Sergio Agüero

Personal information
Full name	Sergio Leonel Agüero del Castillo
Date of birth	2 June 1988 (1988-06-02) (age 21)
Place of birth	Quilmes, Argentina
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 7+1⁄2 in)[1]
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Atlético Madrid
Number	10
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps (Gls)†
2003–2006	Independiente	0052 00(22)
2006–	Atlético Madrid	0122 00(45)
National team‡
2005–2007	Argentina U20	0007 000(6)
2008	Argentina U23	0005 000(2)
2006–	Argentina	0020 000(7)
Honours Competitor for  Argentina Men's Football Gold 2008 Beijing Team Competition
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20/9/2009 (EST). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 20/9/2009 (EST)

Sergio Leonel 'Kun' Agüero del Castillo^[1] (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈserxio aˈɣweɾo], born 2 June 1988) is an Argentine footballer who currently plays as a striker for Spanish La Liga club Atlético Madrid, and the Argentine national team. He plays as a second striker in the "hole" behind the main striker.

Agüero earned his nickname "Kun" when his grandparents noted that his haircut looked like that of Japanese anime character "Kun Kun".^[2]

[edit] Club career

[edit] Independiente

Sergio Agüero started playing for Argentine First Division Club Independiente, becoming the youngest player to debut in the Argentine First Division at 15 years and 35 days (on 7 July 2003 against Club Atlético San Lorenzo), breaking the record previously established by Diego Maradona in 1976.^[2]

[edit] Atlético Madrid

In April 2006, it was reported that Atlético Madrid had "pulled off a stunning transfer coup in the signing of Independiente striker Sergio Agüero."^[3] That same day, Independiente denied the reports, but the player himself later told Argentine television "Although I still don't know what's going to happen to me, this could have been my last goal and my last game for Independiente."^[4] On 29 May 2006, it was announced that Atlético Madrid had signed the striker for an undisclosed fee, reported to be around €23 million, breaking the club's previous transfer record.^[5][6] In the 2007–08 season, Agüero finished third in scoring in La Liga, behind Dani Güiza and Luís Fabiano, with 20 goals and was runner up in the Trofeo Alfredo di Stéfano award for best player in La Liga.^[7]

In the 2008–09 season, Agüero has become a regular goalscorer for Atlético, forming a strong partnership with Uruguayan striker Diego Forlán, also a former Independiente striker. On 1 March 2009, the duo of Diego Forlán and Agüero scored a brace each in a dramatic 4-3 win over league leaders Barcelona.^[8] Agüero finished in the top ten runners for the Pichichi Trophy while his teammate Forlán won the trophy.^[9] Atlético finished fourth in the league, securing a UEFA Champions League spot.

In the 2009-10 season, Agüero came off the bench and scored a brace against Chelsea during a 2-2 draw at Vicente Calderón on Champions League matchday 4.^{[10][11][12][13]} which attracted interest from the English Club.

[edit] International career

Agüero made his senior debut for Argentina in a friendly with Brazil played at Emirates Stadium, England, on 3 September 2006.^[1] As a teenager, he represented Argentina at three FIFA World Youth Championships. Together with future 2008 Olympics squad teammates Fernando Gago of Real Madrid and Lionel Messi of Barcelona, they won the 2005 edition in the Netherlands.

At the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada, he scored twice and helped set up three goals in a 6-0 win over Panama in the second game of the group stage of the tournament. Agüero then scored the only goal in Argentina's third match against North Korea from a free kick. Having qualified to the round of 16, he scored two of the three goals against Poland that would eventually give them the win (3-1) to advance. Argentina defeated Mexico in the quarter-finals and Chile in the semi-finals, and faced the Czech Republic in the finals. Agüero captained and scored the equaliser in the 62nd minute, leading to a 2-1 victory. In addition, Agüero won the Golden Boot for the tournament, scoring six goals, and the Golden Ball as the best player of the tournament.

As a member of the Argentine squad for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Agüero scored two goals in the space of five minutes in the semi-final 3-0 win over Brazil on 19 August 2008.^[14] He also played 78 minutes of the final where Argentina beat Nigeria 1-0.^[15]

[edit] Personal life

Agüero was born in Quilmes, Buenos Aires, on 2 June 1988 into a large family with seven children.^[16] Agüero started playing football at a young age and he often played on a pitch in his local neighbourhood Villa Itali.^[2] On 19 February 2009, it was announced that Agüero's fiancée, Giannina Maradona, the younger daughter of Argentine football legend Diego Maradona, had given birth to a son named Benjamin in Madrid.^[17] Maradona was in the Spanish capital for the birth of his first grandson, while Agüero, 20, missed Atlético's training session earlier in the day. Atlético offered their congratulations in a statement on their official website.^[18]

Agüero has a tattoo on the inside of his right arm, inscribed in Tengwar (a form of writing invented by J. R. R. Tolkien and used by the Elves in his works). It translates roughly to "Kun Aguero" in the Latin alphabet.^[19]

[edit] Club career statistics

Club	Season	League			Cup[20]			Continental[21]			Total
		Apps	Goals	Assis	Apps	Goals	Assis	Apps	Goals	Assis	Apps	Goals	Assis
Independiente	2003–04	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0	0
	2004–05	12	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	12	5	0
	2005–06	36	18	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	36	18	0
Argentina		54	23	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	54	23	0
Atlético Madrid	2006–07	38	6	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	40	6	3
	2007–08	37	19	7	4	2	0	7	5	2	48	26	9
	2008–09	37	17	9	1	0	0	9	4	2	47	21	11
	2009–10	11	4	0	1	0	0	7	4	1	19	8	1
Spain		123	46	19	8	2	0	23	13	5	154	61	24
Career totals		177	69	19	8	2	0	23	13	5	208	84	24

