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Hernán Crespo

Personal information
Full name	Hernán Jorge Crespo
Date of birth	July 5, 1975 (1975-07-05) (age 34)
Place of birth	Florida, Argentina
Height	1.84 m (6 ft +1⁄2 in)[1]
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Genoa
Number	9
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1993–1996	River Plate	64	(23)
1996–2000	Parma	116	(61)
2000–2002	Lazio	54	(39)
2002–2003	Internazionale	18	(7)
2003–2008	Chelsea	49	(20)
2004–2005	→ Milan (loan)	28	(10)
2006–2008	→ Internazionale (loan)	48	(18)
2008–2009	Internazionale	15	(3)
2009–	Genoa	11	(4)
National team‡
1995–	Argentina	63	(35)
Honours Competitor for  Argentina Men's Football Olympic Games Silver 1996 Atlanta Team Competition Pan American Games Gold 1995 Mar del Plata Team Competition
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of September 24 2009. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 1 March 2009

Hernán Jorge Crespo (born 5 July 1975) is an Argentine footballer who currently plays for Genoa of the Italian Serie A. Crespo has scored over 300 goals in a career spanning 17 years. His honours include an Olympic Games silver medal, a Copa Libertadores, and an English Premier League title.

Club career

River Plate

Crespo made his debut with River Plate during the 1993-94 season, scoring 13 goals in 25 league appearances as River Plate won the Apertura league title. In 1996, Crespo helped River win the Copa Libertadores, scoring twice in the home leg of the final in Buenos Aires.

Parma

Crespo left River Plate for Parma in August 1996 after he won the silver medal with Argentina at the 1996 Summer Olympics and finished as the top scorer with six goals. In May 1997, coached by Carlo Ancelotti, Crespo scored 12 goals in 27 matches as Parma finished runners-up to Juventus. He won the 1998-99 Italian Cup and scored the opening goal in Parma's 3-0 UEFA Cup final victory over Olympique de Marseille.

Lazio

In 2000, Lazio broke the then-world transfer record by paying £35 million (by paid £16 million in cash and Matias Almeyda and Sérgio Conceição) to acquire Crespo,^[2] who in turn finished as Serie A's top scorer with 26 goals.

Internazionale

On 31 August 2002, Crespo signed with Internazionale as replacement for the departed Ronaldo who expected to shine again after suffered from injuries for reported €20 million and Bernardo Corradi.^[3] Internazionale was short of striker as highly rated Mohamed Kallon injured in August.^[4] and only Álvaro Recoba, Christian Vieri and as well as reserves Bernardo Corradi and Nicola Ventola were available.

In his only season at the club, he scored seven goals in 18 appearances, along with nine goals in 12 Champions League matches until he was shelved four months by injury in early 2003.

Chelsea

Crespo was transferred to Premier League club Chelsea on 26 August 2003 for £16.8 million. He made only 31 appearances (including 19 league starts) in all competitions, and scored 12 goals. After José Mourinho took over as Chelsea manager for the 2004-05 season, Crespo became surplus to Chelsea's plans and was loaned to AC Milan, as requested by former coach Carlo Ancelotti. He scored a total of ten league goals, and netted twice in the 2005 Champions League final defeat to Liverpool.

After Chelsea's failed attempts to land a big-name striker during the summer of 2005, Mourinho needed competition for striker Didier Drogba and decided to recall Crespo from Milan, convincing him that he had a future in England. Crespo made his first return appearance in a 2-1 FA Community Shield victory over Arsenal. He scored his first league goal of 2005 against Wigan Athletic in Chelsea's season opener in a 1-0 win. The 2005-06 league title was Crespo's first league title victory in European football.

Internazionale

Crespo in an Inter shirt.

