Ariel Ortega: sports career

Ariel Ortega was born in the city of Ledesma, which is in Argentina, in 1974, on March 4. He is still trying to imitate many as beginners, and already mature players. After all, he was able to solve any problems arising on the field, and his feints, dribbling and hanging blows on the gate always surprised with his beauty and efficiency.

short biography

Ariel Ortega, whose biography indicates the names of not many top clubs, nevertheless had success with the fans. At the beginning of his career Ariel played for three years in the youth team "Atletico", based in his hometown.

Ariel Ortega, nicknamed Donkey, was an excellent, but at the same time pretty capricious player. His biography and career are quite contradictory, judging from information from different sources. But in one thing they all converge - Ortega was a very good player, who is even compared to Maradona himself.

Career in clubs

The beginning of the career of this football player was in 1991, when he was taken to the team, which became his native, under the name "River Plate". The first contract lasted five years, for which he managed to play 132 games and score 37 goals.

In 1996, the player leaves Argentina and moves to Spain, where he was already waited in the football club "Valencia". As it turned out, not in vain, because in 32 games 9 goals were scored.

1998 brought the news that Juan Sebastián Veron was leaving the Sampdoria team at the Parma football club. It was in his place that Ariel Ortega was invited. The player had to fill a gap in the midfield. With his role, he managed very successfully, performing in twenty-seven games for the season and having distinguished himself eight times.

And a year later was the Italian "Parma", where he again replaced Verona, who decided to try himself this time in "Lazio". For the next 18 matches, Hernan Crespo became a couple in the attack.

But this duo was not to be preserved. Not finishing the season to the end, Ortega leaves in his native River Plate, which paid only half of the cost, amounting to five and a half million dollars. Two brilliant seasons were part of this club. 55 official games were held by him in the composition, 24 magnificent goals scored.

Scandal in the "Fenerbahce"

In 2002, Fenerbahce, the Turkish club, wanted to see Ariel in its lineup, and River Plait did not refuse the offer of seven and a half million dollars. To have full rights to this football player, the club paid the co-owner, the club Parma, another two and a half million. The signing of the contract for four years occurred in May 2002, and in February 2003 Ortega did not return to the team camp from the national team, where he played in a friendly match.

In connection with this incident, a rather large scandal broke out, as a result of which the player was ordered to pay the club 11 million for non-compliance with the terms of the contract, and also to terminate it before the end of the year. Naturally, the player tried to appeal this decision to FIFA, but the Court of Lausanne refused to satisfy the claim.

A friend training FC Newells Old Boys, learning that Ortega is free, offers to go to their team, which receives a positive response. Not without the help of 13 goals scored by Ariel, the club becomes in 2004 the winner of the Aperture.

And in 2006, the footballer again returns to the club "River Plate", where a new, but not joyful life begins.

Problems with alcohol

January 2007 presented an unpleasant surprise for the team and the player himself. After one of the successful games Ariel Ortega (photo of him got into the press) took a fair amount of alcohol, and the club had an unpleasant incident. After that the doctor of the club recommended to send the player for treatment.

The new head coach of the team Diego Simone, after seeing the player several times in alcoholic intoxication, removes him from the main line-up. Proceedings on this matter did not last long, and for the next season Ortega was leased to the ranks of the club from the second division of Argentina, which became Independiente Rivadavia.

The choice for this club fell not accidentally, because the province of Mendoza, where he was based, is in close proximity to Chile. There, in a specialized center, Ortega treated his dependence on alcoholic beverages.

In 2009, representatives of the club-tenant released the player to their club to continue fulfilling their obligations under the contract. This was due to the coach's decision about Ariel's readiness to return to the field.

And the footballer did not disappoint. The match in which he was rehabilitated, brought victory over the "Everton" thanks to the goal of Ortega. In August 2011, the player was leased to the Defensores de Belgrano, where he played his final season.

Farewell to the field for the midfielder occurred one year after the start of the lease. The meeting between the team "Friends of Ortega" and the team "River Plate", in which the club stars who played in different years there, were crowned with the victory of "Friends" with a crushing score of 8: 2. It is noteworthy that on the field in this match went out and Ariel's son to help his father.

Participation in the national team

The first game in the national team of Argentina took place in July 1994 with Romania. On the field, the player went to the shirt with number 10. Then the head coach of the team called Ortega in the team already in 1998 to participate in the World Cup in France.

Ariel showed an excellent, outstanding game in this tournament. But it did not help the national team to win it. In the match of one fourth of the final, in which the Argentina national team played with the Dutch national team, Ariel Ortega hit the opponent's goalkeeper, for which he was removed from the field. Denis Bergkamp did not miss his chance and scored the second goal in the gates of Argentina, resulting in the Dutch won and went to the semifinals.

In 2002, the midfielder also took part in the World Championship, conceding only the last game. The final was the 2010 mundial, in which the coach of the team was the great Maradona.

Player Achievements

Argentine Champion Ortega became six times. From club tournaments it is possible to note in his track record also once the Copa Libertadores and the Italian Super Cup.

No footballer left without international awards. In 1995, two awards were taken: the first place in the Pan-American Games and the silver in the King Fahd Cup. And 1996 brought a silver medal at the Olympics.