Ezequiel Lavezzi

At 39 years old, Ezequiel Lavezzi has this physical status:

Ezequiel Lavezzi, an American footballer, was born 3 May 1985; [ese l i-an laesi]; born 3 May 1985) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a forward. His most notable attributes during his career were his stamina, hardworking style of play, experimentation, and dribbling skills; although he was often deployed as a winger, he was also used as a second striker or as an attacking midfielder on occasion.

He began his career at Estudiantes (BA), and after one season, Genoa, who loaned him to San Lorenzo, where he later moved on a permanent basis, he began his career. He was signed by Napoli in 2007, where he won the 2012 Coppa Italia. His exploits earned him a €26.5 million transfer to Paris Saint-Germain in 2012, where he made over 150 appearances for the club and gained three Ligue 1 titles, two Coupes de la Ligue, and one Coupe de France. He completed his career in China, where he competed for Hebei China Fortune from 2016 to 2019.

Lavezzi served with Argentina's national team from 2007 to 2016. He was a member of the Olympic gold medal winning in 2008 and later assisted them in reaching the finals of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Copa América and Centenario.

Personal life

Lavezzi is Catholic and has a tattoo of Jesus on his chest, a portrait of the Virgin Mary on his right arm, and a tattoo of a pair of rosary beads on his right abdomen. Agustn's nephew, Agustn, is also a professional footballer.

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Club career

In 2003, Lavezzi moved to Estudiantes (BA), where he played 39 games and scored 17 goals.

He was purchased by Italian side Genoa in 2004 for €1 million but was loaned out straight away to Argentina's San Lorenzo. He played in the Apertura 2004 tournament, scoring eight goals in total over the course of the year; his fourth top scorer finished in fourth place.

At River Plate Stadium, Lavezzi's most notable contributions included a spectacular attempt against River Plate. He scored in the 69th minute to give San Lorenzo a major victory and seriously damage River's title hopes. Since being named la Bestia ("the Beast") in Argentina's media, he has earned him the nickname "the Beast."

Despite the fact that Lavezzi was supposed to return to Genoa on loan, there were obstacles: while Lavezzi was playing in Argentina, Genoa was involved in a suspected match-fixing controversy that culminated in their demotion to Serie C1, the third level of Italian football. The promising forward was sold to San Lorenzo for €1.2 million due to financial difficulties.

On his return to San Lorenzo for the 2005 season, he helped the team advance to the top of the table, scoring eight goals and finishing as the top scorer in the country. His last act as a San Lorenzo player was to help them win the Clausura 2007 championship, beating Boca Juniors by six points.

After finishing as runners-up in Serie B last season, Napoli recently earned promotion back to Serie A. Napoli signed Lavezzi on a five-year deal in 2007 in an attempt to improve their squad for a return to the top level. The transfer fee was approximately €6 million, and he was greeted by the fans and given the number seven shirt for his first season.

In a 3–1 victory over Pisa in the Coppa Italia, Lavezzi made a hat-trick for the club, scoring a hat-trick for the first time by a Napoli player in 14 years. During a 5–0 victory over Udinese on September 2, 2007, Lavezzi scored his first league goal. He was described as "inspirational" in news after the match, and the media announced that "Napoli's star is born." When Diego Maradona was at the club, the Neapolitan club hadn't won a league match by such a large margin since 1988.

As they often do to many promising young Argentine players who appear in Italy, the media has been quick to condemn Lavezzi as "New Maradona." Lavezzi, on the other hand, did not play this down, preferring himself to Carlos Tevez, another Argentine player.

He scored eight goals in 35 games during the 2007–08 season. With his quick feet and sharpness around the box, he quickly became a central point of the fans' affection. He scored seven goals in 30 games during the 2008-09 season. He scored eight goals in 30 games in the season 2009-10, but he missed around ten games due to injuries. Lavezzi stayed at Napoli for the 2010-11 season, but was given the number 22 jersey after he gave his number seven to recently signed striker Edinson Cavani as a thank gesture. He scored two goals in the UEFA Europa League against IF Elfsborg and Liverpool, respectively, as well as assisting a further 12 in the Serie A, while also finding the back of the net in a Coppa Italia match against Bologna.

In a convincing 3–1 victory over Cesena on September 10, Lavezzi scored his first goal of the 2011-12 season, butchery opened the scoring in the third minute after controlling a long ball from Hugo Campagnaro. As he volleyed in a lobbed pass from strike partner Edinson Cavani to bring Napoli to a 2–0 victory over Udinese on October 26, Lavezzi was named "Man of the Match." As Napoli defeated Lecce 4–2, Lavezzi netted once and gave an assist for one of Cavani's goals before the winter break.

Lavezzi rounded off the scoring in Napoli's convincing 3–0 victory over Fiorentina on February 17, 2012, with a long-range goal. He scored his first two Champions League goals in the first leg of the tournament, beating Chelsea 3–1 in the Round of 16. As Napoli defeated Internazionale and climbed to fifth place in the Serie A standings on Sunday, Lavezzi scored the only goal of the game on Sunday.

The Lavezzi scored the winning goal against Parma in the 86th minute in the 86th minute on March 4, 2012, but the result was uncertain, as Lavezzi appeared to be in an offside position. Napoli beat Cagliari 6–3 on March 9 to warm up for their Round of 16 second leg tie against Chelsea, with Lavezzi scoring a penalty and providing an assist. In a 3-1 loss to Atalanta on April 11, Lavezzi scored his ninth and final Serie A goal of the season, defeating goalkeeper Andrea Consigli.

