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Tue 23 February 2021 | 16:30

Gonzalo Higuain Biography

As the record holder for the most Serie A goals in a season, many consider Gonzalo Higuain to be one of the best strikers in the football world right now. In this article, we take a look at his biography.

Gonzalo Higuain, born on 10 December 1987, in Brest, France, is an Argentine football player who plays as a striker. With the

Argentina national team

, he was the 2014 World Cup runner-up and

Copa America

runner-up in 2015 and 2016.

He proved to be one of the most prolific strikers in the game, Higuain scored 36 goals during the 2015-16 season, setting the record for the most goals scored in

Serie A

in a single season, surpassing the previous record-holder Gunnar Nordahl by one goal, in the 2019-20 season his record was matched by Ciro Immobile. His July 2016 transfer from

Napoli

to

Juventus

for €90 million was the most expensive in Serie A history for two years.

He started playing football at the Argentine Club Palermo and then at the age of ten he arrived at

River Plate

where he played most of his time in the lower divisions and for two seasons in the First Division. In addition, he was chosen as part of the Ideal Team of America. In December 2006, he was transferred for 12 million euros to

Real Madrid

, where he won many titles.

After seven seasons at the Merengue, in July 2013 he was transferred for €40 million to Napoli and won an Italian Cup and an Italian Super Cup. In mid-2016, he was signed by Juventus F.C. for €90 million, the third most expensive transfer in the world to that date.

He has made a total of 75 appearances with the Argentine national team, of which he is the sixth overall player in both the total tally of goals scored (31) and

World Cup

goals scored (5).

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All You Need to Know About Gonzalo Higuain Biography

In his career, he has won three La Ligas (2006-07, 2007-08, 2011-12), two Spanish Super Cups (2008 and 2012) and one Spanish Cup (2010-11) with Real Madrid, one Coppa Italia (2013-14) and one Italian Super Cup (2014) with Napoli, three Italian Serie A titles (2016-17, 2017-18 and 2019-20) and two Italian Cups (2016-17 and 2017-18) with Juventus, and one UEFA Europa League (2018-19) with Chelsea.

Gonzalo Higuain Information

In this section of

Gonzalo Higuain biography

, we will share some general information about him such as

Gonzalo Higuain nationality

to let you know him much better.

Gonzalo Higuain Bio

  • Full Name: Gonzalo Gerardo Higuain

  • Nickname: El Pipita

  • Profession: Professional Footballer

Gonzalo Higuain Physical Stats

  • Weight: 89 Kg

  • Height: 1.86 m

  • Eye Color: Black

  • Hair Color: Brown

Gonzalo Higuain Football Information

  • Position: Striker

  • Jersey Number: 9

  • Professional Debut: 2005

Gonzalo Higuain Date of Birth and Personal Info

  • Date of Birth: 10 December 1987

  • Birth Place: Brest, France

  • Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius

  • Nationality: Argentinian

Stay tuned as in this section of

Gonzalo Higuain biography

we want to share some information about

Gonzalo Higuain childhood

.

Gonzalo Higuain Early Life

Higuain started playing football at Club Palermo where he was spotted by River Plate scouts who took him to the club when he was ten years old, where the footballer played most of his youth football. He played his first competitive match in the first team of the club on May 5, 2005, under Leonardo Astrada (coach at that time), when he was only 17 years old, in the 2005 Clausura Tournament 15th matchday where he played against Gymnasia y Esgrima La Plata, and they were defeated by 1:2.

His first goal was scored against Banfield in the fourth matchday of the 2006 Clausura Tournament, contributing to the 3:1 home victory against the Taladro.

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Gonzalo Higuain Profile

In the first half of 2006, his participation in the

Copa Libertadores

meant for him not only his first experience but also his first goals in the intercontinental level, standing out in the match against Corinthians in the second leg played at the Pacaembú Stadium in the Round of 16, where he scored a brace and enabled his team to continue advancing to the next round. His outstanding performance in the team for this tournament allowed him to be named part of the "America's Best Team".

In the second half of 2006, a business group bought fifty percent of his football pass for US$6 million and Higuain continued to improve his skills in both international tournaments such as the Copa Sudamericana and at home, winning the love of the red and white fans after scoring two goals in the Argentinean Super Clasico that contributed to his team's victory and attracted the attention of prestigious European clubs such as Lazio, Manchester United, Milan and Real Madrid.

Stay tuned as in this section of

Gonzalo Higuain biography

we want to share some information about his Real Madrid career.

Real Madrid

The excellent performances with the River Plate jersey promoted the Argentine striker to Europe and on 14 December 2006, a few days after he turned 19, he was bought outright by Real Madrid for 13 million euros, on the recommendation of coach Fabio Capello, signing a six-and-a-half-year contract starting the following January. He played his first match with Real Madrid on 11 January 2007 in the Cup match against Betis.

