Roberto Abbondanzieri

Roberto Carlos "Pato" Abbondanzieri (born Abbondancieri on 19 August 1972) is an Argentine professional former footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

Roberto Abbondanzieri
Abbondanzieri in 2007
Personal information
Full name Roberto Carlos Abbondancieri[1]
Date of birth (1972-08-19) 19 August 1972
Place of birth Bouquet, Argentina
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
Rosario Central
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1994–1996 Rosario Central 57 (0)
1996–2006 Boca Juniors 204 (0)
2006–2009 Getafe 83 (0)
2009–2010 Boca Juniors 22 (0)
2010 Internacional 8 (0)
Total 374 (0)
International career
1989 Argentina U-17 3 (0)
2004–2008 Argentina 46 (0)
Managerial career
2012–2013 Godoy Cruz (assistant)
2014–2015 Arsenal de Sarandí (assistant)
2016–2018 Unión Española (assistant)
2019 Pachuca (assistant)
2020–2021 Curicó Unido (assistant)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

He spent most of his career at Boca Juniors in his homeland, as well as Getafe of La Liga and Internacional of Brazil. He is currently the assistant manager of Pachuca.[2]

Abbondanzieri earned 49 caps for the Argentina national football team from 2004 to 2008, playing at two Copa America tournaments and the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Club career

Early career

Born in Bouquet, Santa Fe, Abbondanzieri's professional debut took place on 6 December 1994 at Santa Fe's Rosario Central, with whom he would soon after winning the 1995 CONMEBOL Cup. He played with the club until 1997, when he moved to Boca Juniors to be the reserve goalkeeper.

Abbondanzieri trained in the shadow of Óscar Córdoba until the Colombian goalie suffered an injury during the Clausura tournament of 1999. However, Abbondanzieri himself then suffered a shoulder injury during a match against River Plate, and the club's third-choice goalkeeper, Cristian Muñoz, took his place. When he recovered from his injury Abbondanzieri was once again Córdoba's understudy until February 2002, when Córdoba moved to Italian club Perugia.

Abbondanzieri changed his name in July 2002 from Abbondancieri, a misspelling that arose at Argentinian customs when his grandfather immigrated there, to the original spelling that he uses today. The name change was prompted by Italian citizenship concerns in the case of his transfer to the European football leagues.[3] He was named South American Goalkeeper of the Year in 2003.[4]

Until September 2006, when Boca achieved their third Recopa Sudamericana, he held the Boca Juniors record of 14 titles, surpassed later by Guillermo Barros Schelotto.

Getafe

In June 2006, after weeks of speculation, Abbondanzieri signed a three-year contract with Spanish first division Getafe CF, claiming that "it's the right time for me to go to Europe".[5] In his debut season in the Spanish league, he won the Ricardo Zamora Trophy to the best goalkeeper, after conceding only 30 goals in 37 matches.

On 10 April 2008, in a UEFA Cup quarterfinal second-leg match against Bayern Munich, Abbondanzieri made a vital error in extra time, as the goalkeeper failed to hold a routine ball from a distant free-kick. The ball slipped under his legs while in the six-yard box, allowing Bayern striker Luca Toni to tap the ball into the back of the net. Bayern was still in deficit of goals on aggregate, as the score was 2–3 after the goal (3–4 on aggregate), but only five minutes later Bayern would level the score at 3–3 (4–4 on aggregate) and allow themselves passage to the UEFA Cup semifinals via the away goals rule.[6]

Return to South America

Abbondanzieri continued with Getafe for the first half of the 2008–2009 season, but at his request was transferred back to Boca Juniors for the 2009 Clausura tournament. "El Pato" was again Boca's number one and competed in the Clausura, although Boca only finished in 14th. He also participated in the Copa Libertadores, where Boca fell to Defensor Sporting of Uruguay in the round of 16.

On 16 February 2010, Internacional signed the Argentine goalkeeper "Pato" from Boca Juniors.[7] Abbondanzieri retired on 18 December after the match against Seongnam for the third place of FIFA Club World Cup. Internacional won 4–2.

Coaching

In November 2012, Abbondanzieri was named as assistant when his former Boca teammate Martín Palermo was hired at Godoy Cruz Antonio Tomba.[8] In April 2014, the pair and Rolando Schiavi took the same job at Arsenal de Sarandí.[9]

Abbondanzieri and Palermo moved to Chile to manage Unión Española in May 2016.[10]

On 28 November 2020, Abbondanzieri was appointed assistant coach at Chilean club Curicó Unido, once again under Martín Palermo.[11] However, at the end of May 2021, Abbondanzieri announced that he would step back from football to spent more time with his family.[12]

International career

As a youth, Abbondanzieri represented Argentina in the 1989 FIFA U-17 World Championship.

