Ariel Ortega

Personal information
Full name	Arnaldo Ariel Ortega
Date of birth	4 March 1974 (1974-03-04) (age 35)
Place of birth	Ledesma, Jujuy, Argentina
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Playing position	Attacking midfielder, Striker
Club information
Current club	River Plate
Number	10
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1991–1996	River Plate	134	(30)
1997–1998	Valencia	29	(9)
1998–1999	Sampdoria	27	(8)
1999–2000	Parma	18	(3)
2000–2002	River Plate	56	(23)
2002–2003	Fenerbahçe	14	(5)
2004–2006	Newell's Old Boys	53	(11)
2006–	River Plate	44	(8)
2008–2009	→ Independiente Rivadavia (loan)	25	(4)
National team‡
1993–2003	Argentina	86	(17)
Honours Competitor for  Argentina Men's Football Olympic Games Silver 1996 Atlanta Team Competition Pan American Games Gold 1995 Mar del Plata Team Competition
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of June 2009. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of November 2009

Arnaldo Ariel Ortega (born 4 March 1974) is an Argentine football attacking midfielder, who plays for River Plate. His nickname is "El Burrito" ("The Little Donkey"), thus called "Burrito Ortega".

Ortega's previous clubs include Fenerbahçe, Parma, Sampdoria, Valencia, and Newell's Old Boys. Ortega played for his country in the 1994, 1998, and 2002 World Cups. He was also a member of the team that won the silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

[edit] Biography

He is widely recognized for his blinding pace and outstanding ability from dead ball situations, but most of all for his incredible dribbling ability. At his prime he was one of the best dribblers in the world. He is also famous for his lobbed shots.

Along with his skills, Ortega is infamously temperamental.

[edit] Europe

Ortega left Argentina in 1996. He played 1½ seasons for Valencia CF before signed by Sampdoria in 1998. After the club relegated to Serie B, Ortega joined Parma AC, rejoined national team and former club team-mate Hernán Crespo. But in the next season he returned to Argentina for River Plate.

[edit] Fenerbahçe and ban

In May 2002, Fenerbahçe signed Ortega from River Plate at a fee of USD 7,500,000 (USD 2,500,000 paid to Parma). Fenerbahçe also bought the image rights for USD 1,500,000. Ortega signed a 4-year contract.^[1] He was one of the key player of the team and scored 5 goals in 14 matches.

After he did not return to Turkey from international duty since 12 February 2003, Fenerbahçe filed to FIFA in April 2003.^[1] In June 2003 FIFA Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC) ordered Ortega to pay an amount of USD 11,000,000 as compensation for breach of an employment contract and suspended until 30 December 2003.^[1] Ortega appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in July 2003 but dismissed on 5 November.^[1] He then suspended for 4 months from that day.^[1]

After the ban he was without a club.

[edit] Return to Argentina

In 2004, when he finally could come back to football, he went to Newell's Old Boys, as he was called by his friend Américo Gallego, who at that time was Newell's' coach. Together, Newell also paid certian sum to Fenerbahçe for Ortega owe the club. They won the Apertura 2004.

On June 2006 he went back to his first team River Plate, where he played for about half of the Apertura 2006 ^[2] , and then he stopped to start a treatment for alcoholism. On January 2007, during River's pre-season in Mar del Plata, and one day after playing an excellent game in which he even scored, he surprised everyone with another alcoholic episode, after which River Plate's doctors suggested to the coach that Ortega should go back to Buenos Aires to resume the treatment against his problem.

Coach Daniel Passarella brought back Ortega stating he was ready for a comeback. On March 15, 2007, in a Copa Libertadores 2007 match against LDU Quito, Ortega formed part of River's bench but was not given a chance to play. However three days later, in a league match versus Quilmes, he came in the second half to help break the opposing team's defense in a tight 0-0 up to that point. Ortega would score a controversial goal with his hand on the 93th minute to give River the victory and a great personal comeback.

At the arrival of Diego Simeone as head coach of River, Ortega would eventually lose some "protections" he was rumoured to have and, despite being an important part of the team that achieved the Clausura 2008 title, Simeone left him out of the squad for the upcoming season, backing his decision on several times not coming to train as well as some episodes of alcoholism ^[3][4][5]. After some controversy ^[6] and rumours ^[7][8] in the winter window of Argentine market, he was loaned to Nacional B side Independiente Rivadavia^[9], signing a one year contract where a twice a week trip to a Chilean Special Treatment Center for alcoholics ^[10] is one of the clauses. On the 1st of May 2009 the player has been let go by Independiente officials. The club decided to terminate his contract in advance. Ortega was on loan from River Plate. On his first game back in River Plate, 25 July 2009, he scored an outstanding chip shot goal to give River a 1-0 victory over Everton F.C. of England in Edmonton, Canada during the preseason.

[edit] International

During the 1998 World Cup, in the quarter-finals against the Netherlands, Ortega received a straight red card for headbutting Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar when van der Sar confronted him after a dive in the penalty area, for which Ortega was just getting his first yellow card. Shortly after Ortega's sending off, Dennis Bergkamp scored the winning goal to make it 2-1, eliminating Argentina.

Ortega played his last match for Argentina on 12 February 2003, verse the Netherlands in Amsterdam. On September 24, 2009 he was surprisingly recalled to the Argentina national first team squad,^[11] but a couple of days later, it was announced that Ariel Ortega will miss the friendly match against Ghana due to a injury he picked up during the weekend in the Argentine Domestic League.^[12]

[edit] Titles

Ortega playing in 2008.

Season	Club	Title
Apertura 1991	River Plate	Argentine Primera
Apertura 1993	River Plate	Argentine Primera
Apertura 1995	River Plate	Argentine Primera
1996	River Plate	Copa Libertadores
1999	Parma	Supercoppa Italiana
Clausura 2002	River Plate	Argentine Primera
Apertura 2004	Newell's Old Boys	Argentine Primera
Clausura 2008	River Plate	Argentine Primera

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Club

[edit] International

International appearances and goals
#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Result	Goal	Competition
1993–94
1.	15 December 1993	Miami, United States	Germany	2–1	0	Friendly
2.	23 March 1994	Recife, Brazil	Brazil	0–2	0[17]
3.	20 April 1994	Salta, Argentina	Morocco	3–1	0 [18]
4.	31 May 1994	Tel Aviv, Israel	Israel	3–0	0[19]
5.	4 June 1994	Zagreb, Croatia	Croatia	0–0	0[19]
6.	21 June 1994	Boston, United States	Greece	4–0	0	1994 FIFA World Cup
7.	30 June 1994	Dallas, United States	Bulgaria	0–2	0
8.	3 July 1994	Los Angeles, United States	Romania	2–3	0
1994–95
9.	16 November 1994	Santiago, Chile	Chile	3–0	0	Friendly[20]
	21 December 1994	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Romanian League	1–0	0	Unofficial Friendly
10.	27 December 1994	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Yugoslavia	1–0	0	Friendly[21]
11.	8 January 1995	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	Japan	5–1	1	1995 King Fahd Cup
12.	10 January 1995		Nigeria	0–0	0
13.	13 January 1995		Denmark	0–2	0
14.	14 February 1995	Mendoza, Argentina	Bulgaria	4–1	0[22]	Friendly
15.	13 May 1995	Johannesburg, South Africa	South Africa	1–1	0[23]
16.	31 May 1995	La Plata, Argentina	Peru	1–0	0
17.	22 June 1995	Mendoza, Argentina	Slovakia	6–0	0[23]
18.	30 June 1995	Quilmes, Argentina	Australia	2–0	0[23]
19.	8 July 1995	Paysandú, Uruguay	Bolivia	2–1	0	1995 Copa América
20.	11 July 1995		Chile	4–0	0
21.	14 July 1995		United States	0–3	0
22.	17 July 1995	Rivera, Uruguay	Brazil	2-2 (2–4 PSO)	0
1995–96
23.	20 September 1995	Madrid, Spain	Spain	1–2	1	Friendly[24]
24.	11 October 1995	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Colombia	0–0	0[25]
25.	8 November 1995	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Brazil	0–1	0[26]
26.	21 December 1995	Mendoza, Argentina	Venezuela	6–0	0[25]
27.	24 April 1996	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Bolivia	3–1	2	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
28.	2 June 1996	Quito, Ecuador	Ecuador	0–2	0
29.	7 July 1996	Lima, Peru	Peru	0–0	0
	20 July 1996	Birmingham, Alabama, United States	United States	3–1	0	1996 Olympics (Argentina U23)
	22 July 1996	Washington, D.C., United States	Portugal	1–1	1
	24 July 1996	Birmingham, Alabama, United States	Tunisia	1–1	1
	27 July 1996		Spain	4–0	0
	30 July 1996	Athens, Georgia, United States	Portugal	2–0	0
	3 August 1996		Nigeria	2–3	0
1996–97
30.	1 September 1996	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Paraguay	1–1	0	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
31.	9 October 1996	San Cristóbal, Venezuela	Venezuela	5–2	1
32.	15 December 1996	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Chile	1–1	0
33.	28 December 1996	Mar del Plata, Argentina	Yugoslavia	2–3	0	Friendly[27]
34.	12 January 1997	Montevideo, Uruguay	Uruguay	0–0	0	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
35.	12 February 1997	Barranquilla, Colombia	Colombia	1–0	0
36.	2 April 1997	La Paz, Bolivia	Bolivia	2–1	0
37.	30 April 1997	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Ecuador	2–1	1
38.	8 June 1997		Peru	2–0	0
39.	20 July 1997	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Venezuela	2–0	0
1997–98
40.	10 September 1997	Santiago, Chile	Chile	2–1	0	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
41.	12 October 1997	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Uruguay	0–0	0
42.	16 November 1997		Colombia	1–1	0
	19 February 1998	Mendoza, Argentina	Romania	2–1	0	Unofficial Friendly[28]
43.	24 February 1998	Mar del Plata, Argentina	Yugoslavia	3–1	0[29]	Friendly
44.	15 April 1998	Jerusalem, Israel	Israel	1–2	0[28]
45.	22 April 1998	Dublin, Republic of Ireland	Republic of Ireland	2–1	1[28]
46.	29 April 1998	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Brazil	1–0	0[30]
47.	14 May 1998	La Plata, Argentina	Bosnia and Herzegovina	5–0	1 [31]
48.	19 May 1998	Mendoza, Argentina	Chile	1–0	0
49.	25 May 1998	Buenos Aires, Argentina	South Africa	2–0	1[32]
50.	14 June 1998	Toulouse, France	Japan	1–0	0	1998 FIFA World Cup
51.	21 June 1998	Paris, France	Jamaica	5–0	2
52.	26 June 1998	Bordeaux, France	Croatia	1–0	0
53.	30 June 1998	Saint-Étienne, France	England	2–2 (AET) 4–3 (PSO)	0
54.	4 July 1998	Marseilles, France	Netherlands	1–2	0
1998–99
55.	31 March 1999	Amsterdam, The Netherlands	Netherlands	1–1	0	Friendly[33]
56.	26 June 1999	Buenos Aires , Argentina	Lithuania	0–0	0
57.	11 July 1999	Ciudad del Este, Paraguay	Brazil	1–2	0	1999 Copa América
1999–2000
58.	4 September 1999	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Brazil	2–0	0[34]	Friendly
59.	7 September 1999	Porto Alegre, Brazil	Brazil	2–4	1[35]
60.	13 October 1999	La Plata, Argentina	Colombia	2–1	1[36]
61.	17 November 1999	Seville, Spain	Spain	2–0	0
62.	23 February 2000	London, England, United Kingdom	England	0–0	0[37]
63.	29 March 2000	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Chile	4–1	0	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
64.	26 April 2000	Maracaibo, Venezuela	Venezuela	4–0	2
65.	4 June 2000	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Bolivia	1–0	0
66.	29 June 2000	Bogota, Colombia	Colombia	3–1	0
67.	19 July 2000	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Ecuador	2–0	0
68.	26 July 2000	São Paulo, Brazil	Brazil	1–3	0
2000–01
69.	16 August 2000	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Paraguay	1–1	0	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
70.	3 September 2000	Lima, Peru	Peru	2–1	0
71.	15 November 2000	Santiago, Chile	Chile	2–0	1
72.	20 December 2000	Los Angeles, United States	Mexico	2–0	0	Friendly
73.	28 March 2001	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Venezuela	5–0	0	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
74.	25 April 2001	La Paz, Bolivia	Bolivia	3–3	0
2001–02
75.	15 August 2001	Quito, Ecuador	Ecuador	2–0	0	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
76.	5 September 2001	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Brazil	2–1	0
77.	7 October 2001	Asunción, Paraguay	Paraguay	2–2	0
78.	8 November 2001	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Peru	2–0	0
79.	14 November 2001	Montevideo, Uruguay	Uruguay	1–1	0
80.	2 June 2002	Ibaraki, Japan	Nigeria	1–0	0	2002 FIFA World Cup
81.	7 June 2002	Sapporo, Japan	England	0–1	0
82.	12 June 2002	Rifu, Miyagi, Japan	Sweden	1–1	0
2002–03
83.	20 November 2002	Saitama, Japan	Japan	2–0	0[38]	Friendly
84.	12 February 2003	Amsterdam, The Netherlands	Netherlands	0–1	0

