Diego

SANTOS

Diego was first signed by the São Paulo team Santos at the age of 12. Diego developed in the Santos youth system, making his first team debut at the age of 16 in the Rio-São Paulo Championship in 2002 and in the same year he won the domestic Campeonato Brasileiro championship. He, Robinho, Elano and Alex were known as a famous group when they played for Santos.

PORTO

Diego was then signed by Portuguese club FC Porto in July 2004 as a replacement for the FC Barcelona-bound Deco. However, in 2005–06, Diego did not maintain a stable place in the Porto team under coach Co Adriaanse and he subsequently left Porto for Werder Bremen.

WERDER BREMEN

2006-2007

In May 2006, Diego signed a contract with Werder Bremen until 2010 for a transfer fee of €6 million.
His first match for Werder Bremen came in the DFB-Ligapokal (League Cup). Werder Bremen won the cup beating Bayern Munich in the final on 5 August.
The 2006–07 Bundesliga season began well for Diego. He scored the first goal and set up two more for Bremen in their 4-2 win over Hannover 96, on 13 August. In his second match in the Bundesliga he set up both goals in the 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen.
Thanks to his good performances in August, both in the Bundesliga and in the Premiere Ligapokal, Diego won the August Player of the Month award. As the Bundesliga season went on, Diego made several amazing performances and became one of the most valuable players for Werder Bremen, along with his team-mate Torsten Frings. They are called the "two motors of Bremen's midfield." In October 2006, he won a second Player of the Month award and again in December 2006. He was then named as the Best Player of the first half of the Bundesliga.
Werder Bremen finished in third place in Group A in the Champions League group stages, and they moved to the UEFA Cup, where they reached the semi-finals, beating AZ from the Netherlands in the quarter-finals, due in part to Diego's creative play.
On 15 April, Diego again played well, scoring in the 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund. Five days later, on 20 April, Bremen played against Alemannia Aachen. Although Diego's performance was good, he did not score until stoppage time when he scored from 62.5 metres, which later was elected as goal of the year. Bremen won the game 3-1 and topped the table with 60 points.
Following his good performances in the first half of the Bundesliga, Diego got called up to the Brazilian national football team in November.
After the 2006–07 season ended, Diego won the Bundesliga Player of the Season award organised by popular magazine Kicker. He got just over 50 percent of the votes. Unfortunately, his team did not win the Bundesliga after finishing 3rd in the table, behind champions VfB Stuttgart and Schalke 04.

2007-2008

Diego started his season well, scoring a penalty on the first matchday. Diego gave many outstanding performances. He was crucial as Bremen got through to the Champions League's group phase. They beat Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb 3-2 in Zagreb, with Diego scoring two penalties.
On the first Champions League Group Stage matchday, Bremen lost 2-1 to Real Madrid, but Diego's performance aroused interest in Real Madrid's coach Bernd Schuster. But the stories were put to an end when Diego signed a new contract which would last until 2011.
After the loss to Real Madrid, Bremen faced VfB Stuttgart, the defending German champions, at home. Werder won 4-1, with Diego leading the midfield. Later on in the season, Bremen achieved a historical 8-1 win over Arminia Bielefeld, with Diego assisting three goals and scoring one himself.
Diego was voted Player of the Month in September.
He then scored two goals on the way to the UEFA Cup quarter final with Bremen.

2008-2009

Diego's last season in Werder Bremen was his most successful. Diego scored 20 goals in total (more than his two first seasons in the club), while although Bremen did finish just 10th in the bundesliga and was knocked out into uefa cup from the Champions League group stage, Diego has kept on a great performance throughout the season.
In Uefa Cup competition that season, Diego scored 6 goals, all in knockout stages (since Bremen dropped out from the Uefa Champions League into Uefa Cup's round of 32).
He scored against AC Milan the in round of 32, equalizing after 84' minutes, and assisting Claudio Pizarro in the second leg to one goal. He helped his team through the round of 16, And in the quarter final against Udinese, he brilliantly scored four goals out of six in the two meetings, and assisting one.
In the semi finals, after losing 1-0 in their hometown to Hamburg, Diego helped his team back in the second leg with an early equalizer to Ivica Olic's early critical goal. Later on that game, he Assisted a corner to Frank Baumann's 3rd Bremen goal. In that game, Diego received an unfortunate yellow card, preventing him from playing in the final, but still with a 3-2 heroic away win, he ended his Uefa Cup participation, leading Bremen to their first Uefa Cup final ever.
Without Diego in the 2009 Uefa Cup final, Bremen lost the game 2-1 in extra time to Ukranian team Shakhtar Donetsk.
In his last match with Bremen, Diego gave the assist to Mesut Özil's victory goal against Bayer Leverkusen in the German Cup final, to win the German Cup for the sixth time.