Since then, he became a continuous presence in Boca's goal and, in June 2004, he became the goalkeeper for the Argentina national team and has since played in the Copa América 2004 and the South American Qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

On 6 May 2006, he was named as a definite squad member for the 2006 World Cup by coach José Pekerman.

On 30 June 2006, he was injured in the World Cup quarter-finals against hosts Germany, after Argentina had taken a 1–0 lead. German striker Miroslav Klose jumped up high for a header while running and collided with Abbondanzieri, with Klose's right leg hitting the Argentinian keeper in the chest. Klose, who had looked sideways to watch for the ball in the moments leading up to the collision and thus may not have seen Abbondanzieri, received no penalty. Abbondanzieri continued at first but had to be carried off on a stretcher some minutes later, to be replaced by Leo Franco, who later failed to save Klose's equalizing strike in the 80th minute, and the four penalty kicks in the ensuing penalty shootout, which Argentina lost 2–4.[13]

He continued to be Argentina's first choice goalkeeper under Alfio Basile following the 2006 World Cup. He played all six games in the 2007 Copa America in Venezuela as Argentina reached the final, only to lose to Brazil, 3–0. He remained Basile's goalkeeper through the early stages of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa but was forced out injured during a 1–1 draw at home to Paraguay. After recovering from his injury, Basile had been replaced by Diego Maradona, who left him off the squad.

Career statistics

Club

[14]

Club Season League Cup Continental Total
Division AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Rosario Central 1994–95Primera División140--140
1995–96 Primera División250--250
1996–97 Primera División180--180
Total 57 0 0 0 57 0
Boca Juniors 1996–97Primera División80--80
1997–98 Primera División130--50180
1998–99 Primera División80--1090
1999–00 Primera División80--80
2000–01 Primera División160--70230
2001–02 Primera División220--120340
2002–03 Primera División330--140470
2003–04 Primera División320--220540
2004–05 Primera División310--200510
2005–06 Primera División330--330
Total 204 0 0 0 71 0 275 0
Getafe 2006–07La Liga36000--360
2007–08 La Liga3400020360
2008–09 La Liga13000--130
Total 83 0 0 0 2 0 85 0
Boca Juniors 2008–09Primera División190--80270
2009–10 Primera División90--1-100
Total 28 0 0 0 9 0 37 0
Internacional 2010Série A8000100180
Career total 3800009204640

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year[14]

National team YearAppsGoals
Argentina 2004110
200590
200690
2007140
200860
Total490

Honours

Rosario Central

Boca Juniors

Internacional

Individual

References
  1. Spanish pronunciation: [roˈβeɾto ˈkaɾlos (ˈpato) aβondanˈsjeɾi])
  2. Roberto Abbondanzieri, auxiliar de lujo para Pachuca, futboltotal.com.mx, 21 January 2019
  3. "profile". Footballdatabase.com. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
  4. Sporting Life Archived 14 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  5. "Abbondanzieri está cada día más cerca del Getafe". 19 June 2006.
  6. "Toni's last-gasp brace sends Bayern into semis". FC Bayern Munich. 10 April 2008. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  7. "El portero Roberto Abbondanzieri cerca del Internacional de Porto Alegre" (in Spanish). Ecodiario.eleconomista.es. 16 February 2010. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
  8. Almedo, Rodrigo (24 November 2012). "Martín Palermo aceptó ser el DT de Godoy Cruz" [Martín Palermo accepted to become Godoy Cruz manager]. Los Andes (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  9. "Palermo, Schiavi y Abbondanzieri fueron presentados en Arsenal" [Palermo, Schiavi and Abbondanzieri were presented at Arsenal] (in Spanish). LM Neuquen. 18 April 2014. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  10. "El 'Loco' Martín Palermo asume como DT de chileno Unión Española" ['El Loco' Martín Palermo hired as manager of Chilean club Unión Española]. El Comercio (in Spanish). 11 May 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  11. Palermo ya es el nuevo técnico de Curicó Unido de Chile, pagina12.com.ar, 28 November 2020
  12. Abbondanzieri dejó a Palermo y se alejó del fútbol: "Me perdí muchas cosas de la vida", tycsports.com, 24 May 2021
  13. Moore, Glen (1 July 2006). "Soccer: Striker's destiny Klose at hand". NZ Herald. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  14. "Roberto Abbondanzieri". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
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