Though he scored 26 goals in all competitions and won the 2005-06 Premiership, Crespo requested a return to Italy in order to rejoin AC Milan, but Chelsea refused and announced that Crespo would remain a Chelsea player until the club accepted a suitable offer for him. On 7 August 2006, Crespo joined Inter on a two-year loan. He scored his 125th Serie A goal against Siena on 2 December 2006, and his 200th career European goal on 2 April 2007. On 13 May, Crespo scored a hat-trick to help Inter defeat Lazio 4-3 and win the Scudetto. Two days earlier, he had appeared in training without his customary long hair, which he had kept grown out for over five years.^[5]

He has scored at least one Champions League goal with each of the five European teams he has played for since moving from River Plate in 1996; he is the only player in Champions League history to accomplish this feat.

Crespo was officially released from Chelsea on 3 July 2008, following the expiration of his contract.^[6][7] and was signed by Inter on a one-year contract for free. In the 2008-09 season, under José Mourinho, his former manager in Chelsea, Crespo only made 13 Serie A appearances, including two starts. He was excluded from UEFA Champions League roster due to Internazionale runs out of 17 non-local trained quota.

Genoa

Following the expiration of his contract at Inter, Crespo was quickly snapped up by Genoa, taking Diego Milito's place who moved in the opposite direction. On 8 June 2009 it was reported that Crespo had a medical check to formalize his transfer. Crespo cited his ambition to make the Argentina World Cup squad as one of his key reasons for making the move to Genoa. ^[8] On 13 September Crespo scored his first goal of the 2009 season against Napoli.^[9]

International career

Crespo has 64 caps and 35 goals with Argentina. He won his first cap in a friendly match against Bulgaria in February 1995, but then had to wait 16 months for his second cap and more than two years for his first goal. He was called up to the final roster for the 1998, 2002, and 2006 FIFA World Cups. In June 2005, Crespo scored twice in Argentina's 3-1 World Cup qualifying win over archrivals Brazil in Buenos Aires, which made him Argentina's career scoring leader in World Cup qualifiers. He finished the 2006 competition as the Silver Shoe Award winner.

On 28 June 2007, he scored twice in Argentina's 4-1 victory over the United States in their 2007 Copa América Group C opener, tying Diego Maradona's team scoring record.^[10] He finished with a total of three goals.

Career statistics

Club

Last update: 24 September 2009.

¹Include 1 match at Serie A playoff for Champions League
²Include 1 match at 2000 Supercoppa Italiana
³Include 1 match at 2004 Supercoppa Italiana
⁴Include 1 match at 2005 FA Community Shield
⁵Include 1 match and 1 goal at 2006 Supercoppa Italiana

