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Marcelo Daniel Gallardo (born January 18, 1976 in Merlo, Buenos Aires, Argentina) is an Argentine footballer. He is an attacking midfielder in the role of playmaker who plays for River Plate in Argentina.

Club career

Early years

Nicknamed El Muñeco (the doll) due to his small frame (169 cm, 70 kg), Gallardo started his football career back in 1992-93 season with River Plate and won 4 Argentinian Torneo de Apertura (93, 94, 96 and 97), 1 Argentinian Torneo de Clausura (1997) and 1 Copa Libertadores (1996).He grew up with his three cousin Michael,James,John they played football with each other everyday .

His initial spell with Los Millonarios lasted until season 1992-99, by then he had played 109 league games for them and scored 17 goals.

Europe

In 1999, he was snapped up by Monaco. In his first season in Europe, Gallardo proved his worth and played 28 games, scoring 8 goals and formed lethal partnership with Ludovic Giuly in Midfield.

In the following season, Gallardo won his first Première Division and Trophée Des Champions with Monaco.

As a team containing many big-name players such as Marco Simone, Christian Panucci, Ludovic Giuly, Philippe Christanval, Rafael Márquez, Sabri Lamouchi, David Trezeguet, and John Arne Riise, Monaco enjoyed their success domestically and it was evident Gallardo was one of the star players, having won the French League Footballer of the Year that year.

However in his third season, things did not go well off the pitch for Gallardo as he was not in good terms with his coach Didier Deschamps[1] after being named on the bench midway through 2000-01 season. Following the examples of Panucci and Simone, Gallardo decided to leave Monaco at the end of the season.

Back to Argentina

After making 102 appearances and scoring 18 goals for Monaco, Gallardo returned to his old club River Plate as club captain, he helped them win another Clausura in 2004.

Back to France

Marcello Gallardo was bought by the Parisian club PSG for an undisclosed fee in January 2007. Paris Saint-Germain signed a two year contract with Marcelo and made his debut in a 3-0 cup win against Nîmes on January 7.

On January 13, 2007 he played his first Ligue 1 match for PSG against Valenciennes^[1]

After spending only one season with the club, Gallardo terminated his contract, looking to move to Major League Soccer in the United States.^[2]

Major League Soccer with D.C. United

On January 29, 2008 Gallardo was presented as the newest member of D.C. United. With a 2008 salary of $1.87 million, Gallardo is the highest-paid player in United history and its first Designated Player. Gallardo has the third-largest salary in MLS for 2008, behind English midfielder David Beckham of the Los Angeles Galaxy ($6.5 million guaranteed) and Mexican forward Cuauhtémoc Blanco of the Chicago Fire ($2.67 million).^[3] He scored his first league goal for United on April 5, 2008 against Toronto FC. On July 17 and 19 Gallardo underwent surgery for a sports hernia. In February 2009 he left D.C. United and returned for the third time to his old club River Plate.

National team

Gallardo made his international debut for Argentina in 1994 against Chile and made 44 appearances and scored 14 goals. He was also in the Argentina squad for the 1998 World Cup and 2002 World Cup.

Playing Style

He tends to play as a central playmaker. He is well known for his free kicks and corners. He is also skillful in confrontation and possesses an intelligent footballing brain although he is best known for his defense splitting passes.

Honours

Medal record
Competitor for  Argentina
Men's Football
Olympic Games
Silver	1996 Atlanta	Team Competition
Pan American Games
Gold	1995 Mar del Plata	Team Competition

With Club Atlético River Plate

• Primera División Argentina (1993A, 1994A, 1996A, 1997C, 1997A, 2004C)
• Copa Libertadores (1996)
• Supercopa Sudamericana (1997)

With AS Monaco FC

• Ligue 1 (2000)
• Trophée des champions (2000)
• Coupe de la Ligue (2003)

With Paris Saint-Germain

• Coupe de la Ligue (2008)

With D.C. United

• U.S. Open Cup (2009) ; With D.C. United

Individual Honors

References

External links

• Marcelo Gallardo at National-Football-Teams.com
• Statistics at Irish Times
• Argentine Primera statistics

Argentina Squad 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 – 1995 Copa América 1 Cristante • 2 Ayala • 3 Chamot • 4 Zanetti • 5 Pérez • 6 Cáceres • 7 Balbo • 8 Simeone • 9 Batistuta • 10 Gallardo • 11 Berti • 12 Bossio • 13 Altamirano • 14 Schürrer • 15 Fabbri • 16 Astrada • 17 Escudero • 18 Espina • 19 Ortega • 20 Acosta • 21 Borrelli • 22 Burgos • 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 – 1997 Copa América 1 Bassedas • 2 Berizzo • 3 Berti • 4 Calderón • 5 Cardoso • 6 Cardozo • 7 Cruz • 8 Delgado • 9 Gallardo • 10 González • 11 Husaín • 12 López • 13 Martínez • 14 Monserrat • 15 Ojeda • 16 Pellegrino • 17 Pineda • 18 Posse • 19 Roa • 20 Rotchen • 21 Vivas • 22 Zapata • 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