Hernán Crespo (born 5 July 1975 in Florida, Argentina) is an
Argentine international football player. He plays in Italian
Serie A for AC Milan.
Club career
Crespo made his River Plate debut and scored 13 goals in 25
league matches in 1993/94 season. He helped River Plate win the
Apertura league title, the second of two championships held in
Argentina in the year. He helped River win the Apertura title
again in 1994. In 1996, Crespo helped River to win the Copa
Libertadores, the South American club championship, scoring
twice in the home leg of the final in Buenos Aires.
He left River for Parma in Italy in August 1996 after he won the
silver medal with Argentina in the Atlanta 1996 Summer Olympics,
finishing the tournament as top scorer with six goals. In May
1997, Crespo helped Parma finish runners-up in Serie A, scoring
12 goals in 27 matches. In 1999, Crespo helped Parma win both
the Italian Cup and the UEFA Cup (in the final against Olympique
de Marseille, held in Moscow, Crespo scored the opening goal in
Parma's 3-0 victory). In 2000, Lazio broke the world transfer
record by paying $54.1 million for Crespo. He ended his first
season in Lazio as top scorer in Serie A with 26 goals.
In September 2002, Crespo signed for Internazionale as
replacement for the departed Ronaldo, for €40 million.
Crespo signed for English Premiership club Chelsea on 26 August
2003. However, he had a disappointing season in London, making
only 31 appearances in all competitions and scoring 12 goals.
After José Mourinho took over as Chelsea manager in the 2004 off-season,
Crespo became surplus to Chelsea's plans, and was loaned out to
AC Milan for the 2004-05 season.
International career
In February 1995, Crespo won his first cap for Argentina, in a
friendly against Bulgaria in Mendoza, but he had to wait 16
months for his second cap and more than two years for his first
goal.
Nickname
Fans used to call Crespo "Valdanito" because his looks, build
and running style recall 1986 World Cup winning forward Jorge
Valdano. |
