Gabriel Paletta
Encyclopedia
Gabriel Alejandro Paletta (born 15 February 1986 in Buenos Aires
, Argentina
) is an Argentine
central defender who currently plays for Parma
in Italy's
Serie A
.
and reached the first team in 2005. When Banfield qualified for the knockout stages of the Copa Libertadores, they altered their 25 man squad for the event to include Paletta and immediately threw him into action against the Colombia
n team Independiente Medellín
. Paletta played well and Banfield progressed, but Paletta was to play no further part in the tournament after being called up to the Argentina Under-20
team to participate in the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship
.
club, after Mauricio Pellegrino
. He scored his first and what turned out to be only Liverpool goal in the Carling Cup against Reading on 25 October 2006. On July 9, 2007 it was reported that Paletta would be loaned to Spain's Levante
in order to gain some valuable first-team experience, although Rafa Benitez had agreed to loaning the defender, the move was not established. Instead, on August 26, 2007 it was officially reported that Liverpool agreed for Paletta to sign with Boca Juniors having welcomed the arrival of Emiliano Insua
.
. He debuted for the club on August 29, 2007. Paletta played in the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup Final
in which Boca Juniors
lost 4–2 against AC Milan. Upon his return in early 2008, he scored against arch rivals River Plate
in the Superclásico
of the Torneo de Verano's Copa Revancha, he also featured in the 2008 Copa Libertadores
where Boca Juniors reached the semi-finals before being knocked out by Fluminense. During the Apertura Tournament of 2008, in a 1–0 win against Arsenal de Sarandi on November 9, Paletta was ruled out of play for six months after tearing the cruciate ligament in his right knee, the injury was a vital incident to occur leading up to the final stages of the Apertura as Paletta's team mate Martin Palermo had also suffered the same injury in August. Paletta returned to the scene in May 2009 against Velez Sarsfield and unfortunately suffered an ankle sprain after just 17 minutes. In August 2009 Paletta failed to move to Italy due to Palermo
failing to agree the price of the player, Greeces Panathinaikos were also chasing his signature. Despite expressing his desire of returning to Europe he became a regular in the first team of Boca Juniors throughout the Torneo Apertura of 2009.
club Parma FC announced via their website the acquisition outright of Gabriel Paletta from Boca Juniors
. He was a regular in the side, seeing off the challenge of Massimo Paci
and partnering Alessandro Lucarelli
.
. He started in all seven games of the tournament, playing in the heart of the Argentine defence, alongside Lionel Messi
and Sergio Agüero
. Argentina went on to win the tournament and Paletta's performances attracted the attention of Liverpool.
Boca Juniors
Argentina U-20
:
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
) is an Argentine
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
central defender who currently plays for Parma
Parma F.C.
Parma Football Club , commonly referred to as just Parma, is an Italian professional football club based in Parma, Emilia–Romagna that will compete in Serie A for the 2011–12 season, having finished in twelfth position last season. Founded as Verdi Foot Ball Club in July 1913, the club changed its...
in Italy's
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
.
Banfield
Paletta came through the youth divisions of Club Atlético BanfieldClub Atlético Banfield
Club Atlético Banfield is an Argentine sports club located in the city of Banfield, part of Lomas de Zamora, Buenos Aires province. Founded on 21 January 1896 by residents of the town of British origin , its main activity is football...
and reached the first team in 2005. When Banfield qualified for the knockout stages of the Copa Libertadores, they altered their 25 man squad for the event to include Paletta and immediately threw him into action against the Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
n team Independiente Medellín
Independiente Medellín
Corporación Deportiva Independiente Medellín is a professional Colombian football team competing in Fútbol Profesional Colombiano, the Colombian first division. The club is based in the city of Medellín and founded in 1913. It has won the league's national tournament known as Copa Mustang five...
. Paletta played well and Banfield progressed, but Paletta was to play no further part in the tournament after being called up to the Argentina Under-20
Argentina national under-20 football team
The Argentina national under-20 football team is the representative of Argentina in FIFA sponsored tournaments that pertain to that age level....
team to participate in the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship
2005 FIFA World Youth Championship
The 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in The Netherlands between 10 June and 2 July 2005. The 2005 championship was the 15th contested.- Venues :- Qualification :The following 24 teams qualified for the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship...
.
Liverpool
Paletta signed for Liverpool at 20 years of age, the club was believed to have paid a fee of ₤1 Million. He agreed to sign with the club in February 2006 and signed his contract for a 4-year deal on July 4, 2006, making Paletta the second Argentine to play for the MerseysideMerseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
club, after Mauricio Pellegrino
Mauricio Pellegrino
Mauricio Andrés Pellegrino is a former Argentine footballer, who played as a central defender, and who also spent time as a coach.-Early career:...
. He scored his first and what turned out to be only Liverpool goal in the Carling Cup against Reading on 25 October 2006. On July 9, 2007 it was reported that Paletta would be loaned to Spain's Levante
Levante
This is a disambiguation page. Levante may refer to*Levant, the lands in the eastern Mediterranean, covering Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq.*Levante, Spain, the eastern Iberian coastal region of Spain...
in order to gain some valuable first-team experience, although Rafa Benitez had agreed to loaning the defender, the move was not established. Instead, on August 26, 2007 it was officially reported that Liverpool agreed for Paletta to sign with Boca Juniors having welcomed the arrival of Emiliano Insua
Emiliano Insúa
Emiliano Adrián Insúa Zapata is an Argentine football defender who plays for Sporting CP and for the Argentina national team.Insúa is a European Union citizen due to one of his grandparents being a Spanish citizen.-Early career:...
.