International

International appearances and goals
#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Result	Goal	Competition
1994–95
1.	14 February 1995	Mendoza, Argentina	Bulgaria	4–1	0	Friendly[11]
1995–96
2.	2 June 1996	Quito, Ecuador	Ecuador	0–2	0	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
	20 July 1996	Birmingham, Alabama, United States	United States	3–1	1	1996 Olympics (Argentina U23)
	22 July 1996	Washington, D.C., United States	Portugal	1–1	0
	24 July 1996	Birmingham, Alabama, United States	Tunisia	1–1	0
	27 July 1996		Spain	4–0	2
	30 July 1996	Athens, Georgia, United States	Portugal	2–0	2
	3 August 1996		Nigeria	2–3	1
1996–97
3.	28 December 1996	Mar del Plata, Argentina	Yugoslavia	2–3	0	Friendly[12]
4.	12 January 1997	Montevideo, Uruguay	Uruguay	0–0	0	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
5.	12 February 1997	Barranquilla, Colombia	Colombia	1–0	0
6.	30 April 1997	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Ecuador	2–1	1
7.	8 June 1997		Peru	2–0	1
8.	6 July 1997	Asunción, Paraguay	Paraguay	2–1	0
9.	20 July 1997	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Venezuela	2–0	1
1997–98
10.	10 September 1997	Santiago, Chile	Chile	2–1	0	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
11.	12 October 1997	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Uruguay	0–0	0
12.	16 November 1997		Colombia	1–1	0
	19 February 1998	Mendoza, Argentina	Romania	2–1	0	Unofficial Friendly[13]
13.	24 February 1998	Mar del Plata, Argentina	Yugoslavia	3–1	3[14]	Friendly
14.	30 June 1998	Saint-Étienne, France	England	2–2 (AET) 4–3 (PSO)	0	1998 FIFA World Cup
1998–99
15.	31 March 1999	Amsterdam, The Netherlands	Netherlands	1–1	0	Friendly[15]
1999–2000
16.	4 September 1999	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Brazil	2–0	1[16]	Friendly
17.	7 September 1999	Porto Alegre, Brazil	Brazil	2–4	0[17]
18.	17 November 1999	Seville, Spain	Spain	2–0	0[15]
19.	23 February 2000	London, England, United Kingdom	England	0–0	0[18]
20.	29 March 2000	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Chile	4–1	0	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
21.	26 April 2000	Maracaibo, Venezuela	Venezuela	4–0	1
22.	29 June 2000	Bogota, Colombia	Colombia	3–1	1
23.	19 July 2000	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Ecuador	2–0	1
24.	26 July 2000	São Paulo, Brazil	Brazil	1–3	0
2000–01
25.	16 August 2000	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Paraguay	1–1	0	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
26.	3 September 2000	Lima, Peru	Peru	2–1	1
27.	28 February 2001	Rome, Italy	Italy	2–1	1	Friendly
28.	28 March 2001	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Venezuela	5–0	1	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
29.	25 April 2001	La Paz, Bolivia	Bolivia	3–3	2
30.	3 June 2001	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Colombia	3–0	1
2001–02
31.	15 August 2001	Quito, Ecuador	Ecuador	2–0	1	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
32.	5 September 2001	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Brazil	2–1	0
33.	2 June 2002	Ibaraki, Japan	Nigeria	1–0	0	2002 FIFA World Cup
34.	7 June 2002	Sapporo, Japan	England	0–1	0
35.	12 June 2002	Rifu, Miyagi, Japan	Sweden	1–1	1
2002–03
36.	20 November 2002	Saitama, Japan	Japan	2–0	1[19]	Friendly
2003–04
37.	20 August 2003	Florence, Italy	Uruguay	3–2	0	Friendly
38.	6 September 2003	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Chile	2–2	0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
39.	9 September 2003	Caracas, Venezuela	Venezuela	3–0	1
40.	15 November 2003	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Bolivia	3–0	1
41.	19 November 2003	Barranquilla, Colombia	Colombia	1–1	1
42.	30 March 2004	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Ecuador	1–0	1
43.	28 April 2004	Casablanca, Morocco	Morocco	1–0	0	Friendly
44.	2 June 2004	Belo Horizonte, Brazil	Brazil	1–3	0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
45.	6 June 2004	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Paraguay	0–0	0
2004–05
46.	9 February 2005	Düsseldorf, Germany	Germany	2–2	2	Friendly
47.	30 March 2005	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Colombia	1–0	1	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
48.	8 June 2005		Brazil	3–1	2
2005–06
49.	17 August 2005	Budapest, Hungary	Hungary	2–1	0	Friendly
50.	9 October 2005	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Peru	2–0	0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
51.	12 October 2005	Montevideo, Uruguay	Uruguay	0–1	0
52.	12 November 2005	Geneva, Switzerland	England	2–3	1	Friendly
53.	1 March 2006	Basel, Switzerland	Croatia	2–3	0
54.	30 May 2006	Salerno, Italy	Angola	2–0	0
55.	10 June 2006	Hamburg, Germany	Côte d'Ivoire	2–1	1	2006 FIFA World Cup
56.	16 June 2006	Gelsenkirchen, Germany	Serbia and Montenegro	6–0	1
57.	24 June 2006	Leipzig, Germany	Mexico	2–1 (AET)	1
58.	30 June 2006	Berlin, Germany	Germany	1–1 (AET) 2–4 (PSO)	0
2006–07
59.	7 February 2007	Saint-Denis, France	France	1–0	0	Friendly
60.	2 June 2007	Basel, Switzerland	Switzerland	1–1	0
61.	5 June 2007	Barcelona, Spain	Algeria	4–3	0
62.	28 June 2007	Maracaibo, Venezuela	United States	4–1	2	2007 Copa América
63.	2 July 2007		Colombia	4–2	1

