentine national team. He is nicknamed El Angelito, Di Magia, El Flaco, El Pibito and Fideo, the Spanish word for noodle.

On 28 June 2010, Real Madrid posted on their website that they had come to terms with Benfica for the transfer of di María. He signed a five-year contract for €25 million, plus €11 million in incentives, as announced by the Portuguese Stock Exchange regulating entity. On 7 July 2010, di María arrived to Madrid directly from Buenos Aires,[11] and passed the medical test on 8 July.

He made his debut on 4 August 2010 in a friendly match against Club América, which Real Madrid won 3–2–. On 22 August, di María scored his first goal in another friendly against Hércules CF, which Real Madrid won 3–1. In the last match of preseason, on 24 August, after an individual play described as a "magic moment," he opened the score of the 2–0 win against CA Peñarol, for the Santiago Bernabéu Trophy.

His league debut came on 29 August, in a 0–0 draw against RCD Mallorca. On 18 September, di María scored his first league goal for Real Madrid in their 2–1 win over Real Sociedad. Ten days later, he scored his first goal in the Champions League against AJ Auxerre, in a 1–0 victory. He scored a controversial first goal against Sevilla FC on 19 December. Days later, di María assisted Karim Benzema's two goals and Cristiano Ronaldo's goal in an astonishing 8–0 win over Levante UD on 22 December. In the second leg of the Champions League last 16 round against Olympique Lyonnais, he scored the third and final goal in a 3–0 win to send Real Madrid through to the last eight for the first time in seven years.