Roberto Abbondanzieri
Encyclopedia
Roberto Carlos "Pato" Abbondanzieri (born Abbondancieri on August 19, 1972 in Bouquet
, Santa Fe
) is an Argentine
former football
goalkeeper who had a successful career at Boca Juniors.
, with whom he would soon after win the 1995 CONMEBOL Cup. He played with the club until 1997, when he moved to Boca Juniors to be the reserve goalkeeper.
Abbondanzieri trained in the shadow of Óscar Córdoba
until the Colombia
n goalie suffered an injury during the Clausura tournament of 1999. However, Abbondanzieri himself then suffered a shoulder injury during a match against River Plate
, and the club's third-choice goalkeeper, Cristian Muñoz, took his place. When he recovered from his injury Abbondanzieri was once again Córdoba's understudy until February 2002, when Córdoba moved to Italian
club Perugia
.
Abbondanzieri changed his name in July 2002 from Abbondancieri, a misspelling that arose at Argentinian customs when his grandfather immigrated there, to the original spelling that he uses today. The name change was prompted by Italian citizenship concerns in the case of his transfer to the European football leagues. He was named South American Goalkeeper of the Year in 2003.
Until September 2006, when Boca achieved their third Recopa Sudamericana
, he held the Boca Juniors record of 14 titles, surpassed later by Guillermo Barros Schelotto
.
In July 2006, after weeks of speculation, Abbondanzieri signed a three-year contract with Spanish
first division
Getafe CF
, claiming that "it's the right time for me to go to Europe".
On April 10, 2008 in a UEFA Cup
quarterfinal second-leg match against Bayern Munich, Abbondanzieri made a vital error in extra time, as the goalkeeper failed to hold a routine ball from a distant free-kick. The ball slipped under his legs while in the six yard box, allowing Bayern striker Luca Toni
to tap the ball into the back of the net. Bayern was still in deficit of goals on aggregate, as the score was 2-3 after the goal (3-4 on aggregate), but only five minutes later Bayern would level the score at 3-3 (4-4 on aggregate) and allow themselves passage to the UEFA Cup semifinals via the away goals rule
.
Abbondanzieri continued with Getafe for the first half of the 2008-2009 season, but at his request was transferred back to Boca Juniors for the 2009 Clausura tournament. "El Pato" was again Boca's number one and competed in the Clausura, although Boca only finished in 14th. He also participated in the Copa Libertadores, where Boca fell to Defensor Sporting of Uruguay in the round of 16.
On 16 February 2010 Internacional
signed the Argentine goalkeeper "Pato" from Boca Juniors
.
Abbondanzieri retired on 18 December after the match against Seongnam for the third place of FIFA Club World Cup
. Internacional won 4-2.
Since then, he became a continuous presence in Boca's goal and, in June 2004, he became the goalkeeper for the Argentine national team
and has since played in the Copa América 2004
and the South American Qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup
.
On May 6, 2006, he was named as a definite squad member for the 2006 World Cup
by coach José Pekerman
.
On 30 June 2006, he was injured in the World Cup quarter-finals
against hosts Germany
, after Argentina had taken a 1-0 lead. German striker Miroslav Klose
jumped up high for a header
while running and collided with Abbondanzieri, with Klose's right leg hitting the Argentinian keeper in the chest. Klose, who had looked sideways to watch for the ball in the moments leading up to the collision and thus may not have seen Abbondanzieri, received no penalty. Abbondanzieri continued at first but had to be carried off on a stretcher some minutes later, to be replaced by Leo Franco
, who later failed to save Klose's equalizing strike in the 80th minute, and the four penalty kicks in the ensuing penalty shootout
, which Argentina lost 2:4.
He continued to be Argentina's first choice goalkeeper under Alfio Basile following the 2006 World Cup. He played all six games in the 2007 Copa America in Venezuela as Argentina reached the final, only to lose to Brazil, 3-0. He remained Basile's goalkeeper through the early stages of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, but was forced out injured during a 1-1 draw at home to Paraguay. By the time Abbondanzieri had recovered from his injury, Basile had been replaced by Diego Maradona as Argentina's coach, and Maradona never selected him to the Argentina squad.
|1994/95||rowspan="3"|Rosario Central||rowspan="3"|Primera División||14||0||-||-|||||||14||0
|-
|1995/96||25||0||-||-||||||25||0
|-
|1996/97||18||0||-||-||||||18||0
|-
|1996/97||rowspan="10"|Boca Juniors||rowspan="10"|Primera División||8||0||-||-||||||8||0
|-
|1997/98||13||0||-||-||||||13||0
|-
|1998/99||8||0||-||-||||||8||0
|-
|1999/00||8||0||-||-||||||8||0
|-
|2000/01||16||0||-||-||||||16||0
|-
|2001/02||22||0||-||-||||||22||0
|-
|2002/03||33||0||-||-||||||33||0
|-
|2003/04||32||0||-||-||||||32||0
|-
|2004/05||31||0||-||-||||||31||0
|-
|2005/06||33||0||-||-||||||33||0
|-
|2006/07||rowspan="3"|Getafe
||rowspan="3"|La Liga
||36||0||0||0||-||-||36||0
|-
|2007/08||34||0||0||0||2||0||36||0
|-
|2008/09||13||0||0||0||-||-||13||0
|-
|2008/09||rowspan="2"|Boca Juniors||rowspan="2"|Primera División||19||0||-||-||8||0||27||0
|-
|2009/10||9||0||-||-||1||-||10||0
|-
|2010||Internacional||Série A
||8||0||0||0||10||0||18||0
289||0||0||0||9||0||290||0
83||0||0||0||2||0||85||0
8||0||0||0||10||0||18||0
380||0||0||0||21||0||393||0
|}
|2004||11||0
|-
|2005||9||0
|-
|2006||9||0
|-
|2007||14||0
|-
|2008||6||0
|-
!Total||49||0
|}
Bouquet, Santa Fe
Bouquet is a town in Belgrano Department, in Santa Fe Province, Argentina. It lays at from the provincial capital Santa FeIn 1908 the federal government established the law that authorized the construction of a railway line from Las Rosas to Bouquet...
, Santa Fe
Santa Fe Province
The Invincible Province of Santa Fe, in Spanish Provincia Invencible de Santa Fe , is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco , Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santiago del Estero...
) is an Argentine
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
former football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
goalkeeper who had a successful career at Boca Juniors.
Club career
Abbondanzieri's professional debut took place on 6 December 1994 at Santa Fe's Rosario CentralRosario Central
Club Atlético Rosario Central is a sports club based in Rosario, Argentina. Its football team currently plays in the Primera B Nacional, the second tier of the Argentine football league system, after being relegated in the 2009-10 season....
, with whom he would soon after win the 1995 CONMEBOL Cup. He played with the club until 1997, when he moved to Boca Juniors to be the reserve goalkeeper.
Abbondanzieri trained in the shadow of Óscar Córdoba
Óscar Córdoba
Óscar Eduardo Córdoba Arce is a retired Colombian football goalkeeper who has played more than 70 games for the Colombia national team...
until the Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
n goalie suffered an injury during the Clausura tournament of 1999. However, Abbondanzieri himself then suffered a shoulder injury during a match against River Plate
Club Atlético River Plate
Club Atlético River Plate is an Argentine sports club based in the Nuñez neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its professional football team, which currently competes in Nacional B, the second tier of Argentine football....
, and the club's third-choice goalkeeper, Cristian Muñoz, took his place. When he recovered from his injury Abbondanzieri was once again Córdoba's understudy until February 2002, when Córdoba moved to Italian
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
club Perugia
Perugia Calcio
Associazione Calcistica Perugia Calcio is an Italian association football club based in Perugia, Umbria, direct heir of the old Perugia Calcio and A.C. Perugia, excluded from Italian football because of financial troubles....
.
Abbondanzieri changed his name in July 2002 from Abbondancieri, a misspelling that arose at Argentinian customs when his grandfather immigrated there, to the original spelling that he uses today. The name change was prompted by Italian citizenship concerns in the case of his transfer to the European football leagues. He was named South American Goalkeeper of the Year in 2003.
Until September 2006, when Boca achieved their third Recopa Sudamericana
Recopa Sudamericana 2006
The 2006 Recopa Sudamericana was the 14th Recopa Sudamericana, an annual football match between the winners of the previous season's Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana competitions.The match was contested by São Paulo, winners of the 2005 Copa Libertadores, and defending champions Boca...
, he held the Boca Juniors record of 14 titles, surpassed later by Guillermo Barros Schelotto
Guillermo Barros Schelotto
Guillermo Barros Schelotto is a former Argentine football forward.Barros Schelotto, nicknamed "Guille" or "Melli" , played 16 years of his professional career in the Argentine Primera División...
.
In July 2006, after weeks of speculation, Abbondanzieri signed a three-year contract with Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
first division
La Liga
The Primera División of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional , commonly known as La Liga or, for sponsorship reasons, Liga BBVA since 2008, is the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league system...
Getafe CF
Getafe CF
Getafe Club de Fútbol is a Spanish La Liga football club based in Getafe, a city in the Madrid metropolitan area, founded in 1946 and refounded in 1983.In the top level since 2004-05, it holds home games at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez....
, claiming that "it's the right time for me to go to Europe".
On April 10, 2008 in a UEFA Cup
UEFA Cup
The UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...
quarterfinal second-leg match against Bayern Munich, Abbondanzieri made a vital error in extra time, as the goalkeeper failed to hold a routine ball from a distant free-kick. The ball slipped under his legs while in the six yard box, allowing Bayern striker Luca Toni
Luca Toni
Luca Toni, Ufficiale OMRI is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer who currently plays for Serie A club Juventus. He has had successful spells at top clubs such as Palermo, Fiorentina, Bayern Munich, and Roma...
to tap the ball into the back of the net. Bayern was still in deficit of goals on aggregate, as the score was 2-3 after the goal (3-4 on aggregate), but only five minutes later Bayern would level the score at 3-3 (4-4 on aggregate) and allow themselves passage to the UEFA Cup semifinals via the away goals rule
Away goals rule
The away goals rule is a method of breaking ties in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. By the away goals rule, the team that has scored more goals "away from home" will win if scores are otherwise equal...
.
Abbondanzieri continued with Getafe for the first half of the 2008-2009 season, but at his request was transferred back to Boca Juniors for the 2009 Clausura tournament. "El Pato" was again Boca's number one and competed in the Clausura, although Boca only finished in 14th. He also participated in the Copa Libertadores, where Boca fell to Defensor Sporting of Uruguay in the round of 16.
On 16 February 2010 Internacional
Sport Club Internacional
Sport Club Internacional is a Brazilian football team and multi-sport club from Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, founded on April 4, 1909, and are one of the only five clubs to have never been relegated, along with Santos, São Paulo, Flamengo and Cruzeiro. They play in red shirts, white shorts and...
signed the Argentine goalkeeper "Pato" from Boca Juniors
Boca Juniors
Club Atlético Boca Juniors is an Argentine sports club based in La Boca neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Primera División....
.
Abbondanzieri retired on 18 December after the match against Seongnam for the third place of FIFA Club World Cup
FIFA Club World Cup
The FIFA Club World Cup is a football competition between the champion clubs from all six continental confederations.The first FIFA Club World Championship took place in Brazil in January 2000...
. Internacional won 4-2.
International career
As a youth, Abbondanzieri represented Argentina in the 1989 FIFA U-17 World Championship.Since then, he became a continuous presence in Boca's goal and, in June 2004, he became the goalkeeper for the Argentine national team
Argentina national football team
The Argentina national football team represents Argentina in association football and is controlled by the Argentine Football Association , the governing body for football in Argentina. Argentina's home stadium is Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti and their head coach is Alejandro...
and has since played in the Copa América 2004
Copa América 2004
The Copa América 2004 was the 41st edition of the Copa América, the South-American championship for international association football teams. The competition was organized by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body, and was held in Peru, who hosted the tournament for the sixth time,...
and the South American Qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...
.
On May 6, 2006, he was named as a definite squad member for the 2006 World Cup
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...
by coach José Pekerman
José Pekerman
José Néstor Pékerman is an Argentine football coach and an ex-football player. He become famous as a youth level coach for Argentina, winning the FIFA World Youth Championship three times, and the U-20 South American Youth Championship twice...
.
On 30 June 2006, he was injured in the World Cup quarter-finals
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...
against hosts Germany
Germany national football team
The Germany national football team is the football team that has represented Germany in international competition since 1908. It is governed by the German Football Association , which was founded in 1900....
, after Argentina had taken a 1-0 lead. German striker Miroslav Klose
Miroslav Klose
Miroslav Josef Klose is a German footballer who plays as a striker for Lazio in the Serie A. Since bursting onto the international stage at the 2002 World Cup, he has become well known for his knack of scoring headers, front-flip goal celebrations, and decisive short passing.Klose holds German...
jumped up high for a header
Header
Header may refer to: Computers and engineering* Header , supplemental data at the beginning of a data block** E-mail header** HTTP header* Header file, a text file used in computer programming...
while running and collided with Abbondanzieri, with Klose's right leg hitting the Argentinian keeper in the chest. Klose, who had looked sideways to watch for the ball in the moments leading up to the collision and thus may not have seen Abbondanzieri, received no penalty. Abbondanzieri continued at first but had to be carried off on a stretcher some minutes later, to be replaced by Leo Franco
Leo Franco
Leonardo "Leo" Neoren Franco is a professional Argentine footballer who plays for Real Zaragoza as a goalkeeper.-Club career:...
, who later failed to save Klose's equalizing strike in the 80th minute, and the four penalty kicks in the ensuing penalty shootout
Penalty shootout (football)
A penalty shoot-out, referred to as kicks from the penalty mark in the Laws of the Game, is the FIFA official term for a method used in association football to decide which team progresses to the next stage of a tournament following a tied game...
