Esteban Cambiasso

Personal information
Full name	Esteban Matías Cambiasso Deleau
Date of birth	(1980-08-18) 18 August 1980 (age 31)
Place of birth	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Internazionale
Number	19
Youth career
1995–1996	Argentinos Juniors
1996–1998	Real Madrid
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1998–2001	Independiente	98	(14)
2001–2002	River Plate	37	(12)
2002–2004	Real Madrid	41	(0)
2004–	Internazionale	250	(34)
National team‡
2000–	Argentina	52	(5)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15 May 2011. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 8 July 2011

Esteban Matías Cambiasso Deleau (born 18 August 1980), nicknamed "Cuchu" (Rioplatense Spanish: Old man), is an Argentine football midfielder who plays for Internazionale in the Italian Serie A.

During his professional career, Cambiasso has won 23 official titles (as of the end of 2011), being the Argentine footballer with most honours in history, one more than Alfredo Di Stéfano.^[1]

Club career[link]

Early career[link]

Cambiasso started his professional career with Argentinos Juniors in 1995, moving to Real Madrid 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 "Egg in a bun." With some good experience under his belt, he returned to Real Madrid in 2002. He helped Los Blancos win the UEFA Super Cup, La Liga, and the Intercontinental Cup in 2002 and the Spanish SuperCup in 2003.

Internazionale[link]

In July 2004, Cambiasso signed with Internazionale in Milan after his contract with Real Madrid expired in June 2004. He helped Internazionale 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 Argentine Juan Sebastián Verón. In Italy, he became known as one of the outstanding players of the 2004–05 season, along with 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 Roma. On 30 September 2006, he scored twice in the opening game of the season, with Inter defeating Fiorentina 3–2. On 7 November 2007, he along with Zlatan Ibrahimović scored a brace a piece to defeat CSKA Moscow 4–2 in the Champions League. On 23 March 2009, it was announced that Inter and Cambiasso had come to terms about a contract renewal which expires in 2014.

He was very important in the 2010 Champions League win as well, scoring the second goal of a 2–1 victory over Chelsea at the San Siro, a result which ultimately saw Inter go on to win the tournament.

International career[link]

Esteban Cambiasso during a friendly match between Argentina and Portugal in Geneva, Switzerland on 9 February 2011.

Cambiasso first represented Argentina in the youth squads, along with national teammates Juan Román Riquelme, Pablo Aimar, Walter Samuel, and others. He was in the squads for the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, where he scored the first goal in the final even though he was the youngest player on the squad, and captained the team during the 1999 edition.

Cambiasso made his senior national debut in 2000 for Argentina. On 15 May 2006, he was named in the Argentinian national team for the 2006 World Cup, and on 16 June, he capped a spectacular 24 pass Argentine interplay with a finish to score the second goal in a 6–0 victory over Serbia and Montenegro. In the quarter-finals match against Germany on 30 June 2006, the match went into penalties, where Cambiasso had his penalty kick saved, resulting in Argentina losing 4–2 and Germany progressing to the semi-final.

Since Diego Maradona took over as Argentina coach, Cambiasso was only called-up once to the national team for a friendly game on 14 November 2009 against Spain, despite continuing to play a vital role for Inter and affirming his status as one of Europe's best central midfielders. On 12 May 2010, Cambiasso was controversially left out of the 30-man provisional 2010 World Cup squad for Argentina.

On August 20, 2010, new Argentina coach Sergio Batista recalled Esteban Cambiasso to the national team for the upcoming friendly against newly-crowned world champions Spain. Argentina handed Spain their first defeat since becoming world champions two months prior, earning a resounding 4–1 win in a friendly at the Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires.^[2]

International goals[link]

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	21 June 2005	Frankenstadion, Nuremberg, Germany	Germany	2 – 2	2 – 2	2005 FIFA Confederations Cup
2.	16 June 2006	WM Stadion Gelsenkirchen, Gelsenkirchen, Germany	Serbia and Montenegro	2 – 0	6 – 0	2006 FIFA World Cup
3.	5 June 2007	Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain	Algeria	3 – 2	4 – 3	Friendly
4.	10 September 2008	Estadio Monumental "U", Lima, Peru	Peru	1 – 0	1 – 1	2010 World Cup qualifying
5.	26 March 2011	New Meadowlands Stadium, East Rutherford, United States	United States	1 – 0	1 – 1	Friendly

As of 26 March 2011

Club statistics[link]

International career statistics[link]

^[3]

Playing style[link]

Cambiasso is a defensive midfielder. At club level, he is deployed in the holding role, often accompanied by another like minded central midfielder. At international level, however, he has most prominently featured in a more advanced position in front of a holding midfielder such as former Argentine captain Javier Mascherano. This enables him to fulfill a more creative role in midfield.

