Karim Benzema

Karim Mostafa Benzema (born 19 December 1987) is a French international footballer who plays for Spanish club Real Madrid in La Liga. He primarily plays as a striker whose influence can extend out to the wings and is known for his technical ability, powerful style of play, and vast goal-scoring ability. He is described as an "immensely-talented striker" who is "strong and powerful" and "a potent finisher from inside the box".

Benzema was born in the city of Lyon and began his football career with local club Bron Terraillon. In 1996, he joined the biggest club in the city Olympique Lyonnais and, subsequently, came through the club's youth academy. Benzema made his professional debut in the 2004-05 season and appeared sporadically in his first three seasons as Lyon won three titles in that span. In the 2007-08 season, Benzema became a starter and had a breakthrough year scoring over 30 goals as Lyon won its seventh straight league title.

For his performances, he was named the National Union of Professional Footballers (UNFP) Ligue 1 Player of the Year and named to the organization's Team of the Year. Benzema was also the league's top scorer and given the Bravo Award by Italian magazine Guerin Sportivo. After another season at Lyon, in July 2009, Benzema signed a six-year contract with Spanish outfit Real Madrid.

After struggling to establish himself in his debut season with the club, in the ensuing two seasons, Benzema reached prominence scoring 32 goals en route to helping Real Madrid win the Copa del Rey in 2011 and the 2011–12 edition of La Liga. He has been awarded French Player of the Year for his performances during the calendar year of 2011[5] respectively 2012.

Benzema is a former French youth international and has represented his nation from under-17 level onwards. Prior to playing for the senior team, he played on the under-17 team that won the 2004 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship. Benzema made his senior international debut in March 2007 in a friendly match against Austria. On his debut, he scored his first international goal in a 1-0 win. Benzema has represented France at two major international tournaments; the 2008 and 2012 editions of the UEFA European Football Championship.

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Luka Modrić

Luka Modrić (born 9 September 1985) is a Croatian footballer who plays for Real Madrid and the Croatia national football team. Modrić plays mainly as a central midfielder, but can also play as an attacking midfielder and winger. After showing promise in hometown club Zadar's youth team, he was signed by Dinamo Zagreb as a teenager in 2002.

His professional career began with loan spells at Zrinjski Mostar and Inter Zaprešić. While he was playing for GNK Dinamo Zagreb, they won three consecutive league titles and several domestic cups, with Modrić named Prva HNL "Player of the Year" in 2007. In 2008, he moved to Tottenham Hotspur in England's Premier League, before moving to Real Madrid in the summer of 2012.

Modrić is a Croatian international and made his debut against Argentina in March 2006. He has since participated in three major tournaments; 2006 FIFA World Cup, and UEFA Euro 2008 and 2012. He scored his first international goal in the friendly match against Italy, and at the Euro 2008 was included in the UEFA "Team of the Tournament", becoming only the second Croatian to ever achieve this honour.

On 27 August 2012, Real Madrid announced that they had agreed a deal with Tottenham for a fee in the region of £33 million. Modrić signed a five-year contract with the Spanish club. Two days later, he made his Real Madrid debut against FC Barcelona in the second leg final of the 2012 Supercopa de España at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, replacing Mesut Özil in the 83rd minute. Madrid eventually won the game, giving Modrić his first trophy with the club just 36 hours after his signing was announced.

Despite his positive debut, Modrić initially struggled to settle into the team under manager José Mourinho due to his lack of pre-season training which he missed as a result of his ongoing transfer negotiations. The presence of veteran midfielder, Xabi Alonso, usually kept him out of the starting lineup, limiting him to substitute appearances and mostly playing out of position for the first few months at the club.

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David Beckham

David Robert Joseph Beckham (born 2 May 1975) is an English former footballer. He has played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, Milan, Los Angeles Galaxy, Paris Saint-Germain, and the England national team for which he holds the appearance record for an outfield player. He was the first English player to win league titles in four countries.

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He announced his intention to retire at the end of the 2012-13 Ligue 1 season on 16 May 2013 and, on 18 May 2013, played his final game of his storied 20-year career. Beckham's professional career began with Manchester United, where he made his first-team debut in 1992 aged 17. With United, Beckham won the Premier League title six times, the FA Cup twice, and the UEFA Champions League in 1999.

He then played four seasons with Real Madrid, winning the La Liga championship in his final season with the club. In July 2007 Beckham signed a five-year contract with Major League Soccer club Los Angeles Galaxy. While a Galaxy player, he spent two loan spells in Italy with AC Milan in 2009 and 2010. Beckham was the first British footballer to play 100 Champions League matches.

In international football, Beckham made his England debut on 1 September 1996, at the age of 21. He was captain for six years during which he played 58 times. He has 115 career appearances to date. Beckham has twice been runner-up for FIFA World Player of the Year, and in 2004 he was named as one of the Top 125 greatest living footballers as part of FIFA's 100th anniversary celebration.

In 2004 he was the world's highest-paid footballer when taking into account salary and advertising deals. When joining MLS in 2007 he was given the highest player salary in the league's history of US$6.5m per year. He has been married to Victoria Beckham since 1999, and they have four children. In 2009, the couple's joint wealth was estimated at £125 million.

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Mesut Özil

Mesut Özil (born 15 October 1988) is a German footballer who plays for Premier League club Arsenal and the German national team. Özil has been a youth national team member since 2006, and a member of the German national team since 2009. He gained international attention during the 2010 FIFA World Cup and was nominated for the Golden Ball Award, which is awarded to the tournament's best player.

Özil started his senior career at hometown club Schalke in the Bundesliga in 2006, transferred to Werder Bremen in 2008 and transferred to Real Madrid in August 2010 following his breakout performance at the FIFA World Cup with Germany. On transfer deadline day of summer 2013, he moved to Arsenal in a club record of £42.5 million.

The transfer makes him the most expensive German football player of all time. Özil is acclaimed for his finesse and improvisation as an attacking midfielder. His style and ability for providing assists for his team-mates has been compared by former manager José Mourinho to that of Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane. In 2011, Özil ranked first in assists in major European and domestic competitions with 25.

In 2012, he ranked first in assists in La Liga with 17. He was also one of the top assist providers in the 2010 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2012 with three in both. On 2 September 2013, Özil agreed to join English side Arsenal. Both fee and contract duration were undisclosed, but they are believed to be around £42.5 million for a five-year deal. The transfer makes him the most expensive German football player of all time.

Özil was assigned the number 11 shirt and the centre-attacking midfield role by the team. Özil made his debut for Arsenal in their league game away to Sunderland on 14 September 2013. He assisted Olivier Giroud's goal in the 11th minute of the match as they went on to win 3-1. Three days after that, he made his Champions League debut for Arsenal against Marseille.

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Gareth Bale

Gareth Frank Bale (born 16 July 1989) is a Welsh footballer who plays for Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid and the Wales national team as a winger. Bale began his professional career at Southampton, playing at left back and earning acclaim as a free kick specialist. He moved to Tottenham Hotspur in 2007, for an eventual £7 million fee.

During his time at Spurs, managerial and tactical shifts saw him transform into a more offensively-oriented player. From the 2009-10 season, Bale became an integral part of the team, rising to international attention during the 2010-11 UEFA Champions League. He was named PFA Players' Player of the Year in 2011 and 2013, and was named in the UEFA Team of the Year in 2011.
 

Bale has received plaudits from his peers, who have described him as a footballer with "tremendous speed, great crossing ability, a great left foot and exceptional physical qualities". During the 2012-13 season he was awarded the PFA Young Player of the Year, the PFA Players' Player of the Year and the FWA Footballer of the Year awards.

On 1 September 2013, he was transferred to Spanish team Real Madrid for an undisclosed fee. The Spanish press (and Real Madrid TV) reported £77 million (€91 million), while the English press reported a world record transfer fee of £85.3 million (€100 million), which would be above Cristiano Ronaldo's transfer record fee of £80 million (€94 million).

Bale scored on his Real Madrid début, a goal coming in the 38th minute against Villarreal CF, before being substituted later in the game for Ángel di María. Bale's second appearance for Madrid came in a 6-1 victory over Galatasaray in the Champions League. Although Bale only played the final twenty-six minutes, his free-kick led to Cristiano Ronaldo's second goal of the game.

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Gerard Pique

Gerard Piqué i Bernabeu (born 2 February 1987) is a Spanish footballer who plays as a central defender for FC Barcelona. A product of Barça's cantera, he initially left the club for Manchester United in 2004, where he remained for four years, before returning to Barça under Pep Guardiola's leadership, helping the club become the first ever to complete a Sextuple.

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Piqué is one of four players to have won the UEFA Champions League two years in a row with different teams, the others being Marcel Desailly, Paulo Sousa and Samuel Eto'o. Piqué has also represented Spain, making his debut on 11 February 2009. He played an integral role in the Spain team that won the 2010 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2012.

Piqué made his debut for Manchester United in October 2004, as a late replacement for John O'Shea in a 3-0 League Cup victory at Crewe Alexandra as a centre back. He made his full debut on 29 March 2006 against West Ham United, in a Premier League match at Old Trafford, playing at right back, as Gary Neville was unavailable through injury.

On 27 May 2008, Piqué signed a four-year contract with Barcelona, with a €5 million buy-out clause. Barcelona paid a £5 million fee for the player. Piqué's first goal for Barcelona came in the club's 5-2 Champions League group stage win at Sporting CP on 26 November 2008. His first domestic goal for the club followed two months later, on 29 January 2009, in a Copa del Rey match against local rivals Espanyol.

Piqué was a member of the Spain under-19 side that won the 2006 U-19 European Championship in Poland. In a 2-1 final win against Scotland, Piqué put in a strong performance in defence, hitting the crossbar with a header, and also providing his team's second goal for striker Alberto Bueno. Subsequently, he played in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup, starting all six of Spain's matches and scoring a goal in the team's come-from-behind 4-2 victory over Brazil in the round of 16.

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Andres Iniesta

Andrés Iniesta Luján (born 11 May 1984) is a Spanish footballer who plays as a central midfielder for La Liga club FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team. Iniesta came through La Masia, the Barcelona youth academy after an early emigration from his birthplace and impressed from an early age. He made his first-team debut in 2002, aged 18.

 

He began playing regularly during the 2004-05 season, and has remained in the side ever since. He was an integral part of the Barcelona side in 2009, the only time which a club has achieved six titles in one season. He is considered to be one of the greatest midfielders of all time, as well as one of the best footballers of his generation.

Iniesta comes from a small village named Fuentealbilla in the province of Albacete, Castile-La Mancha. At the age of 12, while playing for Albacete Balompié in a junior seven-a-side tournament in Albacete, he attracted the attention of scouts from many clubs around Spain. His parents knew the FC Barcelona youth team coach, Enrique Orizaola, and he persuaded them to consider sending Iniesta to the Barcelona youth academy.

Iniesta burst on to the international scene in 2001, helping Spain win the UEFA European Under-16 Championship, and was in the squad that claimed the UEFA European Under-19 Championship the following year. Since then, he became a regular choice for the then youth coach Juan Santisteban. In 2003 he formed part of the Spanish side that reached the FIFA World Youth Championship final in the United Arab Emirates, and was named in the FIFA all-star team.

Since 2008, Iniesta has dated Anna Ortiz, and in September 2010 he confirmed that she was pregnant with his child. On 3 April 2011 she gave birth to their daughter Valeria. The couple married on 8 July 2012. On 27 October 2013, he confirmed that Anna is pregnant with a baby boy. Iniesta has a majority share at his boyhood club Albacete after injecting €420,000 into the cash-trapped club in 2011, with his father José Antonio appointed on the board of directors.

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Iker Casillas

Iker Casillas Fernández (born 20 May 1981) is a Spanish football goalkeeper who plays for and captains both La Liga club Real Madrid and the Spanish national team. In 2008 he was the captain of the Spanish team that won their first European Championship in 44 years, the Spanish team that went on to win Spain's first World Cup (a tournament in which he won the Golden Glove aka Yashin Award) and the 2012 European Championship.

Considered to be one of the finest goalkeepers of his generation, Casillas was nominated for the European Footballer of the Year award in 2008, ranking fourth overall. At the end of 2012 he was voted into the UEFA Team of the Year for the sixth consecutive time. As of 2011 Casillas is one of a very select group of players who have won all major club and national championship titles.

In 2010, he was awarded with the Sports Prince of Asturias Award. On 19 October 2010, Casillas became the most capped goalkeeper of all time in the UEFA Champions League and in November 2011, he became the most capped player of all time for the Spanish national team. Casillas started his career in Real Madrid's youth system, known as La Fábrica, during the 1990-91 season.

 

On 27 November 1997 at age 16 he was first called up to the first team to face Rosenborg in Champions League, but it wasn't until the 1998-99 season that he debuted in the senior side, substituting Bodo Illgner. By the next season, he relegated Illgner to the bench and became first-choice. In 2000, he became the youngest ever goalkeeper to play in a Champions League final when Real Madrid defeated Valencia 3-0, just four days after his nineteenth birthday.

Casillas debuted for the national team in the U-17 level. At age 16, he was the youngest player in the Spanish squad that placed third at the 1997 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Egypt. He was later made captain of the U-17's. Two years later, he went on to win the FIFA World Youth Championship and the UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup that same year. Initially second-choice, he soon worked his way up to first-choice and eventually earned his first senior cap following some brilliant performances at club level.

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Sergio Ramos

Sergio Ramos García  (born 30 March 1986) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Real Madrid and Spain. Mainly a central defender, he can perform equally as a right back. After emerging through Sevilla's youth system, he went on to be a defensive mainstay for both Real Madrid and the Spanish national team, gaining his first cap at the age of 18.

Internationally Ramos participated in two World Cups and two European Championships, winning the former tournament in 2010 and the latter in 2008 and 2012. In the summer of 2005, 19-year-old Ramos was purchased by Real Madrid for €27 million, a record for a Spanish teenager. He was the only Spanish player brought in during Florentino Pérez's first stint as Real Madrid president.

In 2004, Ramos became an instant hit for Spain's under-21, for who he played six international matches. On 26 March 2005, in a 3-0 friendly win over China in Salamanca, he first appeared for the senior side at only 18 years and 361 days of age, making him the youngest player to play for the national team in the last 55 years (he held this record until it was broken by Arsenal's Cesc Fàbregas).

Just seven months later, Ramos scored his first two international goals in a 6–0 away thrashing of San Marino for the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. He was selected for the final stages in Germany and, after the international retirement of Real Madrid teammate Míchel Salgado, became the undisputed first-choice right-back.

In the final, his pass nearly set up Marcos Senna's first international goal, but the latter barely missed it by inches. During the celebrations after the 1-0 defeat of Germany, he wore a T-shirt in honor of close friend and former Sevilla teammate Puerta, who died in August 2007. Ramos was selected in the squad for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa, as Spain finished in third position.

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Mario Balotelli

Mario Barwuah Balotelli was born Mario Barwuah; 12 August 1990. He is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Milan and the Italian national team. He started his professional football career at Lumezzane and played for the first team twice before having an unsuccessful trial at FC Barcelona, and subsequently joining Internazionale in 2007.

Inter manager Roberto Mancini brought Balotelli into the first team, but when Mancini left, Balotelli's disciplinary record fell away. He had a strained relationship with new head coach José Mourinho and was suspended from Inter's first team in January 2009 after a number of disciplinary problems. In March 2010, he came under criticism by Inter fans after he appeared on the Italian TV show Striscia la notizia, wearing an A.C. Milan jersey.

This damaged the prospect of him having a long career at Inter, but he did make several appearances after that. With doubts over his career at Inter, former coach Roberto Mancini had since moved to Manchester City and decided to give Balotelli a fresh chance at a new club. He joined Manchester City in August 2010, where his performances and off-field activities continued to be enigmatic and unpredictable.

 

Nicknamed Super Mario, he earned his first cap for the Italian national team on 10 August 2010 in a friendly match against the Côte d'Ivoire. In 1993, the Barwuah family agreed to entrust the three-year-old boy to an Italian foster family, the Balotellis. At first, he stayed at the Balotellis during the weekdays, and returned to his biological parents on weekends, but after a while it was arranged for him to be permanently fostered by the Balotellis.

 

His foster parents, Silvia and Francesco Balotelli, who have Jewish Italian heritage, lived in a large house in the affluent village of Concesio, Brescia. When Mario Balotelli became famous, his biological parents asked for his return. He later accused them of "glory hunting", stating that they only wanted him back because of the prominence he had gained. According to Law 91 of 5 February 1992, Balotelli had to wait until his 18th birthday to request Italian citizenship, as the Balotellis had not adopted him.

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Frank Lampard

Frank James Lampard was born in 20 June 1978. He is an English professional footballer, who plays as a central midfielder for Chelsea and the England national team. He is the vice-captain for Chelsea and the club's all-time leading goalscorer. Considered to be one of the best English footballers of his time and one of the best midfield players of his generation, Lampard is a box-to-box midfielder known for "his work-rate, range of passing and goalscoring ability."

Lampard began his career at West Ham United, for whom his father Frank Lampard, Sr. had also played. He secured a place in the first team by the 1997-98 season, and the following year helped the team finish 5th in the Premier League, their highest-ever Premier League placing. In 2001, he moved to rival London club Chelsea for £11 million.

From his début, he was ever-present in the Chelsea first team and made 164 consecutive Premier League appearances, a record for an outfield player. He established himself as a prolific scorer at the west London club and was a key part of the sides which won back-to-back Premier League titles in 2004-05 and 2005–06 and a domestic cup double in 2007.

He signed a new contract in 2008, becoming the highest-paid Premier League footballer at that time, and scored in his first Champions League Final that year. He won a second FA Cup winners' medal in 2009, scoring the winning goal in the final. In the 2009-10 season, Lampard helped Chelsea secure their first league and FA Cup Double, and also had his most prolific season with the club, scoring 22 league goals and 17 league assists.

In 2012 Lampard captained Chelsea to their first UEFA Champions League success and a year later to their first UEFA Europa League title. A three-time Chelsea Player of the Year, Lampard is the club's all-time top goalscorer with 203 goals in all competitions. Lampard is one of seven players, and the only midfielder, to have scored 150 or more goals in the Premier League.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lampard

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Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi was born in 24 June 1987. He is an Argentine footballer who plays for La Liga club FC Barcelona and as the captain of the Argentina national team, playing mainly as a forward. He is Barcelona's all-time top scorer in all official club competitions, excluding friendlies. By the age of 21, Messi had received Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations.

 Lionel Messi

 Lionel Messi

 Lionel Messi

 Lionel Messi

 Lionel Messi

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