Real Madrid

Full Name: Gonzalo Higuaín
Alias: Higuaín
Place of Birth: Brest, France
Date of Birth: 10/12/1987
Position: Forward
Weight: 165 lbs / 75 kg
Height: 6’0” / 184 cm
Nationality: Argentine/French

Gonzalo Higuaín jumped onto the world football stage after being named Breakthrough Player on Argentina’s 2006 Torneo Apertura. “Pipita” is known for his speed in the last third of the pitch, his great striking ability, and his precisionpassing. Quick, elegant, and a knack for decision-making make Higuaín a fashionable forward in today’s world of football.

After several unsuccessful attempts, Higuaín scored his first goal as Madridista against Atletico Madrid at the Vicente Calderón Stadium in 2006/07. His propensity for scoring in derbies dates back to his first Boca-River clash, when he led Los Millonarios to victory with a stunning brace. During his first year with Real Madrid he was criticised for rushing his shots on goal, but his few successful finishes were worth their weight in gold; Higuaín netted the game winner in the team’s amazing 4-3 comeback against Espanyol and lit a spark under his teammates in the season-closer against Mallorca.

“People criticise me for not scoring goals,” says the player now, “But every striker has his ups and downs. Scoring is something you also have to work hard on. I’m going to be more patient because last year I missed many chances by being rushing too much.” Whether he plays close to the six-yard box or along the right wing, Higuaín has what it takes to be a goal-scoring machine.

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Full Name: Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
Alias: Huntelaar
Place of Birth: Drempt, Netherlands
Date of Birth: 12/08/1983
Position: Forward
Weight: 176 lbs / 80 kg
Height: 6′1″ / 186 cm
Nationality: Dutch

Brought up through the ranks of PSV Eindhoven, Huntelaar made his much anticipated debut with the club’s first team on 23 November 2002 against Rosendaal when he was 19 years old. He was the transfered on loan to De Graafschap and Second Division side Apeldoom prior to being picked up by Heerenveen for the 2004/05 season. One year later the striker signed for Ajax, where he became one of the most prolific goal scorers in Europe.

“The Hunter’s” scoring efficiency is what best defines him. His excellent positioning, his instinct and his intelligence make him a classic number ‘9′. He is an excellent shot with both feet and has an outstanding aerial game. One factor leading to Real Madrid’s interest in Huntelaar was his 20 goals-per-season average.

In 2006 Huntelaar was the top scorer in the Dutch league and named Eredivisie Talent of the Year, and two seasons later he again scored more goals than any other player and won Europe’s Bronze Boot.

He made his international debut with the Netherlands against Ireland on 16 August 2006, scoring two goals and becoming the first striker to do so in his debut with the Orange since Dick Nanninga pulled it off in 1978. He had already won the Under-21 Euro with his country in 2006 and scored two goals in the final. Huntelaar unfortunately missed the World Cup in Germany later that summer. In Euro 2008, his first major competition on an international stage, he scored a goal against Romania.

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Full Name: Rubén de la Red Gutierrez Bio
Alias: De la Red
Place of Birth: Móstoles, Spain
Date of Birth: 28/01/1986
Position: Midfielder
Weight: 174 lbs / 79 kg
Height: 6′1″ / 186 cms
Nationality: Spanish

Rubén de la Red is the perfect example of the brilliance of Real Madrid’s youth system. Comparisons can easily be made with other great players on the squad that have excelled thanks to their elegant touch on ball, vision, and outstanding technique. At 23 years old, De la Red is a product of the Club’s academy. Since he joined the Under-17’s, the player stood out among his teammates and caught the attention of the Under-20’s coach, Quique Sánchez Flores. From then on, he evolved remarkably.

De la Red was one of the key players in Castilla’s return to the Second Division. His dominance in the midfield and swift touch on ball convinced Vanderlei Luxemburgo, who called upon the player to join the first team for its 2005 preseason tour. His debut with Real Madrid’s first team was on the 21st of September of that same year against Athletic Bilbao when he replaced captain Raúl González. He made his debut in the Champions League two months later against Rosenborg.

Misfortune struck Castilla and the team was relegated to the Third Division at the end of the 2006/07 season. De la Red joined Getafe for the 2007/08 campaign and had a brilliant year. Bernd Schuster and the Sports Directorship then decided it was time for Rubén to return to Real Madrid.

The youth system player was summoned to join his national team to play in Euro 2008. He was a starter against Greece, scored a sensational goal and eventually won the competition with Spain.