Eurosport said about Cambiasso, when José Mourinho was still managing Inter, "There is nothing glamorous about the bald Argentine, but he is the heartbeat of the Inter side that have become the dominant force in Italian football. Just the kind of determined, hard-running midfielder José Mourinho loves. Originally a destroyer, the 29-year-old has become increasingly adventurous and weighs in with six to eight goals per season.^[4]

Goal.com said, "All in all, this player is one of the greatest players to have ever pulled an Inter shirt on and to grace the pitch in the Serie A. He is an intelligent midfielder, who has the capacity to change the shape of a game off his own boot. He is one of the most influential midfielders in Italian football, and for that reason and many more, he will certainly be remembered as one of the most talented players of all time."^[5]

Personal life[link]

Cambiasso was once married and still is but no longer has any contact with his ex-wife. On 22 November 2008, his ex-wife gave birth to their daughter Victoria before Cambiasso's match against Juventus.^[6] After Inter won the Derby d'Italia, Cambiasso dedicated the win to his daughter.^[7]

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.

Honours[link]

Club[link]

River Plate

• Argentine Primera División (1): 2002 Clausura

Real Madrid

• La Liga (1): 2002–03
• Intercontinental Cup (1): 2002
• UEFA Super Cup (1): 2002
• Supercopa de España (1): 2003

Internazionale

• UEFA Champions League (1): 2009–10
• Serie A (5): 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10
• Coppa Italia (4): 2004–05, 2005–06, 2009–10, 2010–11
• Supercoppa Italiana (4): 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010
• FIFA Club World Cup (1): 2010

International[link]

Argentina

• South American Youth Championship (2): 1997, 1999
• FIFA World Youth Championship (1): 1997

Individual[link]

• Golden Pirate: 2006^[8]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Esteban Cambiasso

• [1]
• Profile at FutbolPunto with maps and graphs
• Career details at National Football Teams
• (Spanish) Official site of Esteban Cambiasso
• Cambiasso's career stats @ footballdatabase.com

Argentina squads v t e Argentina squad – 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship Winners (3rd Title) 1 Franco 2 Cufré 3 Samuel 4 Serrizuela 5 Cambiasso 6 Markić 7 Quintana 8 Riquelme 9 Romeo 10 Aimar 11 P. Rodríguez 12 Muñoz 13 Cubero 14 Placente 15 Perezlindo 16 Diez 17 S. Romero 18 Scaloni Coach: Pekerman v t e Argentina squad – 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship 1 Costanzo 2 C. Roldán 3 G. Milito 4 J. Fernández 5 Cambiasso 6 Crosa 7 Galletti 8 Duscher 9 Peralta 10 Montenegro 11 Rivarola 12 Saja 13 Villarreal 14 Grabinski 15 L. Zubeldía 16 Farías 17 Flores Coronel 18 F. Insúa Coach: Pekerman v t e Argentina squad – 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup Runners-up 1 Franco 2 Samuel 3 Sorín (c) 4 Zanetti 5 Cambiasso 6 Heinze 7 Tévez 8 Riquelme 9 Saviola 10 Aimar 11 Delgado 12 Lux 13 G. Rodríguez 14 Milito 15 Placente 16 Coloccini 17 Bernardi 18 Santana 19 M. Rodríguez 20 Demichelis 21 Figueroa 22 Galletti 23 Caballero Coach: Pekerman v t e Argentina squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Abbondanzieri 2 Ayala 3 Sorín (c) 4 Coloccini 5 Cambiasso 6 Heinze 7 Saviola 8 Mascherano 9 Crespo 10 Riquelme 11 Tévez 12 Franco 13 Scaloni 14 Palacio 15 Milito 16 Aimar 17 Cufré 18 Rodríguez 19 Messi 20 Cruz 21 Burdisso 22 González 23 Ustari Coach: Pekerman v t e Argentina squad – 2007 Copa América Runners-up 1 Abbondanzieri 2 Ayala (c) 3 Díaz 4 Ibarra 5 Gago 6 Heinze 7 Palacio 8 Zanetti 9 Crespo 10 Riquelme 11 Tévez 12 Carrizo 13 González 14 Mascherano 15 G. Milito 16 Aimar 17 Burdisso 18 Messi 19 Cambiasso 20 Verón 21 D. Milito 22 Orión Coach: Basile v t e Argentina squad – 2011 Copa América 1 Carrizo 2 Garay 3 Zabaleta 4 Burdisso 5 Cambiasso 6 G. Milito 7 di María 8 Zanetti 9 Higuaín 10 Messi 11 Tévez 12 Andújar 13 Pareja 14 Mascherano (c) 15 Biglia 16 Agüero 17 Rojo 18 Pastore 19 Banega 20 Gago 21 Lavezzi 22 D. Milito 23 Romero Coach: Batista