Roberto Ayala
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| Roberto "El Ratón" Ayala | ||
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Roberto Fabián Ayala | |
| Date of birth | April 14, 1973 | |
| Place of birth | Paraná, Argentina | |
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | |
| Playing position | Center back | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Real Zaragoza | |
| Number | 6 | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| Ferrocarril Oeste | ||
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1991-1994 1994-1995 1995-1998 1998-2000 2000-2007 2007 2007- |
Ferrocarril Oeste River Plate Napoli A.C. Milan Valencia Villarreal Real Zaragoza |
72 (1) 40 (0) 87 (1) 24 (0) 183 (9) 0 (0) 28 (1) |
| National team | ||
| 1994-2007 | Argentina | 115 (7) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
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Roberto Fabián "El Ratón" Ayala (born 14 April 1973 in Paraná, Argentina) is an Argentinian football player, who currently plays for the Spanish team Real Zaragoza. Regarded as one of the best central defenders in the world, he has been captain of the Argentine national team for more matches than anyone else.[1] He has captained in 63 matches and has played in three World Cups. Ayala made 115 international appearances, with only Javier Zanetti having more caps for Argentina.
Roberto inherited the nickname of Ratón (Mouse) from Argentine 1974 World Cup player Rubén Ayala, though they are not related.
Contents |
[edit] Club
It was Italian club Parma FC that brought the Argentine defender to Europe, however with the club already using up their quota of 3 non-EU players, he was loaned out to Napoli, who bought up half of his contract. However with the success of Lilian Thuram and Fabio Cannavaro, Ayala was allowed leave for AC Milan. Playing for Valencia, he reached the finals of the 2000 and 2001 UEFA Champions League, but his team lost to Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, respectively. The next year, Valencia won the 2001-02 Spanish La Liga. In the 2003-04 season, Valencia once again won the Spanish La Liga and added the UEFA Cup to their trophy cabinet.
In the 2004-05 season a number of injuries kept Ayala from playing in much of the Liga campaign and he also missed out on the UEFA Super Cup 2004 victory over Porto. In his absence Valencia's results suffered.
In August 2006, he said that he wanted to leave Valencia after he was not offered a new contract by sporting director Amedeo Carboni. On February 7, 2007 Ayala announced that he would be joining their regional rivals Villarreal CF at the end of the 2006/07 season. However, before having played a single match for Villarreal, he paid his own buy-out clause and then joined Real Zaragoza on a three year deal on the 14th of July 2007.
On May 3rd 2008, Ayala scored his first ever goal for Real Zaragoza versus Deportivo La Coruna in the 94th minute to lead Zaragoza to a 1-0 victory.[2][3]
[edit] Country
He made his debut for Argentina on 16 November 1994, against Chile under coach Daniel Passarella.
Ayala played for Argentina at the 1996 Summer Olympics, winning the silver medal. He played for Argentina in the 1998 World Cup and was a non-playing squad member in the 2002 competition due a last minute injury moments before their first match against Nigeria. He was then selected as an over-age player as Argentina won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Ayala played an integral part in the Argentine squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. He played brilliantly throughout the tournament, and was picked as a member of the All Star Team. In the quarterfinal against Germany he scored a header that gave Argentina the 1-0 lead. Argentina lost the penalty shootout after the 1-1 tie, with Ayala's spot kick being saved by Jens Lehmann.
On 27 June 2006, In a friendly match against Angola, Ayala completed 100 caps for Argentina.[4]
One of the best defenders in Argentina history, on 7 February 2007, Ayala became the most capped player of the National team (most of the times as captain), beating his friend Diego Simeone, in a friendly victory 1-0 against France played in Stade de France, Paris.
On 5 June 2007, in a friendly against Algeria, Roberto Ayala captained Argentina for a record 58th international, having equalled Diego Maradona's mark of 57 in the 1-1 draw against Switzerland in Basel on Saturday 2nd June.[5]
On 17 July 2007, after playing in the Copa América 2007 final against Brazil, during which he scored an own goal, Ayala announced he will no longer play for the National side.[6] Ayala stated, "No tiene nada que ver lo ocurrido en la final de la Copa América."[7] This translates to "It has nothing to do with what happened in the final of the Copa America."
[edit] Honours
| Medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Competitor for  Argentina |
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| Men's Football | |||
| Olympic Games | |||
| Silver | 1996 Atlanta | Team Competition | |
| Gold | 2004 Athens | Team Competition | |
| Pan American Games | |||
| Gold | 1995 Mar del Plata | Team Competition | |
[edit] International honours
Winner
- 2004 Olympic Games
[edit] Club honours
[edit] River Plate
Winner
- 1994 Apertura
[edit] 
AC Milan
Winner
[edit] 
Valencia CF
Winner
[edit] References
- ^ "Messi inspires Argentina to 4-3 win over Algeria", Chinadaily.com.cn, 2007-06-05. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
- ^ "Zaragoza put an end to Ayala saga", www.uefa.com, 2006-07-17. Retrieved on 2007-07-17.
- ^ "Ayala será jugador del Real Zaragoza", www.realzaragoza.com, 2007-07-14. Retrieved on 2007-07-14.
- ^ "Centurion Ayala eyes main prize", www.fifa.com, 2006-06-29. Retrieved on 2007-06-26.
- ^ "Messi inspires Argentina to 4-3 win over Algeria", China Daily, 2007-06-05. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
- ^ Clarin newspaper Ayala: "Mi ciclo en la Selección está terminado" (Spanish)
- ^ Ayala: "Mi ciclo en la Selección está terminado"
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Jaap Stam |
UEFA Champions League Best Defender 2000-01 |
Succeeded by Roberto Carlos da Silva |
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