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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, coached by Carlo Ancelotti, Crespo helped Parma finish runners-up in Serie A, scoring 12 goals in 27 matches. In 1999, with Parma he won 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, as recuested by his former coach Carlo Ancelotti, for the 2004-05 season, where he reacquire his level scoring 10 goals. Crespo scored two of Milan's three goals in the 2004/2005 Champions League Final against Liverpool.
International career
In February 1995, Crespo won his first cap for Argentina national team, 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. He played for his country in the 1998 and Template:Wcs. He play for Argentina 52 caps, scoring 39 goals.
Fans used to call Crespo "Valdanito" because his looks, build and running style recall Template:Wc winning forward Jorge Valdano.
In May 2005 he married Italian model Alessia Rossi Andra, with whom he has a daughter.
In June 2005, and as part of his come back of the 2004/05 season, Crespo scored two goals in Argentina's 3:1 World Cup Qualifying Triumph over thier arch-rivals Brazil in Buenos Aires, revenging Argentine loss to Brazil on penalty shootout in the 2004 Copa America Tournament. This win ensured Argentina's participation in the Template:Wc.
External links
- Crespo at AFA (http://www2.afa.uolsinectis.com.ar/Seleccion_Nacional/Mayores/Jugadores/Jugadores.htm?Op=101&Cod_Jugador=25)
- UEFA.com:Short biografy (http://www.uefa.com/Competitions/UCL/Players/Player=33820/)
- Crespo's statistics (http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=13880)de:Hernán Crespo
es:Hernán Crespo fr:Hernán Crespo it:Hernan Crespo nl:Hernán Crespo ja:エルナン・クレスポ