Miguel Ángel "Míchel" Salgado Fernández (born 22 October 1975 in As Neves, Galicia) is a Spanish footballer who is currently playing for English side Blackburn Rovers, as a right defender.

Nicknamed Il Due^[1] (two in Italian), he is known for his combative tackling and attacking play. Attesting to his aggressive style, Salgado's former Real Madrid - where he spent an entire decade, after excellent displays at Celta de Vigo - teammate Steve McManaman once described him as "the hardest person in the world....a genuine psychopath, even in training."^[2]

[edit] Club career

[edit] Celta de Vigo

Salgado began his professional career with hometown's Celta de Vigo, making his first division debut on 22 January 1995, in a 0–4 loss at Real Madrid. He served a second division loan spell at UD Salamanca, before eventually becoming first-choice.

Whilst at Celta, Salgado was involved in an incident with Atlético de Madrid's Juninho Paulista, in February 1998; after a dangerous challenge that went unbooked, the Brazilian playmaker was sidelined for six months, and missed that year's World Cup.^[3][4][5]

[edit] Real Madrid

In 1999, Salgado was snapped up by Real Madrid, for €11,000,000,^[3]appearing in 29 league contests in his first season, while also helping the club win the season's Champions League. He was the capital side's starter during his first seven seasons, but was relegated to the bench by former Sevilla FC youngster Sergio Ramos in the 2006–07 season.

Salgado was still able to contribute with 16 games for the merengues' 30th national title, mainly due to injuries to Pepe, with Ramos being relocated to centre back. In the following two seasons, he played very rarely (only 17 matches combined), being sent off in the final game of the 2008-09 season, a 2-1 loss at CA Osasuna, on 31 May 2009, as Madrid slumped to a fifth consecutive league defeat.

Salgado was released by Real Madrid with the club already midway in its pre-season for the 2009-10 season, in early August 2009.^[6]

[edit] Blackburn Rovers

Salgado signed for Blackburn Rovers of the English Premiership on 19 August 2009, after impressing manager Sam Allardyce whilst on trial at the Ewood Park club. He went on to say he was happy to be playing for Blackburn, intending to retire at the club.^[7][8]

Salgado made his first-team debut against Wolverhampton Wanderers as a second-half substitute, on 12 September (3-1 home win). On 27 October 2009, he scored his first goal, against Peterborough United in the League Cup.^[9]

[edit] International career

Salgado won the first of his 53 caps for Spain on September 5, 1998, in an infamous 2–3 loss in Cyprus for the Euro 2000 qualifiers, and was part of the nation's squads at UEFA Euro 2000 and 2006 FIFA World Cup, starting in the former and being backup in the latter, to Real Madrid teammate Ramos.

Due to last-minute injuries, he missed out on the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004,^[10]and also represented the autonomous Galician team.

Salgado was named in the Spanish Team of the Decade by Goal.com.^[11]

[edit] Honours

Real Madrid CF:

• Intercontinental Cup: 2002
• UEFA Champions League: 1999–00, 2001–02
• UEFA Super Cup: 2002
• Spanish League: 2000–01, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2007–08
• Spanish Supercup: 2001, 2003, 2008

Spain U21:

• European Under-21 Championship: 1998

[edit] Personal

Salgado is married to Malula Sanz, daughter of former Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz.^[12]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Blackburn Rovers profile
• Real Madrid profile
• BDFutbol profile
• National team data (Spanish)
• FootballDatabase profile and stats
• Míchel Salgado FIFA competition record
• Short bio at El Correo Gallego (Spanish)
• Fansite

Spain Squad v • d • e Spain squad – UEFA Euro 2000 1 Cañizares • 2 Salgado • 3 Aranzábal • 4 Guardiola • 5 Abelardo • 6 Hierro (c) • 7 Helguera • 8 Fran • 9 Munitis • 10 Raúl • 11 Alfonso • 12 Sergi • 13 Casillas • 14 Gerard • 15 Engonga • 16 Mendieta • 17 Etxeberria • 18 Paco • 19 Velasco • 20 Urzaiz • 21 Valerón • 22 Molina • Coach: Camacho v • d • e Spain squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Casillas • 2 Salgado • 3 Pernía • 4 Marchena • 5 Puyol • 6 Albelda • 7 Raúl (c) • 8 Xavi • 9 F. Torres • 10 Reyes • 11 Luis García • 12 A. López • 13 Iniesta • 14 Xabi Alonso • 15 S. Ramos • 16 Senna • 17 Joaquín • 18 Fàbregas • 19 Cañizares • 20 Juanito • 21 Villa • 22 Pablo • 23 Reina • Coach: Aragonés