Maxi López

River Plate

López began his career in 1997 with River Plate. On 19 August 2001, at age 17, he made his senior debut, against Talleres de Córdoba. That same season, he was officially promoted to the senior squad following five years with the youth program. With River Plate, he was a standout striker and the club won the Torneo Clausura in 2002, 2003 and 2004. With River Plate, he made 56 appearances, scoring 13 goals.

Barcelona

In January 2005, Barcelona signed López on a 41⁄2-year contract for €6.2 million following an injury to striker Henrik Larsson. On his UEFA Champions League debut on 23 February, he came on as a second-half substitute for Ludovic Giuly and within four minutes beat Chelsea defender William Gallas to score an equaliser with his first shot for the club, an eventual 2–1 first-leg win. His only other goal for the club came in a Copa del Rey tie against Zamora on 11 January 2006. López failed to break into the club's first team; in his two seasons in La Liga, he made just 14 league appearances.

Mallorca, Moscow and Grêmio

López transferred to Mallorca on loan for the 2006–07 season, with the deal not including a purchasing option. He scored 3 goals in 25 matches, and returned to Barcelona in the summer of 2007, only to be sold to FC Moscow on 16 August 2007 after a €2 million transfer fee was agreed by the clubs. With Moscow, López made 22 league appearances and scored 9 goals. On 13 February 2009, Brazilian club Grêmio signed…

Club

As of 20 May 2018.

López represented his birth nation of Argentina at under-15, under-17 and under-20 levels, also taking part to the 2003 South American Youth Championship. He was eligible for both Argentina and Italy, as he holds both citizenships and has never represented any national team at senior level. In July 2010, he explicitly stated he might accept a call-up from the Azzurri.

López was married to Argentine model Wanda Nara from 2008 to 2013. The couple have three sons, Valentino Gastón (born 25 January 2009 in Buenos Aires), Constantino (born 19 December 2010 in Catania) and Benedicto (born 20 February 2012 in Milan). Nara and López split after her affair with López's former Sampdoria teammate Mauro Icardi was exposed. López had previously been good friends with Icardi, inviting his countryman on vacations and opening his home to Icardi when he first moved to Italy. She and López began divorce proceedings in December 2013. Nara and Icardi subsequently married on 27 May 2014. During the April 2014 Serie A match between Sampdoria and Inter, López notably refused to shake Icardi's hand, leading the press to dub the game the "Wanda derby". Since February 2014, he has been in a relationship with Swedish model Daniela Christiansson. On 26 May 2021, they announced that they had become engaged days before, on Christiansson's thirtieth birthday in San Benedetto del Tronto. On 26 September 2022, they announced that they were expecting a baby. Their daughter Elle was born on 31 March 2023 in London. López's change of luck from being a somewhat criticised forward at River Plate to being signed by Barcelona made him an internet meme in his native Argentina. Satirical blogs were created lobbying for his inclusion in the Argentinian squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. After Argentina's elimination from the World Cup, without López in the 23-man squad, the nature…