Boca Juniors
Paletta returned to Argentina after one year with Liverpool to join Boca JuniorsBoca Juniors
Club Atlético Boca Juniors is an Argentine sports club based in La Boca neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Primera División....
. He debuted for the club on August 29, 2007. Paletta played in the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup Final
2007 FIFA Club World Cup Final
The 2007 FIFA Club World Cup Final took place at the Nissan Stadium, Yokohama, Japan on 16 December 2007.The match pitted Milan of Italy against Argentina's Boca Juniors. Milan won 4–2 in a match watched by 68,263 people. In doing so, Milan won their fourth FIFA Club World...
in which Boca Juniors
Boca Juniors
Club Atlético Boca Juniors is an Argentine sports club based in La Boca neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Primera División....
lost 4–2 against AC Milan. Upon his return in early 2008, he scored against arch rivals River Plate
Club Atlético River Plate
Club Atlético River Plate is an Argentine sports club based in the Nuñez neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its professional football team, which currently competes in Nacional B, the second tier of Argentine football....
in the Superclásico
Superclásico
Superclásico is the name used to describe the football match in Argentina between Buenos Aires rivals Boca Juniors and River Plate. It derives from the Spanish usage of "clásico" to mean derby, with the prefix "super" used as the two clubs are the most popular and successful clubs in Argentine...
of the Torneo de Verano's Copa Revancha, he also featured in the 2008 Copa Libertadores
Copa Libertadores 2008
The 2008 Copa Libertadores de América was the 49th edition of the Copa Libertadores, CONMEBOL's premier annual international club tournament. This marked the first year the competition was sponsored by Spanish bank Santander. As such, the competition is officially the 2008 Copa Santander...
where Boca Juniors reached the semi-finals before being knocked out by Fluminense. During the Apertura Tournament of 2008, in a 1–0 win against Arsenal de Sarandi on November 9, Paletta was ruled out of play for six months after tearing the cruciate ligament in his right knee, the injury was a vital incident to occur leading up to the final stages of the Apertura as Paletta's team mate Martin Palermo had also suffered the same injury in August. Paletta returned to the scene in May 2009 against Velez Sarsfield and unfortunately suffered an ankle sprain after just 17 minutes. In August 2009 Paletta failed to move to Italy due to Palermo
U.S. Città di Palermo
Unione Sportiva Città di Palermo is an Italian football club from Palermo, Sicily which currently plays in Serie A, the top level of Italian football. Formed in 1900 as Anglo Panormitan Athletic and Football Club, the club had various names before assuming its final form in 1987 and is currently...
failing to agree the price of the player, Greeces Panathinaikos were also chasing his signature. Despite expressing his desire of returning to Europe he became a regular in the first team of Boca Juniors throughout the Torneo Apertura of 2009.
Parma F.C.
On Tuesday 6 July 2010, Serie ASerie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
club Parma FC announced via their website the acquisition outright of Gabriel Paletta from Boca Juniors
Boca Juniors
Club Atlético Boca Juniors is an Argentine sports club based in La Boca neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Primera División....
. He was a regular in the side, seeing off the challenge of Massimo Paci
Massimo Paci
Massimo Paci is an Italian football defender currently playing for Novara.Paci started his career at Ancona. He made his Serie A debut for Lecce on 18 September 2004 against Brescia...
and partnering Alessandro Lucarelli
Alessandro Lucarelli
Alessandro Lucarelli is an Italian football defender. He currently plays for Parma. He is a left-footed centre back who can also play left back....
.
International career
In 2005, Paletta was selected for the Argentina U-20 team to participate in the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship2005 FIFA World Youth Championship
The 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in The Netherlands between 10 June and 2 July 2005. The 2005 championship was the 15th contested.- Venues :- Qualification :The following 24 teams qualified for the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship...
. He started in all seven games of the tournament, playing in the heart of the Argentine defence, alongside Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi
Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi is an Argentine footballer who plays for FC Barcelona and captains the Argentina national team, mainly as a striker. Messi received several Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations by the age of 21, and won in 2009 and 2010...
and Sergio Agüero
Sergio Agüero
Sergio Leonel "Kun" Agüero del Castillo is an Argentine footballer who plays as a striker for Manchester City in England's Premier League and the Argentine national team....
. Argentina went on to win the tournament and Paletta's performances attracted the attention of Liverpool.
Club
Boca JuniorsBoca Juniors
Club Atlético Boca Juniors is an Argentine sports club based in La Boca neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Primera División....
- Recopa SudamericanaRecopa SudamericanaThe Recopa Sudamericana is an annual football match-up between the reigning champions of the previous year's Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana, South America's premier club competitions....
: 2008Recopa Sudamericana 2008The 2008 Recopa Sudamericana was the 16th Recopa Sudamericana, an annual football match between the winners of the previous season's Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana competitions.The match was contested by Boca Juniors, winners of the 2007 Copa Libertadores, and Arsenal, winners of the 2007... - Primera División ArgentinaPrimera División ArgentinaThe Primera División is a professional football league in Argentina. It is the country's premier football division and is at the top of the Argentine football league system. Contested by twenty clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Primera B Nacional. The season runs...
: Torneo Apertura 2008
International
Argentina U-20Argentina national under-20 football team
The Argentina national under-20 football team is the representative of Argentina in FIFA sponsored tournaments that pertain to that age level....
:
- FIFA U-20 World CupFIFA U-20 World CupThe FIFA U-20 World Cup, until 2005 known as the FIFA World Youth Championship, is the world championship of football for male players under the age of 20 and is organized by Fédération Internationale de Football Association...
: 20052005 FIFA World Youth ChampionshipThe 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in The Netherlands between 10 June and 2 July 2005. The 2005 championship was the 15th contested.- Venues :- Qualification :The following 24 teams qualified for the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship...