Álvaro Arbeloa
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Álvaro Arbeloa
 |
Personal information |
Full name |
Álvaro Arbeloa Coca |
Date of birth |
17 January 1983 (age 30) |
Place of birth |
Salamanca, Spain |
Height |
1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[1] |
Playing position |
Defender |
Club information |
Current club |
Real Madrid |
Number |
17 |
Youth career |
1995–2000 |
Zaragoza |
2000–2003 |
Real Madrid |
Senior career* |
Years |
Team |
Apps† |
(Gls)† |
2003–2006 |
Real Madrid B |
84 |
(0) |
2004–2005 |
Real Madrid |
2 |
(0) |
2006 |
Deportivo La Coruña |
20 |
(0) |
2007–2009 |
Liverpool |
66 |
(2) |
2009– |
Real Madrid |
103 |
(2) |
National team‡ |
2001 |
Spain U17 |
1 |
(0) |
2001 |
Spain U19 |
4 |
(0) |
2005 |
Spain U21 |
1 |
(0) |
2008– |
Spain |
45 |
(0) |
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:26, 2 March 2013 (UTC).
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 16 October 2012 |
Álvaro Arbeloa Coca (
Spanish pronunciation: [ˈalβaɾo arβeˈloa ˈkoka]; born 17 January 1983), is a Spanish
football player currently playing for
Real Madrid and the
Spanish national team. He is predominantly a
right back, although he can play as a left back or a
central defender.
Arbeloa trained with Real Madrid as a youth player, and worked his
way up to the first team, making his debut in the 2004–05 season.
However, he mostly played for the
Real Madrid B team. He moved to
Deportivo La Coruña to play first team football in
La Liga in 2006, but moved to
Liverpool after half a season. He cemented his place in the Liverpool first team and played in the
2007 UEFA Champions League Final, which Liverpool lost to
Milan
in the final. Arbeloa made 93 appearances in his three seasons at the
club. He returned to Madrid in 2009 for a fee of £3,500,000.
Internationally, he made his senior debut in 2008 and has played for
Spain at
UEFA Euro 2008 and the
2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, winning the former tournament. Also part of the winning FIFA 2010 World Cup squad.
He married his childhood sweetheart Carlota Ruiz in July 2009, and their daughter, Alba, was born 26 April 2010.
Club career
Real Madrid
After signing as a teenager for
Real Madrid. Arbeloa began playing with the youth team. He later graduated to the reserve team, and played with the first team twice.
Deportivo La Coruña
On 24 July 2006, Arbeloa signed for
Deportivo La Coruña, following in the footsteps of teammate
Roberto Soldado.
Arbeloa said: "This is a strange situation for me; I have been playing
for Real Madrid for five years, since I was 16-years-old. Real was
nothing but good to me, but it's time for me to go. Madrid has the best
players in the world and although that is great for the club,
unfortunately that's not so great for
cantera
players; only a few of us can find their place in the first team, and
even those who do find their place in the first team like
Álvaro Mejía and
Paco Pavón
are only third or fourth pick, and that is why I want to leave the club
to a club where I can get some regular playing time, in
La Liga of course. Deportivo La Coruña is one of the best clubs in Spain and with
Joaquín Caparrós
as head coach I will certainly get more experience, and get better,
what is most important is that he will have confidence in me. I have
enjoyed my time at Real, and I thank everybody who helped me. I'm
leaving Real Madrid to play more football, no other reason."
Liverpool
Arbeloa playing for Liverpool
On 31 January 2007, Arbeloa signed for English
Premier League club
Liverpool,
[2] for a fee of around €4 million, with Real Madrid receiving 50% of the fee.
[citation needed] He made his Premiership debut on 10 February
[3] against
Newcastle United, coming as a substitute for
Jermaine Pennant. He made his full debut against
Barcelona in the
UEFA Champions League at the Nou Camp, where he was employed as a left-back. This was done by coach
Rafael Benítez for tactical reasons, as his stronger right foot could stop
Lionel Messi,
because Messi had a tendency to cut his runs towards the center of the
field. His part in keeping Messi quiet helped Liverpool to a 2–1 win
over the defending champions. He scored his first goal for Liverpool
against
Reading on 7 April 2007.
[4] He helped Liverpool to the
2007 UEFA Champions League Final, and came on as a susbtitute as they went down 2–1 to
Milan.
Arbeloa's squad number changed from 2 to 17 as a personal preference for the
2007–08 season.
Continuing his good form from the latter stages of the 2007–08 season,
Arbeloa cemented a first team place in the Liverpool team following good
performances during Liverpool's victories over fierce rivals
Manchester United and
Chelsea.
On 18 May 2009, in a match against
West Bromwich Albion, Arbeloa was involved in an on-field clash with Liverpool teammate
Jamie Carragher after continuous blips from Arbeloa and the two had to be separated by
Xabi Alonso,
Pepe Reina,
Daniel Agger, and
Emiliano Insúa.
Carragher later explained that he clashed with Arbeloa as a moment of
poor defending from the latter threatened the clean sheet. The Liverpool
vice-captain explained, "we want to keep a clean sheet and we want Pepe
to have a chance of the
Golden Glove for the fourth season running." Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez refused to comment about the incident.
Return to Real Madrid
On 29 July 2009, it was announced that
Real Madrid and
Liverpool had reached an agreement on the transfer of Arbeloa to the Spanish club. A fee of £5 million had been agreed between the clubs.
[5] Arbeloa signed a five-year contract after completing the deal.
[6] After the departure of fellow full backs
Míchel Salgado and
Miguel Torres,
Arbeloa was handed the number 2 jersey. During his first season at
Madrid, Arbeloa played mainly at the left back position due to Los
Blancos lack of experienced and dependable options in that area of the
field. Arbeloa scored his first Real Madrid goal on 13 February 2010 in a
3–0 away win against
Xerez. His second goal in the white jersey came in
El Derbi madrileño on 28 March, scoring a right-foot goal past
David de Gea in the 3–2 win over
Atlético Madrid.
[7]
Arbeloa also scored a goal in Champions League against Ajax with a shot
from outside the penalty area. During the 2010–11 season under
José Mourinho, he was used at both right-back and left-back, and was praised by his coach for his efforts. In the
2011–12 season, Arbeloa won himself a place as a regular starter, appearing exclusively at right-back due to
Carvalho's lengthy injury and
Sergio Ramos' shift to
centre-back
. He was sent off against Málaga during his 100th match for Real Madrid
. On 1 August 2012, Real Madrid announced that they have extended
contract with Arbeloa which will tie him with the club till 2015–16
season.
[8]
International career
On 1 February 2008, he was called up to the full Spanish national
team squad for the first time, to play France in a friendly match in
Málaga on 6 February, although he was forced to pull out because of
injury.
[9] He made his international debut on 26 March against
Italy. He was selected for the
Spain squad for
UEFA Euro 2008, starting the first round match against
Greece.
Arbeloa's versatility saw him being called up for the
2009 Confederations Cup, the
2010 World Cup and
Euro 2012. Because of his ability to comfortably play as a full back on either side of the pitch,
Vicente Del Bosque
often chose to use him as the only back up full-back, allowing there to
be more space available in the squad for attacking players. However,
with regular centre back
Carles Puyol
unavailable for Euro 2012 due to injury, Sergio Ramos played in the
centre of defense and Arbeloa started all six games at right back as
Spain won the tournament for the third time.
Honours