He scored his first goal the following 24 February in the derby against

Atlético Madrid

, scoring the equalizer at the Estadio Vicente Calderón. Three days before, he had made his debut in Europe's top competition, the Champions League, starting as a starter in the match against Bayern Munich in the first leg of the Round of 16, which Real Madrid won 3-2.

In the following season, with the new coach Bernd Schuster at the helm of Real Madrid, he struggled to keep consistent performances, surrounded by Raúl and van Nistelrooy, with the German coach also often deploying him out of position, declaring that he "did not know where to put him" and even doubting the player's scoring ability. He won the league again, scoring 8 goals in 25 games.

With Juande Ramos on the bench, he was finally able to get more playing time and a high-profile performance. On 24 August 2008, he won the Spanish Super Cup by scoring the winning goal in the 4-1 win over

Valencia

in the return leg at the Santiago Bernabéu. This season, thanks to a serious injury to van Nistelrooy, he cemented his place in Real Madrid's starting eleven.

On 26 October, he scored his first double of the season in La Liga, contributing to the 3-2 win in the match against

Athletic Bilbao

. On 8 November, he scored his first career hat-trick against Malaga. In total, he scored 22 goals and 9 assists in 35 games, establishing himself as the team's top scorer of the season. He was also the first player to score in the league.

In the 2009-10 season, the Chilean Manuel Pellegrini arrived as the new Real Madrid coach, with whom the Argentine striker established a good relationship. On 14 March 2010, he scored a hat-trick in the match against Real Valladolid. At the end of the season, he was confirmed as Real Madrid's top scorer with 27 goals, one more than his new teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, and he was also the La Liga's second top scorer behind Lionel Messi, who scored 34. In the whole season, he scored 29 goals in 40 matches.

He renewed his contract with Real Madrid until 2016 on 7 June 2010, although, with the arrival of Portuguese coach José Mourinho on the Real Madrid bench, he was used less often.

On 3 November, he entered in the history books of the Spanish club by scoring Real Madrid's 700th goal in the top European competition against

AC Milan

, the first team to reach that figure in terms of goals scored. On 11 January 2011, he underwent surgery to remove a herniated disc, an operation that kept him off the pitch for three months.

Although he did not play, he won his first Copa del Rey on 20 April, when the team beat

Barcelona

1-0 in the final at the end of extra time. At the end of the season, he scored 13 goals in 25 league and cup appearances.

He scored his 100th goals with Real Madrid on 24 March 2012. On 21 April, Real Madrid won the La Liga by beating Barcelona 2-1 at Camp Nou. Higuain ended the season by scoring 22 goals, taking his place in the team after being rarely used by Mourinho the previous year. With Benzema (21 goals) and Cristiano Ronaldo (46), he formed the most prolific attacking trio in the history of Real Madrid and the Spanish La Liga.

On 29 August 2012, Higuain won the Spanish Super Cup against Barcelona, opening the scoring in the return match in Madrid, which ended 2-1 to the hosts, they won the trophy by the away goals rule. Higuain's first goal came in the second half of the season.

Due to the strong competition in the attacking department, at the end of the season he decided to leave Real, which he did after six and a half seasons with six trophies won, 264 games played and 121 goals scored. He was replaced by Benzema in the starting role.

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Napoli

At the end of July 2013, after expressing his desire to leave Real Madrid, the player was signed by Italian side Napoli, who paid a transfer fee of 40 million euros and offered him a five-season contract with an annual fee of 4.5 million euros. He played his first official game for the club on 25 August against

Bologna

in the first match of Serie A, in which his team won 3:0.

He scored his first goal for the club on the following matchday, against Chievo, scoring the fourth and final goal in a 4:2 win. In that league season, he finished third in the standings and was the team's top scorer with seventeen goals scored in thirty-two matches.

In his first season at Napoli, Pipita won the

Coppa Italia

in the final against Fiorentina, where he was a starter and beat them 3-1 to be crowned champion. A few months later, more precisely in December, the player won another title after winning the Italian Super Cup against Juventus, where the match ended in a 2:2 draw after ninety minutes, with Higuain scoring the double for the Neapolitans, and it had to be decided in a penalty shoot-out, where they won 8-7.

In the UEFA Champions League, they were drawn in Group F alongside Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund and Olympique Marseille, finishing third in the standings and qualifying for the

UEFA Europa League

. In that competition, they were eliminated in the round of 16 by Porto after being defeated at 3:2 on aggregate.

In the 2014-15 Serie A season, they finished in fifth place and Pipita was the team's top scorer with eighteen goals. In the Coppa Italia, they were eliminated in the semi-finals by Lazio 2:1 on aggregate. At the international level, in the Champions League, they failed to qualify from the group stage after losing in the preliminary round to Athletic Club 4:2 on aggregate.

