Esteban Cambiasso

Esteban Cambiasso

Personal information
Full name	Esteban Matías Cambiasso Deleau
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Defensive Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Internazionale
Number	19
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 14 September 2008

Esteban Matías Cambiasso Deleau (born August 18 1980 in Buenos Aires) is a professional Argentine football midfielder. He currently plays for Inter Milan and the Argentina national team.

Club career

Early career

Cambiasso started his professional career with Argentinos Juniors in 1995, moving to Real Madrid B in 1996.

In 1998, he moved back to Argentina where he played for three years with Independiente and one with River Plate. During this time he earned his nickname El Cuchu. With some good experience under his belt, he returned to Real Madrid in 2002. He helped Los Galacticos win the UEFA Super Cup in 2002, La Liga and the Intercontinental Cup in 2003, and the Supercopa de España in 2004.

Inter Milan

In July 2004, Cambiasso signed with Internazionale after his contract with Real Madrid expired in June 2004. He helped Inter Milan win the Italian Cup in his first season with the club, playing regularly as a defensive midfielder, partnered in the middle of Inter's midfield with fellow Argentinian Juan Sebastián Verón. In Italy, he became known as one of the outstanding players of the 2004-05 season, along with A.C. Milan's Kaká.

During the return match for the final of the 2006 Coppa Italia, Cambiasso scored an impressive goal, the first of the match, for the 3-1 victory over A.S. Roma. On September 30 2006, he scored twice in the opening game of the season, with Inter Milan defeating Fiorentina 3-2. On November 07 2007, he along with Zlatan Ibrahimović scored a brace a piece to defeat PFC CSKA Moscow 4-2 in the UEFA Champions League.

International career

Cambiasso first represented Argentina in the youth squads, along with national teammates Juan Roman Riquelme, Pablo Aimar, Walter Samuel and others. He made his senior national debut in 2000 for Argentina.

On May 15 2006, Cambiasso was named in the Argentinian national team for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and on June 16, he capped a twenty-four pass move with a finish to score the second in a 6-0 victory over Serbia and Montenegro. In the quarterfinals match against Germany on June 30 2006, the match went into penalties which Cambiasso had his penalty kick saved. The saved penalty knocked Argentina out of the World Cup and sent Germany to the semi-finals.

Honors and awards

Argentina:

• 1997 South American Youth Championship
• 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship
• 1999 South American Youth Championship

River Plate:

• 2002 Primera División Argentina Clausura

Real Madrid:

• 2003 Spanish La Liga
• 2003 Intercontinental Cup
• 2003 UEFA Super Cup
• 2003 Spanish Super Cup

Inter:

• 2006, 2007 ,2008 Italian Serie A
• 2005, 2006 Coppa Italia
• 2005, 2006, 2008 Italian Super Cup
• 2005 Inter Milan's best player of the year (Pirata d'oro)

Personal life

Cambiasso is married and has a son. He holds an Italian passport as his family has origins from the province of Genoa.

Along with his compatriot and current teammate at Inter, Javier Zanetti, Cambiasso unveiled the Leoni di Potrero charity association to help coach young children with social isolation problems and motor coordination difficulties.

External links

• Statistics at Guardian StatsCentre
• Career details at National Football Teams
• Template:Es icon Official site of Esteban Cambiasso
• Cambiasso's career stats @ footballdatabase.com