Lavezzi won his first piece of silverware with Napoli on May 20, 2012, as the team defeated Juventus 2–0 in the Coppa Italia final. Lavezzi was fouled in the penalty box by Juventus goalkeeper Marco Storari, and Napoli were given a penalty by Edinson Cavani, who gave Napoli their first goal and the club their first trophy in more than 20 years.

Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain announced on July 2nd that they had agreed to a €26.5 million transfer fee for the rights to Lavezzi and agreed to a four-year contract, reportedly worth up to €30 million. In the first match of the 2012–13 Ligue 1 season, Lavezzi made his PSG debut against FC Lorient in a 2–2 draw. PSG's first two goals came on November 21 in the Champions League, securing qualification for the Round of 16 with a 0–2 away victory over Dynamo Kyiv.

On December 4, Lavezzi scored his third Champions League goal for PSG, while goalkeeper Helton was netting near the goalkeeper's near post shortly after the hour's time; the Portuguese champions' 2–1 loss guaranteed PSG's top spot in the team. In PSG's 4–0 victory over Evian at the Parc des Princes, his first league goal came four days later, on December 8th. Lavezzi scored PSG's fourth goal after a Zlatan Ibrahimovi hat-trick, as the capital club handed Valenciennes FC their first home loss of the season.

Lavezzi scored the first goal against Valencia CF in the Champions League Round of 16, helping PSG win by 1–2 on the first leg away. For the first time since 1995, Lavezzi secured the tie, equalizing the game at 1–1 and giving the French side a 3–2 aggregate win.

PSG won by 3–2 over Metz on November 21, 2014, putting PSG in first place in Ligue 1 ahead of Marseille.

PSG boss Laurent Blanc banned Lavezzi and Edinson Cavani from two matches in January 2015 after missing a mid-season training camp in Morocco and the first training session after the break.

In PSG's 6–1 loss to Lille on April 25, Lavezzi scored a hat-trick. He scored the winning goal in Montpellier's 2–1 victory on May 16th to win the third straight French league title for the Paris Saint-Germain.

Lavezzi signed Hebei China Fortune on a two-year contract, ensuring he will make £10 million a year. Lavezzi was limited to just 10 appearances in his debut season for Hebei China Fortune after suffering an injury in June 2016 on international service for Argentina in the Copa América.

Lavezzi was snapped in a Chinese Super League photo shoot in May 2017, a pose he was apparently told to perform by the cameraman in one shot. On social media, Chinese people and others have accused Lavezzi of bigotry, which has sparked a lot of backlash. Later in life, Lavezzi apologised for the incident.

In the 1–3 loss to Guangzhou Evergrande on November 27, Lavezzi scored his last goal for the club. He announced his retirement just after the match.

International career

On April 18, 2007, Lavezzi made his international debut for Argentina's national team against Chile.

Lavezzi was selected to the Olympic football team in 2008, which represented Argentina at the 2008 Olympics. He scored two goals during the Olympic games, one against Australia on August 10, 2008, and a penalty against Serbia on August 13, 2008. In the final minutes of extra time of the gold-medal match against Nigeria, which Argentina beat Nigeria 13-0.

Lavezzi's club form was not strong enough to include him in Diego Maradona's 2010 FIFA World Cup squad, a surprise departure for him and Newcastle United defender Fabricio Coloccini. Argentina defeated Brazil in a friendly match in Qatar on November 17th, where Argentina took the trophy from Lionel Messi in injury time after a spectacular one-two match with Lavezzi.

He has since been a regular for the senior national team, under Sergio Batista, who coached Lavezzi in the 2008 Olympics. He was selected by Batista in Argentina's 2011 Copa América squad. He scored the first goal in Argentina's last pre-tournament warm-up match against Albania on June 21, 2011, thawing Argentina. It was Lavezzi's first goal for the national team. Lavezzi made three appearances on home soil in the last tournament, but she was disqualified for the quarter-final match, in which the hosts were defeated on penalties by the eventual champions Uruguay.

Argentina's 23-man 2014 FIFA World Cup squad was selected by new coach Alejandro Sabella for Argentina's 23-man team. Messi's match-winning goal against Iran came off the bench, as well as Rojo's goal against Nigeria, during his six appearances throughout the tournament, setting up Messi's match-winning goal against Iran after being off the bench. He set up a goal for Higua's in the final but it was incorrectly ruled off-side; Lavezzi was brought on by Sergio Agüero at halftime; Argentina lost 1–0 in extra time.

Lavezzi was a member of Argentina's team that qualified for the 2015 Copa América but was defeated on penalties by hosts Chile.

In May 2016, Lavezzi was included in Gerardo Martino's final 23-man Argentina squad for the Copa América Centenario. Lavezzi got off to a promising start in Argentina's last group match against Bolivia on June 14th, scoring a goal and setting up another in a 3–0 victory; he was named Man of the Match. Lavezzi opened the scoring in the third minute of play and later set up Gonzalo Higua's first goal after crashing over the advertisement board while chasing the ball. He was ruled out of the final against Chile due to a 0–0 draw after extra time due to the injury.

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