David Trezeguet

David Trezeguet

David Sergio Trézéguet (born 15 October 1977) is a World Cup winning French-Argentinian footballer who plays for and captains Club Atlético River Plate in the Argentine Primera Division.

Trezeguet began his career with Club Atlético Platense at the age of 8, progressing through their youth system to their first-team where he made his debut in the Primera División in 1994. He finished his career with the club having made 5 league appearances before transferring to French Ligue 1 side AS Monaco where he would form a striking partnership with international team-mate Thierry Henry. Trezeguet spent some time with Monaco B, the club's reserve-team, in order to gain match practice having made just 9 league appearances in total for the club's first-team during his first two seasons. Monaco were crowned champions of the 1996–97 season and qualified for the 1997–98 UEFA Champions League where Trezeguet scored 4 goals in 9 appearances. Trezeguet scored 18 goals in 27 Ligue 1 appearances in the 1997–98 season, finishing as the league's second leading goal scorer. Trezeguet left the club in 2000, having scored 52 goals in 93 Ligue 1 appearances and having claimed two Ligue 1 championships and the 1997 Trophée des champions.

In 2000, Trezeguet signed for Serie A club Juventus for a transfer fee of £20million, where he scored 14 goals in 25 league appearances during his first season. He helped Juventus claim the 2001–02 Serie A title, scoring 24 league goals as Juventus qualified for the 2002–03 UEFA Champions League. He was awarded the capocannonieri, as the 2001–02 Serie A top goal scorer along with Dario Hübner. Trezeguet scored 8 goals in 10 Champions League appearances as Juventus eventually lost 2–3 on penalties against AC Milan in the final. Juventus went on to win the 2002–03 Serie A season, the 2002 and 2003 Supercoppa Italiana. When Juventus were relegated to Serie B for the 2006–07 season, Trezeguet scored 15 goals in 31 league appearances helping the club gain promotion back to Serie A. Trezeguet had scored 135 goals in 245 league appearances for Juventus before transferring to La Liga club Hércules CF for the 2010–11 La Liga season, where he scored 12 goals in 31 appearances being partnered with Nelson Haedo Valdez upfront. On 30 August 2011, Trezeguet completed a move to UAE Pro-League side Baniyas SC on a one-year deal. After making just three league appearances, his contract was terminated by mutual consent 21 November 2011 due to an injury which had kept him sidelined for most of the season. Soon after, in December 2011, Trezeguet signed a three-year contract with Primera B Nacional side River Plate. He scored 13 goals in 19 league appearances, helping the club to gain promotion back into the Primera División. He also participated in the 2011–12 Copa Argentina where River Plate were knocked out at the semi-final stage.

Trezeguet scored 34 goals in 71 appearances for the France national football team between 1998 and 2008, he also played for France at U-18, U-20 and U-21 levels. Trezeguet represented France at the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, the 1998 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2000, the 2002 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2004 and the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Despite France winning the 1998 World Cup and finishing runners-up at the 2006 tournament, Trezeguet is perhaps most famous for scoring the golden goal in the Euro 2000 final against Italy which gave France a 2–1 win in extra time.