Juan Antonio Pizzi

Juan Antonio Pizzi

Footballer

Collected from open sources (3) · facts link to sources

Career & Clubs

Club career

Born in Santa Fe, Pizzi started his professional career with Rosario Central, before transferring to Mexico's Deportivo Toluca. After only one year, he moved to Tenerife, experiencing great individual success (a total of 30 goals in his first two seasons) while also helping the Canary Islands club to qualify for the UEFA Cup in his second year. These performances prompted interest from fellow La Liga side Valencia, and Pizzi's subsequent purchase. However, highly unsettled, he returned at the end of the campaign to his previous team and in the second season in his second spell he fired them into another UEFA Cup qualification, topping the goal charts at 31 in 41 games and adding a further five in the Copa del Rey. After that, Pizzi transferred to Barcelona. Never an undisputed starter, barred by Ronaldo, Sonny Anderson and the versatile Luis Enrique during his two-season stint, he managed to net 18 times in competitive matches, being very popular among the Camp Nou faithful. With Barcelona, Pizzi won the Supercopa de España in 1996, the UEFA Super Cup and Spanish Cup in 1997, conquering the latter again the following year while also winning his only league title. Arguably, his most memorable moment was the decisive goal in the 5–4 home win over Atlético Madrid in the domestic cup's quarter-finals second leg, after the Blaugrana trailed 3–0 at half-time. Subsequently, Pizzi returned to Argentina to play for River Plate, then had an unassuming spell in Portugal for Porto.…

International career

Pizzi earned 22 caps for Spain and scored eight goals, his debut coming on 30 November 1994 in a 2–0 friendly win against Finland. The following 20 September, he helped to beat his country of birth Argentina 2–1 in an exhibition game played in Madrid. Pizzi was part of the squads for UEFA Euro 1996 and the 1998 FIFA World Cup. In the latter, after being replaced by Fernando Morientes in a 0–0 draw against Paraguay as Spain exited in the group stage, he retired from the international scene.

Coaching career

Early career

After his retirement, aged almost 34, Pizzi played polo in the Barcelona region, then started his coaching career. Together with José del Solar, he managed Argentine Primera División's Colón at the beginning of the Clausura 2005, but both were sacked after three losses in the first three matches. On 13 April 2006, Pizzi became the coach of Universidad San Martín in the Peruvian Primera División. He returned to his country of birth five years later, working with Rosario Central and San Lorenzo and winning the 2013 Inicial with the latter.

Valencia

On 26 December 2013, Pizzi returned to Valencia after 20 years, being appointed manager. His first game in charge was on 4 January of the following year, a 2–0 derby home win over Levante. Pizzi was sacked on 2 July 2014, after new owner Peter Lim took over. It was the first time in 16 years that Valencia had failed to qualify for Europe, after an eighth-place finish.

Chile

On 29 January 2016, after one year at the helm of León in the Liga MX, Pizzi replaced Jorge Sampaoli at the Chile national side. He took the nation to victory in the Copa América Centenario in the United States, notably disposing of Mexico 7–0 in the last-eight stage and defeating Argentina on penalties in the decisive match. Pizzi took the team to the final of the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, Chile's first ever final in a FIFA competition and the fifth South American country to do so, losing 0–1 to Germany. However,…

Career statistics

Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Pizzi goal.

Club
FC Barcelona (1996–1998)
Club
Valencia CF (1993–1994)
Club
C.D. Tenerife (1991–1993)
Club
FC Porto (2000–2000)
Club
Club Atlético River Plate (1998–1999)
Club
Club Atlético Rosario Central (1987–1990)
Club
Villarreal CF (2002–2002)
Club
Toluca FC (1990–1991)
Club
C.D. Tenerife (1994–1996)
Club
Club Atlético Rosario Central (1999–2000)
Club
Club Atlético Rosario Central (2001–2001)
Club
Spain men's national football team (1994–1998)
National team
Spain

Clubs

Played together with

Archive

Passport
Identifiers & aliases
Description

Spanish footballer and manager

Position

forward

Extract from Wikipedia

Juan Antonio Pizzi Torroja is a football manager and former player who played as a striker.

▸ Source: Wikipedia
All links
Official Website

Discussion

Opinions of fans — not verified facts.

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