What is RSS?

Players: Abel Freddy Adu H. Almeida Bruno Alves Anderson J. Andrade N. Assis Vitor Baia Boa Morte Bosingwa M. Caneira Cardozo R. Carvalho Ze Castro Jorge Costa Rui Costa Conceicao Costinha F. Couto M. da Costa Dady Deco Di Maria Y. Djalo Duda M. Fernandes P. Ferreira Luis Figo Luis Filipe Nuno Gomes L. Gonzalez Helton Izmailov Karagounis Katsouranis Liedson L. Lopez Luisao David Luiz Makukula Maniche Mantorras F. Meira R. Meireles P. Mendes Miguel Miguelito Moreira J. Moutinho Nani Nelson R. Patricio Pauleta C. Peixoto Pepe Petit Pereirinha Joao Pinto H. Postiga Polga Quaresma Quim J. Ribeiro Ricardo R. Rocha C. Rodriguez Ronaldo Romagnoli P. Sousa Simao Tarik Tiago J. Tomas Tonel Miguel Veloso Hugo Viana Vukcevic Abel Xavier Select player

Player profile: Lucho Gonzalez

Full name: Luis Oscar Gonzalez

Position: Midfielder

Date of Birth: 19 January 1981

Birthplace: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Unlike many prominent Argentineans plying their trade in Europe’s top leagues, Luis ‘Lucho’ Gonzalez was no youth prodigy, and had to wait until he was 24 before leaving his homeland.

Starting out in the top division in Argentina, with newly-promoted Huracan, today Gonzalez is already on his way to becoming one of the most illustrious of Huracan’s former players. Not a bad achievement in a list that includes Ossie Ardiles, former Valencia and Inter coach Hector Cuper, and one Alfredo Di Stefano.

Olympic Gold

After two years at the club, he moved across Buenos Aires – also his birthplace – to join domestic giants River Plate. He spent three seasons at the club; a spell in which he made his debut for the national team and was part of the Olympic squad which brought home the gold medal from Athens in 2004.

Having been strongly linked with Corinthians and a host of European clubs, Gonzalez agreed in April 2005 that he would join Porto in the summer, on a five-year deal. The club paid €3.6 million for half the rights to the player, with the other 50% thought to be owned by Global Soccer Agencies.

In many respects, Lucho was an instant hit at the Dragao. He scored 10 times in 30 league games – his best-ever goalscoring season – as Co Adriaanse’s side wrested back the title from Benfica. His poise and style, along with his timely runs into the box, endeared him to the fans, but the feeling that a player of such ability should be more capable of dictating games persisted.

Argentina regular

His form was enough, however, for Jose Pekerman to pick Lucho for Argentina’s World Cup in Germany. Sadly his participation was curtailed by a nagging ankle injury, and despite being picked to start the game against Serbia and Montenegro, he was forced off after barely half an hour, and missed much of the fun in the eventual 6-0 win. Nevertheless, Lucho finished the World Cup as the proud owner of 30 international caps.

Summer 2006 also brought a disagreement over transfer policy between Adriaanse and the Porto board. So it was exit the double winning Dutchman and enter veteran Jesualdo Ferreira, snatched from city rivals Boavista. Jesualdo made Lucho captain, and his influence on the side has grown as Porto have moved towards retaining their title.

Champions League starring role

Spectacular goals in this season’s Champions League have brought Porto’s popular midfielder to the attention of the rest of Europe.

Perhaps even more so than the increasing lauded Ricardo Quaresma, he inspired his club to qualify for the knockout stage of the 2006/07 Champions League from a difficult-looking qualifying group, which contained Arsenal, CSKA Moscow and Hamburg.

He drove the thrashing of Hamburg at the Dragao, then scored possibly the competition’s goal of the season during the return in Germany with a stupendous 30-yard volley. Lucho was again on the mark from outside the box in the excellent win against CSKA in Moscow.

by Andy Brassell (05/05/2007)

CLUB APPEARANCES* GOALS Huracan 94 10 River Plate 99 19 FC Porto** 57 19       Argentina*** 31 5

* League only
** Up to 1 May 2007
*** Up to September 2006