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Personal File
Name: Gonzalo Gerardo Higuaín
Nicknames: Pipita, Pipa-gol
Birthplace: Brest, Francia
Nationality: French and Argentine
Sign: Sagitario
TToo tthhee TToopp!! Height: 6 feet (1.84 m)
Twitter: @G_Higuain
2012 Records a goal and an assist in Argentina’s 4-0 Position: Forward
World Cup qualifying win over Ecuador. Number at Real Madrid: 20
Record: One goal every 60 minutes
2011 On January 11, undergoes surgery for a herniated
2011-12 season
disc. In October, scores two hat tricks for Real
Best Performance: 103 goals in 220 matches
Madrid—one against RCD Espanyol, another
playing for Real Madrid
versus Real Betis.
2009 On October 10, scores first goal for the Argentine
national team.
2008 Scores four goals against Málaga on November 8.
2007 Scores first goal in the Spanish League on
February 24.
2006 On October 8, scores two goals against Boca
Juniors. On December 14, Real Madrid purchases
Gonzalo’s contract.
2005 Makes professional debut with River Plate.
1987 Gonzalo Higuaín is born on December 10.
© 2013 by Mason Crest, an imprint of National Highlights, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
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or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher.
ISBN-13: 978-1-4222-2649-0 (hc) — 978-1-4222-9190-0 (ebook)
Printing (last digit) 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed and bound in the United States of America.
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Elizabeth Levy Sad is an editor and journalist. She has published articles in Página/12
and the magazines Veintitrés, Toward Freedom, Tourist Travel, In-Lan, Men’s Life Today
and Cuadernos para el Diálogo, among others. She works as an editor for iVillage (NBC),
and contributes to the magazine Más Salud.
Esteban Eliaszevich is an editor and journalist. Specializing in tourism, he has traveled to
more than forty countries in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe. He was the editor of
the tourism section for the newspaper Country Herald. He contributes to the magazines
Galerías and Go Travel & Living.
Photo credits: EFE / Archivo / Cézaro De Luca: 12, 15; River Plate: 11;
Shutterstock.com: 1, 2, 4, 7, 16, 18, 21, 22, 24, 26, 27.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1. Real Madrid: A Striker’s Breakthrough 5
CHAPTER 2. Sports in Their Blood 9
CHAPTER 3. The First Club 15
CHAPTER 4. The Argentine National Team 21
CHAPTER 5. A Limitless Future 27
GLOSSARY 28
FURTHER READING 30
INTERNET RESOURCES 31
INDEX 32
Chapter
Gonzalo “Pipita” Higuaín in action with
1
Real Madrid during a Spanish League
match against Espanyol in 2009. In that
season, Pipita scored the most goals of
any Real Madrid player, second only in
the league to fellow Argentine Lionel
Messi.
RReeaall MMaaddrriidd
AA SSttrriikkeerr’’ss BBrreeaakktthhrroouugghh
ON JANUARY 11, 2011, NERVOUS REAL MADRID FANS waited up all
night, concerned for the health of player number 20, Gonzalo Higuaín.
Meanwhile, in Chicago, he was undergoing an operation for a herniated disc.
After recovering Pipita made history: he established himself among the twenty
highest-scoring players in the team’s history.
Gonzalo Pipita Higuaín refers to Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial
himself as “a positive player who is Hospital, the doctors who operated on
always moving forward.” Those words Higuaín expected that it would be six
that showcase a blazing spirit and reveal months before he would set foot on the
a brilliant personality help explain why, soccer field, even though the operation
after spending time in a hospital over- had gone smoothly.
coming a difficult surgery, Higuaín Fortunately for Real Madrid, that
came back to the soccer field much never happened. His recovery was much
sooner than anyone had expected. No quicker. The great willpower that char-
one saw his fast recovery coming— acterizes Gonzalo, which can easily be
except for Gonzalo. seen in every match he plays, allowed
After going through a complicated for a miraculous recovery. He returned
surgery for a herniated spinal disc in to the soccer field in only three months.
5
6 Gonzalo Higuaín
goal doubled that figure.
Fast Fact
By then, big teams in Europe had begun
to notice his talent and they paid attention.
Jorge Valdano, general manager and a
In just 25 games played in three
leagues (Spanish, Champions, and chairman for Real Madrid at the time, had
Copa del Rey) during half of the praise for Higuaín. When he spoke with the
2011-2012 season, Pipita scored
player, Valdano asked him to be patient,
sixteen goals.
explaining that his time would come.