Honours

Club

• Primera División Argentina: 1993 (Apertura), 1994 (Apertura), 1996 (Apertura)
• Copa Libertadores: 1996
• UEFA Cup: 1999
• Coppa Italia: 1999
• Italian Super Cup: 1999, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2008
• FA Community Shield: 2005
• Premier League: 2006
• Serie A: 2007, 2008, 2009

Country

• 1995 Mar del Plata: Gold Medalist
• 1996 Summer Olympics: Silver Medalist

Runner-up: FIFA Confederations Cup, 1995

Individual

• 1996 Summer Olympics: Top Scorer
• Coppa Italia Capocannoniere: 1999 and 2007 with 4 goals in 4 matches
• FIFA 100
• Serie A top scorer 2000-01
• World Cup Silver Boot: 2006
• Primera División Argentina top scorer: 1994 (with River Plate)

Nicknames

Whilst commonly known as Hernan, Crespo was christened Hernando Jorge Crespo, after his grandfather of the same name. His nickname is "Valdanito" after striker Jorge Valdano, due to the fact that they look similar. He is also called, although less often, "El Polaco" (or The Polak) becuase his grandmother was Polish.^[20]

References

External links

• Hernán Crespo at National-Football-Teams.com
• Hernán Crespo FIFA competition record
• Hernán Crespo career stats at Soccerbase
• Profile at La Gazzetta dello Sport 2009-10 (Italian)
• FootballDatabase profile and stats
• BBC profile
• Crespo at AFA
• Russian fan site of Hernan Crespo