JUVENTUS

On 26 May 2009, Diego signed a five-year contract to join Juventus at the end of the season. The fee paid to Bremen by Juventus is worth €24.5 million. The price can rise by a further €2.5 million in case of the fulfillment of established sports objectives in the next five years.
Diego made his Juventus debut against the Korean side Seongnam where they won 3-0. In the first half Diego made the pass to Camoranesi whose pass followed up to a goal. Diego then scored in the second half and then subbed out at the 60th minute. On his Serie A debut he assisted Iaquinta's goal from a set-piece. In the second fixture of the campaign, Diego recorded his first Serie A goal, scoring twice in Juventus' 3-1 victory against Roma on August 30, 2009.

Juan Manuel Mata

Born in Burgos, Castile and León, Mata started his football career at Real Oviedo, where his father spent most of his career. He stayed there for three years before joining Real Madrid at age 12. After appearing for Cadete A, he swiftly progressed through the junior teams, Juvenil C and finally the Juvenil A. In his last campaign (2005–06) he scored 18 goals in the league and three more in the Copa de Campeones, including the winner in the final against Real Valladolid, adding another three in the Spanish Juvenil Cup.
Switching to Real Madrid Castilla in 2006–07, Mata was given the number 34 shirt in the first team, while wearing number 28 in Castilla. In spite of Castilla's final relegation, Mata finished the season as the side's second best scorer at nine, behind striker Álvaro Negredo (18).
Mata had a contractual clause at Real Madrid during his last season at the club, and eventually agreed to sign for Valencia CF on March 2007, starting in 2007–08.
Benefitting from constant injuries to Vicente and the ostracism to which then-manager Ronald Koeman condemned Miguel Ángel Angulo, Mata gradually carved a niche on Valencia's first eleven. On March 20, 2008, he scored twice in the Spanish Cup semifinal match against FC Barcelona to help Valencia reach the final against Getafe CF where, on April 16, he scored the opener in a 3–1 win. During that first season, Mata was voted the team's Best young player by fans and players.
In the Spanish Supercup, Mata scored against his former club Real Madrid in a 3–2 first leg victory, but Valencia lost 5–6 on aggregate as Real Madrid won 4–2 in the second leg. He started 2008–09 well, scoring in the opener against RCD Mallorca (3–0 win). He also netted the only goal of the game against CA Osasuna, latching on to a long ball from David Villa.
On September 25, 2008, Mata's understanding with Villa proved to be growing in efficiency, as he set up both of his teammate's goals in a 2–0 away win over Málaga CF. Three days later, Mata put in a superb performance against Deportivo de La Coruña, scoring one and creating the other three, in a 4–2 home victory.
Towards the end of the campaign, Mata managed to score two very important late goals for Valencia: the first, the 3–2 winner at Sporting de Gijón, and the second a penalty against Sevilla FC at home, to put Valencia 2–1 up (specialist Villa had already been replaced due to injury) in an eventual 3–1 success. He achieved impressive stats during the season, finishing with 11 successful strikes and 13 assists (in the latter category, league's second-best, behind Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernández's 20).

Alberto Aquilani

ROMA

In 2001, when he was 16, Chelsea and Arsenal offered him lucrative contracts but he declined the offer because it was his dream to play for his boyhood club Roma.
He made his debut in Serie A at aged 18, with then manager Fabio Capello on 10 May 2003 against Torino. He was loaned to Serie B club Triestina for the 2003-04 season, where he could play as a starter and gain experience.
Returning to Roma in 2004-05, he broke into the starting 11. In the 2005-06 season, he scored the second goal in the derby victory played on 26 February 2006; a victory in which Roma broke the record for most consecutive wins in Serie A. (Later broken by Internazionale in 2006-07 season).
In the following season he was expected to be one of the best players for Roma. He was awarded the no.8 shirt previously worn by Matteo Ferrari. Unfortunately an injury forced him to stay away from the game for several months. Aquilani returned to the field in May 2007 and featured in three games toward the end of the season, including the last two.
He also played in the UEFA Champions League against Real Madrid, where he had an excellent game.[citation needed] He scored two long range goals in the first two matches of the 2007-08 season against Palermo and Siena[citation needed]. Although he was injured in October 2007, he came back to squad in January 2008.
Aquilani was injured on 22 October 2008 against Chelsea. He came back to the field on 11 January 2009 against Milan but picked up another injury in February 2009. Although he played against Arsenal as a last minute substitute on 11 March 2009, he did not play in the rest of the season.
On 26 May 2009 Aquilani signed a new contract with Roma until 2013, added three more years to previous deal.