Valdano was right: in the 2008-2009 sea-
After enduring intense physical therapy son, Pipita played 44 matches and scored
sessions, underwater recovery training, and 24 goals.
strengthening exercises, he returned to the Gonzalo had his magic moment on
field on April 2, 2011, for a match against November 8, 2008, playing against Málaga
Sporting Gijón. That day his team fell short in Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Four of his
by a single goal, but he was received by a goals enabled Real Madrid to come from
warm, standing ovation from the crowd, behind and beat their opponents four to
even before he had entered the stadium to three. In his entire career, Pipita has scored
begin his warm-up exercises. Pipita came nine goals against Málaga.
into the match ten minutes after the start The following season, 2009-2010, made
of the second half, as Santiago Bernabeu him famous: he played 40 matches and
Stadium unforgettably chanted his name scored 29 goals.
from all four sides of the field. He had won Throughout this process of personal and
their hearts with his goals. Now, his fans professional transformation, the Argentine
paid Pipita back with their priceless recog- would become a key player for Real
nition of his strength and effort. Madrid. His former teammate, the fierce
Dutch striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy, said to
Winning Advice
him one day: “Goals are like a bottle of
Gonzalo Higuaín set sail with Real Madrid
in 2006, but his beginnings with Los
Blancos (or “The Whites,” as the club is Fast Fact
popularly known), were rocky. He had
come to play for a prestigious team swarm-
With Real Madrid, Gonzalo Higuaín
ing with superstars; there were very few
won two Spanish League champi-
opportunities to prove himself on the field. onships (2007 and 2008), one
In spite of the tough situation, he came to Spanish Supercup (2008), and one
Copa del Rey (2011).
make eleven goals in two seasons, even
though the number of failed attempts at
Real Madrid: A Striker’s Breakthrough 7
ketchup: sometimes they don't come no Higuaín started to pay back with interest
matter how much you push, but later they all of the love he had received from Real
all come out in one hit.” Madrid fans during his recovery period. He
His friend’s joking comment did influ- scored his first goal after his return on
ence Pipita, focusing him in such a way April 23, 2011, in Mestalla Stadium against
that from that point on, like magic, a highly talented Valencia squad. In that
Gonzalo Higuaín started to write history as game, he scored three goals in 55 minutes.
a striker. What’s more, he made two assists; magical
passes that helped Real Madrid prevail as
The King of the Hat Trick
the visiting team by a final score of 6 to 3.
Soon after returning from surgery, Gonzalo It was one of the most memorable games of
Pipita playing for Real Madrid during a Spanish League match against Royal Sporting
Club of La Coruña.
8 Gonzalo Higuaín
his professional career. aged one goal per game in less than fifty
After playing in 25 matches during the minutes, making him the most efficient for-
2010-2011 season, Higuaín racked up thir- ward in all of Europe, and number twenty
teen goals in three different leagues—the on the list of highest goal scorers in the
Spanish League, Champions League and team’s history.
Copa del Rey. The next season, 2011-2012, For good reason Spanish sports
he didn’t appear in the sports headlines as reporters have named him the “Offensive
frequently, but he did score two more hat Cannibal.”
tricks. The first of them, against RCD Without a doubt, Gonzalo Higuaín
Espanyol, happened on October 2. A few pleases the soccer world, with the high cal-
days later, on October 15, he secured iber of his game, his humility, and his
another three-goal game against Real Betis. sportsmanship—he truly is a good sport
The spellbinding striker, number 20 for and a great athlete.
Real Madrid in the Spanish League, aver-
Pipita acted in Torrente 4, part of a saga of comedies from Spanish
director Santiago Segura. The film follows the bizarre adventures
of a corrupt, violent, and totalitarian policeman, who is also a fan
of the team Atlético de Madrid. Higuaín shares the screen with
players Sergio “Kun” Agüero (Diego Maradona’s son-in-law), Sergio
Ramos, Cesc Fabregas, Álvaro Arbeloa, and Raúl Albiol, in a scene where they
play a soccer game in a jail. Singer David Bisbal also participated in the film.
Director Segura comments, “I like putting huge sport stars on the screen. People
love it.” The movie was a box-office hit in Spain and other countries.