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Full Name: Daniel Parejo Muñoz
Alias: Parejo
Place of Birth: Madrid, Spain
Date of Birth: 16/04/1989
Position: Midfielder
Weight: 165 lbs / 75 kg
Height: 5′9″ / 180 cm
Nationality: Spanish

Daniel Parejo joined Real Madrid’s Under-13 side after playing for his fathers team UD Espinilla in his native town of Coslada. In just one year, he managed to play for the Under-20 A side, Real Madrid C and Castilla, finishing the season off with a brilliant free-kick goal to crown Spain as European Champions in the Under-19 competition.

He was a starter in 33 games with Castilla in 2007/08 and scored ten goals. Parjo’s excellent run at Castilla caught the eye of Bernd Schuster, who had him train with the first team on numerous occasions. Parejo even worked out with the squad during the pre-season. He scored Real Madrid’s victory goal against Hamburg in the Emirates Cup clash.

Parejo was loaned to English First Division team Queens Park Rangers at the end of the 2008 pre-season. He enjoyed considerable playing time and performed very well in a tough and competitive league.

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Full Name: Gabriel Ivan Heinze Bio
Alias: Heinze
Place of Birth: Crespo, Argentina
Date of Birth: 19/04/1978
Position: Defender
Weight: 158 lbs / 72 kg
Height: 5′8″ / 178 cm
Nationality: Argentinean

Gabriel Iván Heinze is your typical Argentine. He brings a lot of talent to the table and his drive and energy are extremely valuable on the pitch. Like most of his countrymen, he doesn’t back down in the face of adversity and he always gives 100%. His greatest asset is his versatility, which allows him to play both as centre-back and left-back. Heinze’s speed allows him to contribute on both ends of the pitch, whether it’s playing as far up as the opponent’s byline or anticipating every move his attacking rival makes. His winning attitude and hard-working personality make him an essential player on any team.

Heinze’s debut in 1997 with Newell’s Old Boys marked the start of a fruitful career that has seen him play for several teams. His brilliant first season with the Argentine club caught the attention of many European clubs, and it was Valladolid who eventually signed him. He never placed in his first season, but did participate in five matches the following year before being sent on loan to Sporting Lisboa for the remainder of the season. He returned to the Spanish side for the 1999/2000 season and scored one goal in 54 games over the course of two years. In 2001 he signed for Paris Saint-Germain, where in three years he won the 2004 Coupe de France and finished second in the 2003/04 season, after which he signed for Manchester United.

Gabriel became an unquestionable starter for the Red Devils and earned world-wide recognition as a solid defender. Heinze debuted with the Argentine national team in 2003 and the following year won a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Athens.

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Full Name: Royston Ricky Drenthe
Alias: Drenthe
Place of Birth: Rotterdam, Netherlands
Date of Birth: 08/04/1987
Position: Midfielder
Weight: 147 lbs. / 67 kg.
Height: 5’7” / 1.67 m.
Nationality: Dutch

The 2007 Under-21 European Championship served as Royston Drenthe’s coming out party. The Netherlands won the competition and the Dutch player was named Player of the Tournament by UEFA, none of which went unnoticed by Real Madrid scouts, who flew Drenthe from Rotterdam to Madrid shortly after the competition concluded.

Compared to fellow Dutchman Edgar Davids since coming on to the football scene, Drenthe is a combination of a Bulldog and Bengal Tiger on the pitch. He is extremely fast and has a flawless physique. His versatility makes him an all-around player capable of playing in several positions, but it’s along the left wing –on either end of the pitch- where he is at his best.

Drenthe played an key role on the Netherlands’ Under-21 squad that won the 2007 European championship and was responsible for the game winner against Belgium in the semifinal. Like several Dutch players including Clarence Seedorf, Patrick Kluivert and Frank Rijkaard, Drenthe is of Surinamese decent.

Royston developed his football within the walls of Feyenoord’s youth system and gained national attention by scoring a hat-trick against Ajax in the Otten Cup. He only played in three matches during his first year with the First Team, but in 2006/07 finally got his break and participated in 26 games.

Drenthe is your prototypical Dutch winger who is most efficient when glued to the length of the touchline. Astounding dribbling ability allows him to blow by defenders and make it to the byline to cross into the opponent’s box. He is also a set-piece specialist and possesses an extremely powerful shot.