LIVERPOOL

On 5 August 2009, Liverpool announced that they had agreed a deal with AS Roma for the transfer of Aquilani, subject to a medical. The club subsequently announced that the player had passed the medical and signed a 5 year contract on 7 August 2009. Roma revealed that the fee was 20 million euro (£17 Million) plus sporting bonus. He was handed the number 4 shirt, last worn by Sami Hyypiä who joined Bayer Leverkusen at the end of the 2008-09 season. There was a significant delay before Aquilani made his first appearance in a Liverpool shirt, however, due to injury and illness.
Aquilani made his Liverpool reserves début with a 15 minutes substitute appearance in a 2-0 win against Sunderland reserves on 21 October 2009.
Aquilani's first team career at Liverpool finally started when he was named in the squad to face Arsenal in which Liverpool were defeated 2-1 Carling Cup on 28 October 2009. He came on in the 77th minute as a substitute for Damien Plessis.. He made his long awaited Premier league debut on 9 November 2009, as a late substitute against Birmingham City in a 2-2 draw, in which he showed great promise with his passing and attacking movement.

Fernando Gago

BOCA JUNIORS

Fernando Gago, who came from the youth divisions of Boca Juniors, made his professional debut with Boca in the 1–0 victory over Quilmes on 5 December 2004. Despite his youth, he quickly became an essential part of the Boca midfield. His solid performance attracted Spanish powerhouses Real Madrid, and FC Barcelona.

REAL MADRID

On 15 November 2006, Real Madrid President Ramón Calderón confirmed the signings of Gago as well as compatriot Gonzalo Higuaín of River Plate, and put through a policy of signing younger players to gradually replace the older stars in the squad. However, news later put reports of Higuaín's departure to Real Madrid to rest as River Plate rejected a €10 million bid for the striker, stating they would prefer him remain until at least June 2007. During the 2006 South American transfer saga, Gago's name was also linked with A.C. Milan. However, Ariedo Braida, Milan's top transfer guru, was quoted as saying, "They [Gago and Higuaín] only want to go to Real Madrid". The transfer was finally agreed on 19 December 2006 for €20.4 million. Since the move, he has been very impressive in the defensive midfield position, which led to comparisons to former Argentina "number 5" Fernando Redondo from Jorge Valdano and many other pundits.
Gago made his debut for Real Madrid in the 2–0 La Liga defeat against Deportivo La Coruña on 7 January 2007. This promised to be an exciting start for the extremely talented midfielder. However, due to the poor performance of the entire Real Madrid outfit, Gago's apparent talent was not withstanding, and, after being at fault for the opening goal by breaking from the rest of the defensive wall at a free-kick, he was substituted for Ronaldo. However, a week later against Real Zaragoza at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Gago's performance lifted along with that of his teammates. His defensive game picked up considerably as he fought hard in midfield, while also demonstrating vision by delivering several through balls to the attackers. Real Madrid defeated Real Zaragoza 1–0, with a goal from Ruud van Nistelrooy, created by fellow new signing Gonzalo Higuaín.
On 20 May 2007, with the score tied at 2–2 against Recreativo Huelva, Real Madrid looked set to return the lead back to rivals FC Barcelona until Fernando Gago gave a last minute assist to Roberto Carlos, who scored at the end of the match and the squad left Huelva with just three "finals" left to play. Real managed to beat Recreativo 3–2 at the Estadio Nuevo Colombino. They also went on to win the league title that year as well.
Before the start of the 2007–08 season, Gago changed his number from 16 to 8. In his second season at the club, Gago displayed his true ability with a series of top class performances in the centre of Madrid's La Liga-winning midfield. He managed to claim a first team spot in place of Mahamadou Diarra and was a key figure in the club's second successive league title.
In the beginning of the 2008–09 season, Gago only played two games due to an injury he picked up during the Champions League match against BATE Borisov. He managed to recover in time and was named in the starting eleven for 27 October La Liga clash against Athletic Bilbao. Real Madrid won 3–2 and Gago was praised for his match-winning performance in the midfield with Wesley Sneijder. Also in this season, Gago scored his first goal for Real Madrid, a header from a free kick delivered by Guti against Sevilla FC to tie the game 3–3, however they went on to lose the game 3–4 with a goal from Renato in the 37th minute of the second half. Against Villarreal CF, he started in central midfield along with new signing Lassana Diarra. They put in a solid performance together and since then, they have been regular starters together in central midfield. At the end of the season, with Fabio Cannavaro returning to Juventus meant that the number Gago had initially wanted, 5, was now available. He willingly offered his number 8 to new arrival Kaká and took the 5, the same number he wears for Argentina.

