FIFA World Cup™ Germany 2006 player's profile

After spending most of the 1998 and 2002 FIFA World Cups™ in the sizeable shadow of Gabriel Batistuta, Hernan Crespo will be hoping Germany 2006 proves third time lucky. Now 30, the player has been given a new lease of life under present coach Jose Pekerman and is currently his country’s undisputed first-choice striker.
Yet, while it is only recently that Crespo has ascended to the role of Argentina’s goalscorer-in-chief, his career with the Albiceleste stretches back over 11 years. His debut came on 14 February 1995 under Daniel Passarella in a 4-1 friendly win over Bulgaria and a year later he was top scorer in the side that took silver at the Olympic Football Tournament in Atlanta.

The following season, he assumed Batistuta’s mantle during the qualifiers for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France and justified his selection by becoming one of the side’s leading marksmen en route to the finals. The striker, dubbed Valdanito because of his physical resemblance to former Argentina front man Jorge Valdano, was also handed goalscoring responsibility during the qualifiers for Korea/Japan 2002, and again he delivered.

Crespo’s nine goals made him top scorer during the tournament’s preliminary phase and paved the way for him to become the all-time leading scorer in South American qualifying history. Yet, for all those successes, the finals themselves remain a blemish on the player’s otherwise glittering career. At France 98, he played just a few minutes in Argentina’s epic second-round win over England and missed his spot-kick in the penalty shootout.

Four years later in Asia, he did manage the equalising goal against Sweden, though it provided scant consolation with the ensuing draw proving too little, too late as Argetina failed in their bid to avoid a disastrous first-round exit. However, despite those disappointments, Crespo’s ruthless finishing, imperious reading of the game and superb mobility in the box have established him as Argentina’s third-highest goalscorer behind Gabriel Batistuta and Diego Maradona.

At club level, Crespo made his debut in the Argentine first division with River Plate in 1993. Throughout his career, his phenomenal finishing ability – he has scored with every conceivable type of goal, from lobs and back-heels to overhead kicks – has been at odds with his repeated assertion that he is not an out-and-out striker. He set the trend by winning the league’s top scorer award in his first year at River and then followed that by becoming his side’s leading scorer during their 1996 CONMEBOL Libertadores Cup triumph.

All this combined to earn him a move to Italian club Parma, where he added the UEFA Cup, Italian Cup and the Italian Super Cup to his list of achievements. His quality can perhaps be best judged by the fact that, in a four-year period between 2000 and 2004, Lazio, Inter Milan and Chelsea paid between them a staggering 126 million euros for his services.

In 2004, after suffering a career-threatening injury the season before, Crespo was loaned out to AC Milan in an attempt to rediscover his fitness and his best form. He quickly found both, scoring freely in Serie A and in the UEFA Champions League, including two in Milan’s ill-fated final showdown with Liverpool. At the start of the 2005/06 season, Crespo returned to England at the behest of Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho and, to no-one’s great surprise, has continued to terrorise opposition defences with some typically clinical finishing and elusive movement.

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UEFA Champions League 2005-06 player's profile

One of the world's most lethal marksman, Hernán Crespo is deceptively quick and skilful and has been a regular goalscorer everywhere he has played.

A protégé of Daniel Passarella at CA River Plate, Crespo won two national championships in Argentina as well as a Copa Libertadores in 1996 before joining Parma FC, where he won the UEFA Cup and Coppa Italia in 1998/99 and another Italian Cup the following season. S.S. Lazio had to pay a then world record €60m to acquire the striker, who finished the 2000/01 season as Serie A's top scorer with 26 goals in 32 games. FC Internazionale Milano then handed over €20m, plus Bernardo Corradi, to secure his services in summer 2002, but after an explosive start with the Nerazzurri a thigh injury halted his progress.

Crespo joined Chelsea FC for €24.25m in 2003 but was unable to settle in London, scoring ten times in 19 Premiership appearances. He returned to Italy on a year-long loan at AC Milan, to be reunited with his former Parma coach Carlo Ancelotti, but the season ended in the disappointment of a UEFA Champions League final defeat against Liverpool despite Crespo's two goals. He returned to Chelsea refreshed for 2005/06 and scored their opening goal of the Premiership season, adding nine more as they retained their Premiership crown.

Did you know?
Crespo was top scorer at the 1996 Olympic Games.

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