^[22]

[edit] International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	17 November 2007	El Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina	Bolivia	1 – 0	3 – 0	World Cup 2010 Qualifying
2	26 March 2008	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo, Egypt	Egypt	1 – 0	2 – 0	Friendly
3	4 June 2008	Qualcomm Stadium, California, United States	Mexico	4 – 1	4 – 1	Friendly
4	6 September 2008	El Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina	Paraguay	1 – 1	1 – 1	World Cup 2010 Qualifying
5	11 October 2008	El Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina	Uruguay	2 – 0	2 – 1	World Cup 2010 Qualifying
6	28 March 2009	El Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina	Venezuela	4 – 0	4 – 0	World Cup 2010 Qualifying
7	12 August 2009	Lokomotiv Stadium, Moscow, Russia	Russia	1 – 1	3 – 2	Friendly

[edit] Argentina Olympic Team goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	19 August 2008	Beijing Worker's Stadium, Shanghai, China	Brazil	1 – 0	3 – 0	Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics
2	19 August 2008	Beijing Worker's Stadium, Shanghai, China	Brazil	2 – 0	3 – 0	Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics

[edit] Titles

[edit] International

• Argentina
• FIFA U-20 World Cup: 2005, 2007
• Summer Olympics: 2008

[edit] Individual

• FIFA U-20 World Cup Top Scorer: 2007
• FIFA U-20 World Cup Player of the Tournament: 2007
• Tuttosport Golden Boy: 2007 ^[23][24]
• FIFA's Young Player of the Year: 2007
• Trofeo EFE: 2007-2008
• Trofeo Alfredo Di Stéfano: runner up: 2007–08
• Player of the Year of Argentina: 2009
• Bravo Award: 2009

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Footballdatabase.com profile
• News, photos and videos Sergio Agüero
• The rise of Sergio Aguero
• FIFA.com Profile
• UEFA.com Profile
• Sergio Aguero news&articles

Sergio Agüero - Navigation boxes and awards v • d • e Argentina squad – 2008 Olympic Gold Medalists 1 Ustari • 2 Garay • 3 Monzón • 4 Zabaleta • 5 Gago • 6 Fazio • 7 Sosa • 8 Banega • 9 Lavezzi • 10 Riquelme • 11 Di María • 12 Pareja • 13 Acosta • 14 Mascherano • 15 Messi • 16 Agüero • 17 Buonanotte • 18 Romero • 22 Navarro • Coach: Batista v • d • e Olimpia de Plata 1970: Yazalde | 1971: Pastoriza | 1972: Bargas | 1973: Brindisi | 1974: Raimondo | 1975: Scotta | 1976: Passarella | 1977: Fillol | 1978: Kempes | 1979: Maradona | 1980: Maradona | 1981: Maradona | 1982: Gatti | 1983: Bochini | 1984: Márcico | 1985: Francescoli | 1986: Maradona | 1987: Fabbri | 1988: Paz | 1989: Moreno | 1990: Goycochea | 1991: Ruggeri | 1992: Islas | 1993: Bello | 1994: Montoya | 1995: Francescoli | 1996: Chilavert | 1997: Salas | 1998: Batistuta | 1999: Saviola | 2000: Riquelme | 2001: Riquelme | 2002: Milito | 2003: Tévez | 2004: Tévez | 2005: Messi | 2006: Verón | 2007: Messi | 2008: Riquelme | 2009: Agüero v • d • e FIFA U-20 World Cup Golden Ball 1977: Bessonov | 1979: Maradona | 1981: Gabor | 1983: Geovani | 1985: Silas | 1987: Prosinečki | 1989: Bismarck | 1991: Peixe | 1993: Adriano | 1995: Caio | 1997: Olivera | 1999: Keita | 2001: Saviola | 2003: Matar | 2005: Messi | 2007: Agüero | 2009: Adiyiah v • d • e EFE Trophy 1990–91: Fernández | 1991–92: Zalazar | 1992–93: Zamorano | 1993–94: Romário | 1994–95: Zamorano | 1995–96: Simeone | 1996–97: Ronaldo | 1997–98: Roberto Carlos | 1998–99: Rivaldo | 1999–2000: Herrera | 2000–01: Acuña | 2001–02: Saviola | 2002–03: Ronaldo | 2003–04: Ronaldinho | 2004–05: Forlán | 2005–06: Aimar | 2006–07: Messi | 2007–08: Agüero | 2008–09: Messi v • d • e Bravo Award 1978: Matthäus | 1978: Case | 1979: Birtles | 1980: Müller | 1981: Wark | 1982: Shaw | 1983: Bonini | 1984: Romário | 1985: Butragueño | 1986: Butragueño | 1987: van Basten | 1988: Ohana | 1989: Maldini | 1990: Baggio | 1991: Prosinečki | 1992: Guardiola | 1993: Giggs | 1994: Panucci | 1995: Ronaldo | 1996: Del Piero | 1997: Ronaldo | 1998: Ronaldo | 1999: Buffon | 2000: Casillas | 2001: Hargreaves | 2002: Metzelder | 2003: Rooney | 2004: C.Ronaldo | 2005: Robben | 2006: Fàbregas | 2007: Messi | 2008: Benzema | 2009: Agüero Awards and achievements Preceded by Lionel Messi FIFA U-20 World Cup Golden Shoe 2007 Succeeded by Incumbent Preceded by Lionel Messi FIFA U-20 World Cup Golden Ball 2007 Succeeded by Incumbent