, which Argentina lost 2:4.
He continued to be Argentina's first choice goalkeeper under Alfio Basile following the 2006 World Cup. He played all six games in the 2007 Copa America in Venezuela as Argentina reached the final, only to lose to Brazil, 3-0. He remained Basile's goalkeeper through the early stages of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, but was forced out injured during a 1-1 draw at home to Paraguay. By the time Abbondanzieri had recovered from his injury, Basile had been replaced by Diego Maradona as Argentina's coach, and Maradona never selected him to the Argentina squad.
Club statistics
|-|1994/95||rowspan="3"|Rosario Central||rowspan="3"|Primera División||14||0||-||-|||||||14||0
|-
|1995/96||25||0||-||-||||||25||0
|-
|1996/97||18||0||-||-||||||18||0
|-
|1996/97||rowspan="10"|Boca Juniors||rowspan="10"|Primera División||8||0||-||-||||||8||0
|-
|1997/98||13||0||-||-||||||13||0
|-
|1998/99||8||0||-||-||||||8||0
|-
|1999/00||8||0||-||-||||||8||0
|-
|2000/01||16||0||-||-||||||16||0
|-
|2001/02||22||0||-||-||||||22||0
|-
|2002/03||33||0||-||-||||||33||0
|-
|2003/04||32||0||-||-||||||32||0
|-
|2004/05||31||0||-||-||||||31||0
|-
|2005/06||33||0||-||-||||||33||0
|-
|2006/07||rowspan="3"|Getafe
Getafe CF
Getafe Club de Fútbol is a Spanish La Liga football club based in Getafe, a city in the Madrid metropolitan area, founded in 1946 and refounded in 1983.In the top level since 2004-05, it holds home games at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez....
||rowspan="3"|La Liga
La Liga
The Primera División of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional , commonly known as La Liga or, for sponsorship reasons, Liga BBVA since 2008, is the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league system...
||36||0||0||0||-||-||36||0
|-
|2007/08||34||0||0||0||2||0||36||0
|-
|2008/09||13||0||0||0||-||-||13||0
|-
|2008/09||rowspan="2"|Boca Juniors||rowspan="2"|Primera División||19||0||-||-||8||0||27||0
|-
|2009/10||9||0||-||-||1||-||10||0
|-
|2010||Internacional||Série A
Campeonato Brasileiro Série A
The Campeonato Brasileiro de Clubes da Série A , popularly known as the Brasileirão , is a professional football league at the top of the Brazilian football league system held annually since 1959. Contested by twenty clubs, it operates a system of promotion and relegation with the Série B...
||8||0||0||0||10||0||18||0
289||0||0||0||9||0||290||0
83||0||0||0||2||0||85||0
8||0||0||0||10||0||18||0
380||0||0||0||21||0||393||0
|}
National team statistics
|-|2004||11||0
|-
|2005||9||0
|-
|2006||9||0
|-
|2007||14||0
|-
|2008||6||0
|-
!Total||49||0
|}
Honors
- Apertura 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2005
- Clausura 1999, 2006
- Copa LibertadoresCopa Libertadores de AméricaThe Copa Santander Libertadores de América , known simply as the Copa Libertadores and originally known as the Copa Campeones de América , is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960...
2000, 2001, 2003, 2010 - Intercontinental Cup 2000 and 2003
- Copa SudamericanaCopa SudamericanaThe Copa Bridgestone Sudamericana de Clubes , known simply as the Copa Sudamericana , is an annual international club football competition organized by the CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second most prestigious club competition in South American football. CONCACAF clubs were invited between 2004...
2004 and 2005Copa Sudamericana 2005The 2005 Copa Nissan Sudamericana de Clubes was international football cup competition played annually by clubs of CONMEBOL and, starting with this edition, invited teams from CONCACAF... - Recopa SudamericanaRecopa SudamericanaThe Recopa Sudamericana is an annual football match-up between the reigning champions of the previous year's Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana, South America's premier club competitions....
2005 - Ricardo Zamora TrophyRicardo Zamora TrophyThe Ricardo Zamora Trophy is a football award, established by Spanish newspaper MARCA in 1958. The award goes to the goalkeeper who has the lowest "goals-to-games" ratio. It is named after legendary Spanish goalkeeper Ricardo Zamora....
, best goalkeeper of La LigaLa LigaThe Primera División of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional , commonly known as La Liga or, for sponsorship reasons, Liga BBVA since 2008, is the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league system...
2006/2007 - Top 8 Goalkeeper of the decade (IFFHS), 2001–2010
- fifa world player of the year 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2007 2008 2009
- world cup winner
- champions league best goalkeeper 2001 2003 2007 2009
- champions league top scorer 2000 2005 2008
- ballon d or winner 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010