Hernán Crespo

Argentine striker who scored over 300 goals and won titles in Italy, England, and South America.

Hernán Jorge Crespo (born 5 July 1975) is an Argentine professional football coach and former player. He is considered one of the best strikers in the history of the Argentina national team. He is the current head coach of Atlas in Liga MX.

Quick Facts

Full name: Hernán Jorge Crespo
Born: 5 July 1975
Birthplace: Florida, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height: 1.85 m / 6 ft 1 in
Position: Striker
Current club: Atlas (head coach)

Lore & Background

A prolific striker, Crespo scored over 300 goals in a career spanning 19 years. At international level, he scored 35 goals and is Argentina's fifth highest goalscorer behind only Lautaro Martínez, Sergio Agüero, Gabriel Batistuta and Lionel Messi. He played in three FIFA World Cups: 1998, 2002, 2006. At club level, Crespo was the world's most expensive player when he was bought by Lazio from Parma in 2000 for €56 million (£35.5 million). He was top scorer in the 2000–01 Serie A with 26 goals, playing for Lazio. He is widely regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation. Crespo's awards include three Serie A scudetti, a Copa Libertadores, a Premier League title and an Olympic Games silver medal. In 2004, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players. Crespo never received a red card during his career.

Reader's Guide

On 31 August 2002, Crespo signed with Inter Milan as a replacement for the departed Ronaldo for a €26 million fee and Bernardo Corradi. Lazio later re-valued Corradi to €5.5 million. Crespo was expected to shine again after suffering from injuries the last season at Lazio, and would be united with Christian Vieri, while Mohamed Kallon and Álvaro Recoba. After a positive start to the season that saw Inter briefly leading Serie A, a series of injuries would end up consistently depriving the club of their two main strikers, with Crespo missing almost 3 months of the season between January and April. Crespo ultimately scored 7 goals in 18 Serie A appearances as Inter finished 2nd, along with 9 goals in 12 Champions League matches as the team reached the Semi Finals. Crespo was allowed to leave at the end of the season to join Chelsea who were looking for a proven European goalscorer. The move linked him back up with former Lazio colleague Juan Sebastian Veron. Crespo was transferred to Premier League club Chelsea on 26 August 2003 for a fee of reported £16.8 million which also created a controversy in alleged false accounting. On 7 August 2006, Crespo re-joined Inter on a two-year loan. He scored his 125th Serie A goal against Siena on 2 December 2006, and his 200th career goal in Europe on 2 April 2007. On 13 May, Crespo scored a hat-trick to help Inter defeat Lazio 4–3 and win the Scudetto. Crespo was released from Chelsea on 3 July 2008, following the expiration of his contract, and was signed by Inter on a one-year contract for free.