Marcelo Gallardo

Marcelo Gallardo

Personal information
Full name	Marcelo Daniel Gallardo
Date of birth	(1976-01-18) January 18, 1976 (age 36)
Place of birth	Merlo, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Playing position	Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current club	Nacional (Manager)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1992–1999	River Plate	109	(18)
1999–2003	Monaco	103	(18)
2003–2006	River Plate	77	(25)
2007	Paris Saint-Germain	22	(2)
2008	D.C. United	15	(4)
2008–2010	River Plate	28	(7)
2010–2011	Nacional	12	(3)
National team
1994–2003	Argentina	44	(13)
Teams managed
2011–	Nacional
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 30 June 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals).

Marcelo Daniel Gallardo (born 18 January 1976 in Merlo, Buenos Aires) is a former Argentine footballer who is the manager for Nacional de Uruguay.^[1] He was an attacking midfielder in the role of playmaker.

Club career[link]

Early years[link]

Nicknamed El Muñeco (the doll) due to his small frame (169 cm, 70 kg), Gallardo started his football career back in 1992-93 season with River Plate and won 4 Argentinian Torneo de Apertura (93, 94, 96 and 97), 1 Argentinian Torneo de Clausura (1997) and 1 Copa Libertadores (1996).

His initial spell with los millonarios lasted until season 1992-99, by then he had played 109 league games for them and scored 17 goals.

Europe[link]

In 1999, he was snapped up by Monaco. In his first season in Europe, Gallardo proved his worth and played 28 games, scoring 8 goals and formed lethal partnership with Ludovic Giuly in Midfield.

In the following season, Gallardo won his first Première Division and Trophée Des Champions with Monaco.

As a team containing many big-name players such as Marco Simone, Fabien Barthez, Willy Sagnol, Martin Djetou, Pablo Contreras, Ludovic Giuly, Philippe Christanval, Rafael Márquez, Sabri Lamouchi, David Trezeguet, and John Arne Riise, Monaco enjoyed their success domestically and it was evident Gallardo was one of the star players, having won the French League Footballer of the Year that year.

However in his third season, things did not go well off the pitch for Gallardo as he was not in good terms with his coach Didier Deschamps[1] after being named on the bench midway through 2000-01 season. Following the examples of Panucci and Simone, Gallardo decided to leave Monaco at the end of the season.

Back to Argentina[link]

After making 102 appearances and scoring 18 goals for Monaco, Gallardo returned to his old club River Plate as club captain, he helped them win another Clausura in 2004.

Back to France[link]

Marcello Gallardo was bought by the Parisian club PSG for an undisclosed fee in January 2007. Paris Saint-Germain signed a two year contract with Marcelo and made his debut in a 3-0 cup win against Nîmes on January 7.

On January 13, 2007 he played his first Ligue 1 match for PSG against Valenciennes^[2]

After spending only one season with the club, Gallardo terminated his contract, looking to move to Major League Soccer in the United States.^[3]

Major League Soccer with D.C. United[link]

On January 29, 2008 Gallardo was presented as the newest member of D.C. United. With a 2008 salary of $1.87 million, Gallardo is the highest-paid player in United history and its first Designated Player. Gallardo has the third-largest salary in MLS for 2008, behind English midfielder David Beckham of the Los Angeles Galaxy ($6.5 million guaranteed) and Mexican forward Cuauhtémoc Blanco of the Chicago Fire ($2.67 million).^[4] He scored his first league goal for United on April 5, 2008 against Toronto FC. On July 17 and 19 Gallardo underwent surgery for a sports hernia. In February 2009 he left D.C. United and returned for the third time to his old club River Plate.

Nacional and new career as a manager[link]

In 2010 he signed for his current club, Nacional de Montevideo. On 12 June 2011, Gallardo played his last match winning the Uruguay Tournament making one of the few players that won a championship or a league in every team that he play. He retired as a player, and was hired a few days later as new manager of Nacional, his first job as a football manager. He will be assisted by Matías Biscay, Pablo Rodríguez and professor Marcelo Tulbovitz

National team[link]

Gallardo made his international debut for Argentina in 1994 against Chile and made 44 appearances and scored 14 goals.