Hernán Crespo - Navigation boxes and awards Argentina squad – 1995 King Fahd Cup Runners-up 1 Bossio • 2 Ayala • 3 Chamot • 4 Zanetti • 5 Pérez • 6 Fabbri • 7 Ortega • 8 Escudero • 9 Batistuta • 10 Espina • 11 Rambert • 12 Burgos • 13 Rotchen • 14 Arruabarrena • 15 Vivas • 16 Jiménez • 17 Gallardo • 18 López • 19 Crespo • 20 Bassedas • Coach: Passarella Argentina squad – 1996 Summer Olympics Silver Medalists 1 Cavallero • 2 Ayala • 3 Chamot • 4 Zanetti • 5 Almeyda • 6 Sensini • 7 C. López • 8 Simeone • 9 Crespo • 10 Ortega • 11 Delgado • 12 Morales • 13 Bossio • 14 Paz • 15 Bassedas • 16 Pineda • 17 G. López • 18 Gallardo • Coach: Passarella Argentina squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup 1 Roa • 2 Ayala • 3 Chamot • 4 Pineda • 5 Almeyda • 6 Sensini • 7 C. López • 8 Simeone • 9 Batistuta • 10 Ortega • 11 Verón • 12 Burgos • 13 Paz • 14 Vivas • 15 Astrada • 16 Berti • 17 Cavallero • 18 Balbo • 19 Crespo • 20 Gallardo • 21 Delgado • 22 Zanetti • Coach: Passarella Argentina squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Burgos • 2 Ayala • 3 Sorín • 4 Pochettino • 5 Almeyda • 6 Samuel • 7 C. López • 8 Zanetti • 9 Batistuta • 10 Ortega • 11 Verón • 12 Cavallero • 13 Placente • 14 Simeone • 15 Husaín • 16 Aimar • 17 G. López • 18 González • 19 Crespo • 20 Gallardo • 21 Caniggia • 22 Chamot • 23 Bonano • Coach: Bielsa Argentina squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Abbondanzieri • 2 Ayala • 3 Sorín • 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 Argentina squad – Copa América 2007 Runners-up 1 Abbondanzieri • 2 Ayala • 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 Serie A top scorers 1924: Schönfeld | 1925: Magnozzi | 1926: Hirzer | 1927: Powolny | 1928: Libonatti | 1929: Rossetti | 1930: Meazza | 1931: Volk | 1932: Petrone / Schiavio | 1933: Borel | 1934: Borel | 1935: Guaita | 1936 Meazza | 1937: Piola | 1938: Meazza | 1939: Boffi / Puricelli | 1940: Boffi | 1941: Puricelli | 1942: Boffi | 1943: Piola | 1946: Castigliano | 1947: V. Mazzola | 1948: Boniperti | 1949: Nyers | 1950: Nordahl | 1951: Nordahl | 1952: Hansen | 1953: Nordahl | 1954: Nordahl | 1955: Nordahl | 1956: Pivatelli | 1957: Da Costa | 1958: Charles | 1959: Angelillo | 1960: Sívori | 1961: Brighenti | 1962: Altafini / Milani | 1963: Nielsen / Manfredini | 1964: Nielsen | 1965: Orlando / S. Mazzola | 1966: Vinício | 1967: Riva | 1968: Prati | 1969: Riva | 1970: Riva | 1971: Boninsegna | 1972: Boninsegna | 1973: Pulici / Rivera / Savoldi | 1974: Chinaglia | 1975: Pulici | 1976: Pulici | 1977: Graziani | 1978: Rossi | 1979: Giordano | 1980: Bettega | 1981: Pruzzo | 1982: Pruzzo | 1983: Platini | 1984: Platini | 1985: Platini | 1986: Pruzzo | 1987: Virdis | 1988: Maradona | 1989: Serena | 1990: van Basten | 1991: Vialli | 1992: van Basten | 1993: Signori | 1994: Signori | 1995: Batistuta | 1996: Signori / Protti | 1997: Inzaghi | 1998: Bierhoff | 1999: Amoroso | 2000: Shevchenko | 2001: Crespo | 2002: Trezeguet / Hübner | 2003: Vieri | 2004: Shevchenko | 2005: Lucarelli | 2006: Toni | 2007: Totti | 2008: Del Piero | 2009: Ibrahimović FIFA 100 UEFA Baggio · Ballack · Banks · Baresi · Beckenbauer · Beckham · Bergkamp · Bergomi · Best · Boniek · Boniperti · Breitner · Buffon · Butragueño · Cantona · Ceulemans · Charlton · Cruyff · Dalglish · Dasayev · Davids · Del Piero · Desailly · Deschamps · Emre · Eusébio · Facchetti · Figo · Fontaine · Gullit · Hagi · Henry · Kahn · Keane · Keegan · Klinsmann · Kluivert · Kopa · B. Laudrup · M. Laudrup · Lineker · Luis Enrique · Maier · Maldini · Masopust · Matthäus · Müller · Nedvěd · Neeskens · Nesta · Owen · Papin · Pfaff · Pirès · Platini · Puskás · Raúl · Rensenbrink · Rijkaard · Rivera · Rossi · Rui Costa · Rummenigge · Rüştü · Schmeichel · Seedorf · Seeler · Shearer · Shevchenko · Stoichkov · Šuker · Thuram · Totti · Trésor · Trezeguet · van Basten · R. van de Kerkhof  · W. van de Kerkhof · Van der Elst · van Nistelrooy · Vieira · Vieri · Zidane · Zoff CONMEBOL Carlos Alberto · Batistuta · Cafu · Crespo · Cubillas · di Stéfano · Falcão · Figueroa · Francescoli · Júnior · Kempes · Maradona · Passarella · Pelé · Rivaldo · Rivelino · Roberto Carlos · Romário · Romerito · Ronaldinho · Ronaldo · Djalma Santos · Nílton Santos · Saviola · Sívori · Sócrates · Valderrama · Verón · Zamorano · Zanetti · Zico CAF Diouf · Milla · Okocha · Abédi Pelé · Weah CONCACAF Akers · Hamm · Sánchez AFC Hong · Nakata