They had to be content with playing in the Europa League in which they were in "Group I" and faced rivals such as Slovan Bratislava, Sparta Prague and Young Boys, finishing first and reaching the next round in which they faced Trabzonspor in the round of 32, then Dinamo Moscow in the round of 16, later Wolfsburg in the quarter-finals and finally Dnipro in the semi-final, with whom they were eliminated 2:1 on aggregate.

In the following league season, Higuain finished runner-up with his team and personally became record goalscorer of the Serie A with thirty-six goals, beating Gunnar Nordahl's record as top scorer in Serie A. In the Coppa Italia, he was eliminated in the quarter-finals after losing 2:0 to Inter Milan.

At the continental level, in the 2015-16 UEFA Europa League, they were drawn in "Group D" where they were played against Brugge, Legia Warsaw and Midtjylland, finishing first and qualifying for the round of 32 of the tournament where they faced Villarreal of Spain and were eliminated 2:1 on aggregate.

Stay tuned as in this section of Gonzalo Higuain biography we want to share some information about his career at Juventus.

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Juventus

In July 2016, after an excellent performance in the Neapolitan team, being the top scorer of the tournament twice, he was transferred to Juventus for a fee of 90 million euros, which made him the most important signing in the Italian league and the third in the world behind Gareth Bale (101 million euros) and Cristiano Ronaldo (94 million euros).

His first game of the 2016-17 season came on 20 August in a 2:1 win over Fiorentina, in the same match he also scored his first goal. On 10 September he scored a brace in a 3:1 win over Sassuolo at the Juventus Stadium.

On 8 April 2017, he scored a brace against Chievo Verona becoming the first player to score more than 20 goals in his first season with Juventus since John Charles and Omar Sívori achieved the same feat during the 1957-58 season. On 17 May, Juventus won their twelfth Coppa Italia after beating Lazio 2:0 in the final, in which Gonzalo played four matches and scored three goals (all in the semi-final against Napoli). Four days later, Juventus won their sixth consecutive Serie A title with a 3:0 victory over Crotone, setting an all-time record for successive victories in the competition.

El Pipita was present in every match and scored twenty-four goals. On 3 June 2017, Juventus played in their second Champions League final in three years but were defeated 4:1 by defending champions Real Madrid.

AC Milan

After Juventus signed Cristiano Ronaldo for the 2018/19 season, Higuain joined AC Milan on a one-year loan deal for a fee of €18 million. AC Milan then had the option to buy the transfer rights to Higuain for €36 million. At Milan, Higuain made 15 Serie A appearances until January 2019, scoring six goals.

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Chelsea FC

On 23 January 2019, the agreement between Juventus Turin and AC Milan was terminated. At the same time, Higuain moved to Chelsea FC in the Premier League on loan until the end of the 2018/19 season. His loan contract at Chelsea was for one year for €18 million, with an option to buy the transfer rights for €36 million.

Higuain made 14 Premier League appearances by the end of the season under head coach Maurizio Sarri, with whom he had already played at Napoli, scoring five goals. He also made one appearance in the Europa League, which Chelsea FC won against Arsenal FC. After the season, Higuain left the club alongside Sarri for Juventus Turin.

Return to Juventus

Higuain returned to Juventus for the 2019/20 season. He joined Cristiano Ronaldo and Paulo Dybala in the forward line under new head coach Maurizio Sarri, who had previously coached him at SSC Napoli and Chelsea, making 32 league appearances (20 from the start) he managed to score 8 goals.

Higuain also played 8 games (2 goals) in the Champions League, in which Juve was eliminated in the round of 16 by Olympique Lyon, and 3 games (one goal) in the Coppa Italia. At the end of the season, Higuain became Italian champion with Juventus.

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Inter Miami

In mid-September 2020, 32-year-old Higuain terminated his contract with Juventus and moved to Major League Soccer to join Inter Miami. He followed Blaise Matuidi, who had joined David Beckham's franchise a month earlier after terminating his contract with Juventus. A few weeks later, his older brother Federico also joined Inter Miami. Until the end of the 2020 season, Higuain was in the starting eleven in 9 MLS matches, scoring one goal.

Argentina National Team

Higuain does not speak French but, as he was born in France, he has French nationality as well as Argentinian. In November 2006, he was called up by French coach Raymond Domenech for a national team match against Greece but declined to play because he preferred to play for Argentina. On 10 October 2009, he debuted for the Argentina national team against Peru.

As expected, he was nominated for the 2010 World Cup. In Argentina's second group match, he scored three goals against South Korea in a 4-1 win. In the round of 16 against Mexico, he scored the second goal (final score 3-1). In the quarter-finals, he and Argentina were defeated by Germany.