He was also in the Argentina squad for the 1998 World Cup and 2002 World Cup.

Playing style[link]

He tends to play as a central playmaker. He is well known for his free kicks and corners. He is also skillful in confrontation and possesses an intelligent footballing brain although he is best known for his defense splitting passes.

National team statistics[link]

Honours[link]

Medal record
Competitor for  Argentina
Men's Football
Olympic Games
Silver	1996 Atlanta	Team Competition
Pan American Games
Gold	1995 Mar del Plata	Team Competition

With Club Atlético River Plate

• Primera División Argentina (1993A, 1994A, 1996A, 1997C, 1997A, 2004C)
• Copa Libertadores (1996)
• Supercopa Sudamericana (1997)

With AS Monaco FC

• Ligue 1 (2000)
• Trophée des champions (2000)
• Coupe de la Ligue (2003)

With Paris Saint-Germain

• Coupe de la Ligue (2008)

With D.C. United

• U.S. Open Cup (2009)

With Club Nacional de Football

• Uruguayan Primera División (2011)

Individual Honors[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Marcelo Gallardo – FIFA competition record
• Marcelo Gallardo at National-Football-Teams.com
• Statistics at Irish Times
• Argentine Primera statistics

Argentina Squad v t e Argentina squad – 1995 King Fahd Cup Runners-up 1 Bossio 2 Ayala (c) 3 Chamot 4 Zanetti 5 Pérez 6 Fabbri 7 Ortega 8 Escudero 9 Batistuta 10 Espina 11 Rambert 12 Burgos 13 Rotchen 14 Arruabarrena 15 Vivas 16 Jiménez 17 Gallardo 18 López 19 Crespo 20 Bassedas Coach: Passarella v t e Argentina squad – 1995 Copa América 1 Cristante 2 Ayala 3 Chamot 4 Zanetti 5 Pérez 6 Cáceres 7 Balbo 8 Simeone (c) 9 Batistuta 10 Gallardo 11 Berti 12 Bossio 13 Altamirano 14 Schürrer 15 Fabbri 16 Astrada 17 Escudero 18 Espina 19 Ortega 20 Acosta 21 Borrelli 22 Burgos Coach: Passarella v t e Argentina squad – 1996 Summer Olympics Silver Medalists 1 Cavallero 2 Ayala 3 Chamot 4 Zanetti 5 Almeyda 6 Sensini 7 C. López 8 Simeone (c) 9 Crespo 10 Ortega 11 Delgado 12 Morales 13 Bossio 14 Paz 15 Bassedas 16 Pineda 17 G. López 18 Gallardo Coach: Passarella v t e Argentina squad – 1997 Copa América 1 Bassedas 2 Berizzo 3 Berti 4 Calderón 5 Cardoso 6 Cardozo 7 Cruz 8 Delgado 9 Gallardo (c) 10 González 11 Husaín 12 López 13 Martínez 14 Monserrat 15 Ojeda 16 Pellegrino 17 Pineda 18 Posse 19 Roa 20 Rotchen 21 Vivas 22 Zapata Coach: Passarella v t e Argentina squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup 1 Roa 2 Ayala 3 Chamot 4 Pineda 5 Almeyda 6 Sensini 7 C. López 8 Simeone (c) 9 Batistuta 10 Ortega 11 Verón 12 Burgos 13 Paz 14 Vivas 15 Astrada 16 Berti 17 Cavallero 18 Balbo 19 Crespo 20 Gallardo 21 Delgado 22 Zanetti Coach: Passarella v t e Argentina squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Burgos 2 Ayala 3 Sorín 4 Pochettino 5 Almeyda 6 Samuel 7 C. López 8 Zanetti 9 Batistuta 10 Ortega 11 Verón (c) 12 Cavallero 13 Placente 14 Simeone 15 Husaín 16 Aimar 17 G. López 18 K. González 19 Crespo 20 Gallardo 21 Caniggia 22 Chamot 23 Bonano Coach: Bielsa