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Real Madrid scored their first “final” in the 2008-09 League defeat Almería (3-0), which was presented at the Santiago Bernabéu on the orders of the Mexican Hugo Sanchez, who in his day players became one of the best strikers in the history of the Madrid team.
Real Madrid won their first “final” before the Almería

Those of Juande Ramos, who had argued that each impact at the end of the tournament would be seen as a final, were gray in the first half, which advanced with a goal from Marcelo, but improved their performance in the second, the Dutchman Klaas Jan Huntelaar said with so many other two.

Hugo hesitated between Crown and Pablo Piatti andalusia enacted to replace the ex-Negredo canterano-white has not played any of the forms, because the agreement between both clubs, and finally opted for the Argentine, with the Nigerian Kalu Uche, before the first time clear-headed and in 7 minutes, including tip.

Everest, Angliru, Tourmalet, the Alps … are several ways in which historians refer to the demanding journey in which a team is facing, so then to the first four falling in the tournament. Having succumbed in the first two ENVIT at Sevilla (2-1), and at home to Barcelona (0-2), the team came andalusia andalusian Bernabéu not fit with the spirit of a defeat that could show the way complicated areas.

So were the Andalusians who took the lead, before a Madrid had been averted for winning eleven matches of the tournament and, aware that nothing but his own end, the rip of Barcelona, could not allow a setback to forced to invoke the congregations of nails as a psychological burning for the next ten.

Juande cleared the Gago and Marcelo doubt in favor of it and did not play Jose Maria Gutierrez ‘Guti’, whom the coach called manchego not.

The brilliant midfielder madrileño be faced with his coach when he replaced him during the past Madrid derby, when he joined from the bench for a few minutes remaining sealed the hecatomb of Anfield and did not play due to injury in Bilbao, official version that some doubt . This time not even entered the list. Something wrong with Guti.

And maybe more of a nostalgia about it, because until 21, when the ‘pencil’ Piatti tried to emulate, in fruitless Chilean modes Footballer of technical mastery was rojiblanco.

But moving to Madrid and pulse, just after take after the rejection that followed a lack launched by Sneijder, Marcelo zambombazo hooked with a right leg-la ‘mala’ and opened the scoring. Not something that was a turning point.

At least in the first act, which was the only white people who gave their hobby, which, together with the few followers of Almería, Bernabéu was a nearly full, except in the space usually reserved for the Ultras Sur, which came after the break to pay tribute to “Manito.”

Acasiete Peruvian with very secure back and occasionally joining the attack, the attack continued Almería, so shy, but insistently, to the extent that Mané, failing three times to rest, put to the test Iker Casillas, the value secure the premises.

Football back in the early hours and rioja andalusia Bernabéu did in sunny days, but from the local perspective, the party seemed to have started at five in the afternoon shade, until two consecutive flashes Marcelo-stringer and a ball to another cleared a corner that Diego Alves in the first five minutes of the restart-best prospect now for the subscriber madrileño.

And these appeared Huntelaar, questioned at the beginning and that has finally begun to verify that something is called “The Hunter.” In the eighth scored the second. And at 20, took the rejection of Alves, in a speech to his great compatriot Arjen Robben, to ‘kill’ the party. With his second. The eighth since he wears white.

Almería had already made the change of ‘Ortíces’ (Joseph entered by Juanma) when the Crown entered by Uche injured but eventually deflated, the evidence of the marker. On the local side came by Gago Lass rioja Metzelder and Pepe did prior to Miguel Torres to replace Heinze, who saw the yellow and not fifth game in Malaga. Where the next play Madrid final.

- Technical Data:

3 – Real Madrid: Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Cannavaro, Heinze (Miguel Torres, m.85), ‘Lass’ Diarra (Gago, m.67), Marcelo, Sneijder, Robben, Raul and Huntelaar.

0 – UD Almeria: Alves, Bruno, Acasiete, Pellerano, Mané, Juanito, Iriney (Nieto, m.85); Juanma Ortiz (José Ortiz, m.61), Piatti, Crusat and Kalu Uche (Corona, m.68 ).

Goals:
1-0, m.23: Marcelo.
2-0, m.53: Huntelaar.
3-0, m.64: Huntelaar.

Referee: Mateu Lahoz (college valenciano). Showed yellow cards to the local Pepe, Raul, Sergio Ramos, Gago and Heinze, and visitors and Bruno Iriney.

Incidents: Party for the twenty-eighth day of the First Division held at the Santiago Bernabeu before some 78,000 spectators. Players from both teams jumped to the pitch with T-shirts referring to the campaign against hunger that developed in all fields of this day.

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