Four years later, he took part in the 2014 World Cup. In the qualifiers, Lionel Messi with ten and Higuain with nine goals were the second and third highest scorers. Argentina had qualified as group winners. Higuain played in each of Argentina's seven matches and scored the winning goal against Belgium in the quarter-finals (where he was also voted Man of the Match). In the final, his team lost to Germany. Nevertheless, this participation was Argentina's best performance in a World Cup tournament since 1990.

In 2015, Higuain reached the final of the Copa América 2015 with Argentina, scoring two goals during the tournament. Argentina lost the final in a penalty shootout. Here, Higuain missed one of the penalties.

He was in the Argentina national team squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. There, the team was eliminated in the round of 16 against the eventual world champions France.

In March 2019, Higuain announced his retirement from the national team. He made his 75th and final appearance on 26 June 2018 in the final group match of the World Cup. In total, Higuain scored 31 goals.

Stay tuned as in this section of Gonzalo Higuain biography we want to share some information about his playing style.

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Style of Play

He is a "penalty area striker", physically strong and skilled with both feet. As well as being an excellent goalscorer, he is inclined to fall back in midfield, with which he contributes to the defensive phase; he also has excellent vision, which allows him to be decisive when it comes to assists. Although he possesses good technical ability, he is more concrete than elegant. Dynamic and determined, his main weakness is his sensitivity.

Reception

Gonzalo Higuain is regarded as one of the best and complete strikers of his generation and amongst the best Argentinian footballers. Diego Armando Maradona has stated that he sees in Higuain some characteristics of fellow countrymen Hernán Crespo and Gabriel Batistuta, describing him as a complete striker and skilled in forward movements.

Goal Celebration

During his career, Higuain had many goal celebrations, but one that we can’t forget was when after scoring the opener against his former club Napoli, he put his hand on his forehead, looking for someone on the stands. After the match, he said he was looking for Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis, who decided to sell him to Juventus.

Gonzalo Higuain outside Football

Besides being a great football player, Gonzalo Higuain is also good at Tennis and loves the sport. He has said that he would have loved to be a Tennis player, but football was his dream and he chased it.

Gonzalo Higuain Personal Life

In this section of Gonzalo Higuain biography, we will take a look at his personal life and share some information about

Gonzalo Higuain life story

and

Gonzalo Higuain religion

.

Family, Children and Relationships

Gonzalo Higuain was born in the city of Brest (France) on 10 December 1987 because his father, the then footballer Jorge Higuain, had the opportunity to go and play for Stade Brestois 29 and his mother, Nancy Zacarías, was pregnant with him, so he spent several years as a stateless person (without nationality), given that France grants nationality to children of French nationals, and Argentina to those born in its territory.

Added to a mistake by his father, through ignorance, of not registering him at the Argentine embassy in Paris. When he was ten months old, upon entering the country of origin of his parents, they did not do the paperwork at the Argentine civil registry either.

He has three brothers: Nicolás, Federico, who is also a footballer, and Lautaro Higuain. He grew up and lived his childhood in the Belgrano neighbourhood.

On 21 May 2018, his partner, designer Lara Weschler, gave birth to their first child, a girl named Alma, in the Italian city of Turin.

Philanthropy

At the time of writing this article, there are no reports of any charity activities involving Gonzalo Higuain on media.

Legal Issues

In 2017, when he was a Juventus player, filed a complaint against his former club Napoli and claimed that the club owes him six hundred thousand Euros in image rights. He had some Spanish lawyers in this case, but however, they failed to submit an agreement that Higuain claimed Napoli owes him money. Because of this Gonzalo finally lost the court case against Napoli.

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Gonzalo Higuain Career Statistics

In this section of Gonzalo Higuain biography, we will take a look at his career stats both on the club and international level.

Club

During his career so far, Gonzalo Higuain has played in a total of 650 matches in all competitions, scoring 307 goals. He has played most of his career at Real Madrid, where he scored 121 goals in 264 matches.

International

In 9 years between 2009 and 2018, Gonzalo Higuain played 75 times for his country and scored 31 goals. His last goal for Argentina was scored in 2016 against Peru and when he retired from international matches, he was not able to score for his country for two years.

Gonzalo Higuain Honors

As one of the most decorated Argentine footballers, he has won La Liga, Copa del Rey, Supercopa de España, Coppa Italia, Serie A, UEFA Europa League and many other on club level.

With Argentina, he has won Copa America in 2016 and was runner-up at the 2014 World Cup and 2015 Copa America.

Of his notable individual titles, we can include Serie A Team of the Year, ESM Team of the Year, Juventus MVP of the Year and some others.


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