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Ariel Ortega at National-Football-Teams.com
• Ariel Ortega FIFA competition record
• (Spanish) Argentine Primera statistics
• River Plate player profile

Argentina squads v • d • e Argentina squad – 1994 FIFA World Cup 1 Goycochea • 2 Vázquez • 3 Chamot • 4 Sensini • 5 Redondo • 6 Ruggeri • 7 Caniggia • 8 Basualdo • 9 Batistuta • 10 Maradona • 11 Medina Bello • 12 Islas • 13 Cáceres • 14 Simeone • 15 Borelli • 16 Díaz • 17 Ortega • 18 Pérez • 19 Balbo • 20 Rodríguez • 21 Mancuso • 22 Scoponi • Coach: Basile v • d • e Argentina squad – 1995 King Fahd Cup Runners-up 1 Bossio • 2 Ayala • 3 Chamot • 4 Zanetti • 5 Pérez • 6 Fabbri • 7 Ortega • 8 Escudero • 9 Batistuta • 10 Espina • 11 Rambert • 12 Burgos • 13 Rotchen • 14 Arruabarrena • 15 Vivas • 16 Jiménez • 17 Gallardo • 18 López • 19 Crespo • 20 Bassedas • Coach: Passarella v • d • e Argentina squad – 1995 Copa América 1 Cristante • 2 Ayala • 3 Chamot • 4 Zanetti • 5 Pérez • 6 Cáceres • 7 Balbo • 8 Simeone • 9 Batistuta • 10 Gallardo • 11 Berti • 12 Bossio • 13 Altamirano • 14 Schürrer • 15 Fabbri • 16 Astrada • 17 Escudero • 18 Espina • 19 Ortega • 20 Acosta • 21 Borrelli • 22 Burgos • Coach: Passarella v • d • e Argentina squad – 1996 Summer Olympics Silver Medalists 1 Cavallero • 2 Ayala • 3 Chamot • 4 Zanetti • 5 Almeyda • 6 Sensini • 7 C. López • 8 Simeone • 9 Crespo • 10 Ortega • 11 Delgado • 12 Morales • 13 Bossio • 14 Paz • 15 Bassedas • 16 Pineda • 17 G. López • 18 Gallardo • Coach: Passarella v • d • e Argentina squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup 1 Roa • 2 Ayala • 3 Chamot • 4 Pineda • 5 Almeyda • 6 Sensini • 7 C. López • 8 Simeone • 9 Batistuta • 10 Ortega • 11 Verón • 12 Burgos • 13 Paz • 14 Vivas • 15 Astrada • 16 Berti • 17 Cavallero • 18 Balbo • 19 Crespo • 20 Gallardo • 21 Delgado • 22 Zanetti • Coach: Passarella v • d • e Argentina squad – 1999 Copa América 1 Burgos • 2 Ayala • 3 Sorín • 4 Ibarra • 5 Simeone • 6 Samuel • 7 Barros Schelotto • 8 Zanetti • 9 Palermo • 10 Ortega • 11 López • 12 Bizzarri • 13 Vivas • 14 Pochettino • 15 Berizzo • 16 Guglielminpietro • 17 Husaín • 18 Cagna • 19 Calderón • 20 Aimar • 21 González • 22 Riquelme • Coach: Bielsa v • d • e Argentina squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Burgos • 2 Ayala • 3 Sorín • 4 Pochettino • 5 Almeyda • 6 Samuel • 7 C. López • 8 Zanetti • 9 Batistuta • 10 Ortega • 11 Verón • 12 Cavallero • 13 Placente • 14 Simeone • 15 Husaín • 16 Aimar • 17 G. López • 18 González • 19 Crespo • 20 Gallardo • 21 Caniggia • 22 Chamot • 23 Bonano • Coach: Bielsa