Pablo Aimar

Pablo Aimar began his ascent to stardom with Club Atlético River Plate, whose first team he joined for the 1997-98 season, after rejecting a place at medical school, and with whom he quickly established himself as one of the best young players in Argentina.
Valencia CF of Spain signed Aimar in January 2001, at a price of €24 million. The purchase proved justified, as Aimar helped lead the team to a first-place finish in 2001-02 (with 33 matches and four goals), as well as to a runners-up finish in the previous seasons's Champions League, being defeated by Bayern Munich. Aimar also won the 2004 UEFA Cup, beating Olympique de Marseille in the final.
On 12 April 2006, he was hospitalized after being diagnosed with acute viral meningitis,but made a quick recovery and returned to play for his team. During his career with the Che, he was also often troubled with injuries.During the summer of 2006, Aimar joined fellow first divisioner Real Zaragoza for €12 million. The Aragonese side relegated at the end of 2007-08, with the playmaker appearing in 22 scoreless matches, while also often hindered with injuries.
On 17 July 2008, after a period of intense negotiations, Aimar signed a four-year contract with Portuguese side Sport Lisboa e Benfica for a fee of €6.5 million. After a difficult first half of the season, he managed to defeat his constant injuries and finished it in good shape.
In the 2009-10 Benfica pre-season games, Aimar showed that he is in very good shape and demonstrated impressive chemistry with fellow countryman Javier Saviola.
After good exibithions in the Portuguese league, Aimar was re-called again for Argentina, for the last 2 decisive games in the World cup qualifiers.

Gennaro Gattuso

Gattuso started his career with Italian side Perugia, but transferred in July 1997, at the age of 19, to the Scottish team Rangers.
Walter Smith, who brought Gattuso to Glasgow, left the club in 1998. Smith's successor, Dick Advocaat, did not favour Gattuso and, after being played out-of-position as a right-back, the Italian was sold in October 1998 to then recently promoted to Serie A Salernitana for £4m. Despite his good performances, it was not enough to prevent the relegation of his side.

Milan signed Gattuso for £8m in 1999. His style allowed Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti to place midfielder Andrea Pirlo in a more attacking position. Gattuso plays deeper in midfield. He will often move forward to win the ball for the forward players and then return to his defensive position. His style of play is characterised by fierce tackling and hard work – a style which has earned him the nickname of Ringhio (the Snarler). He signed a contract extension in June 2004 and in October 2004

In a UEFA Champions League group stage match against Ajax in September 2003, he was sent off during second-half injury time after slapping Ajax striker Zlatan Ibrahimović in the face with the back of his hand. His temper has caused him further problems when in December 2005, at the final whistle of Milan's 3-2 defeat of Schalke 04 in the UEFA Champions League, Gattuso was seen seeking out and taunting Schalke's midfielder Christian Poulsen as a reaction to Poulsen's fierce marking of Kaká in the first leg. Gattuso insisted though that the press exaggerated the significance of the incident.

He played his 300th game for the club in a goalless Champions League draw against Lille on September 26, 2006, and he extended his current deal with Milan until 2011 on February 1, 2007. On May 23, 2007, Gattuso won the Champions League for the second time in his career when Milan beat Liverpool 2-1 in the final.
On 27 December 2007, Gattuso trained with his former club Rangers to regain fitness during the Serie A winter break whilst his wife was visiting family in Scotland over Christmas. The following December, Gattuso suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament early on in the 1-0 league win against Catania. However, despite the injury, Gattuso played the entire 90 minutes before being diagnosed by the club doctors after the match. He underwent surgery to repair the damage on 19 December 2008, in Antwerp. He was expected to miss up to 6 months of action, but managed to return to the Milan bench on 10 May against Juventus, a month ahead of schedule.

Andrea Pirlo

Andrea Pirlo, Cavaliere Ufficiale OMRI (born 19 May 1979 in Flero, Lombardy), is an Italian footballer who plays for Serie A club Milan and the Italian national team. Praised for his inventive play, he is also a free-kick specialist.
Pirlo has played for the Italian youth teams U-15, U-18 and U-21, captaining and leading the last to win the 2000 as the Golden Player and Top Scorer of the tournament. He joined the Italian senior side during the qualification round for World Cup 2002 and captained the national team to a bronze medal in the 2004 Olympics. Later, he was instrumental in the teams victory in the 2006 World Cup. He was named man of the match three times, more than any other player in the tournament, and ultimately won the Bronze Ball (3rd best player in tournament).
With club side A.C. Milan he has won two UEFA Champions League (2003 and 2007), two European Supercups (2003 and 2007), a Scudetto (2004), an Italian Supercup (2004), a FIFA Club World Cup (2007), and the Italian Cup in 2003.
For both club and country Pirlo plays central midfield, as a deep-lying playmaker. He came in 3rd and 2nd in IFFHS World Playmaker of the Year awards in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Fellow players on the Italian team gave him the nickname ‘l'architetto’ (the architect) because his long passes frequently set up goal-scoring opportunities for the Azzurri (Italian national team). Recently, when playing for Italy, Pirlo has returned to his old position as a traditional play-maker behind striker.