a smaller Maradona: Ezequiel Lavezzi - TalkSoccer

**Jager** · 02-09-2007, 07:29 PM

Quote:

Napoli elect Emperor Lavezzi Sunday 2 September, 2007

Napoli have a new Argentine hero to cheer on in Serie A. “Ezequiel Lavezzi can really excite the fans,” said Coach Edy Reja after their 5-0 win in Udine.

The striker has already scored a hat-trick in the Coppa Italia and proved decisive at the Stadio Friuli this afternoon with his inspirational performance.

“With his characteristics, Lavezzi can really excite the fans in a place like Napoli and further afield,” noted Reja.

“After the first week of pre-season training I had already noticed his talent, although it is obvious he cannot always perform to this remarkable level. We are still at the start of the season. Give it 10 games and see how we are.

“Marcelo Zalayeta was crucial, as he can hold up the ball and give Lavezzi the space to come in from behind. In the transfer market we focused solely on Zalayeta because he was tactically the key to everything.”

Napoli had a disastrous start to their campaign with a 2-0 home defeat to Cagliari, but made up for it with their 5-0 demolition job on Udinese.

“How can one not smile after a win like that? I am very satisfied,” added the tactician, who was under pressure following that Week 1 setback.

“It is the first 5-0 victory of my career and it’s not something that happens every day, so it may well also be my last. Today we dominated and I am sorry for Udinese, as I supported them as a child and came to see their games.”

It was quite a letdown for the Friulani, who had started the season so well in their 1-1 draw with Scudetto holders Inter.

“There is nothing to salvage from this performance. We made every mistake it was possible to make. We just melted at the first sign of trouble,” sighed Coach Pasquale Marino.

“The problem was not down to any individual player, but the overall approach of the squad. We got it all wrong and there are no alibis for that.”

It is still not a record, though, as Udinese’s worst ever home defeat in Serie A was 6-0 to Inter on October 9, 1960.

“We need to work on every aspect and we have to do it with humility. I am very disappointed, as the fans had got closer to us and we created a climate of enthusiasm. With just one match we ruined everything.”

channel4.com - Football Italia

Know very little of this guy, but I have a strange feeling we will be hearing a lot about him.

Super Pibe #7 · 04-09-2007, 06:50 PM

He was great at san lorenzo, imo he is very similar to Miccoli.

Here is a video of him jager

Video Ezequiel Lavezzi compilation - Calcio, Futbol - Dailymotion Share Your Videos

Will do great for napoli.

**Jager** · 04-09-2007, 06:56 PM

Thanks for that Pibe....

Ezequiel Lavezzi compilation
Uploaded by recontragolazo

barracuda · 05-09-2007, 02:15 PM

I know nothing of this guy, but he certainly looks good on video (like too many others unfortunately). A good reason to follow Napoli a little closer this season

**Jager** · 07-09-2007, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Lavezzi: I’m no Diego
Friday 7 September, 2007
Napoli’s Argentine star Ezequiel Lavezzi is happy with his start in Italy, but claims he is sick of comparisons with Diego Maradona.

The 22-year-old hitman scored and excited the Partenopei faithful in the Azzurri’s Week 2 demolition of Udinese, having hit a hat-trick in a Coppa Italia win over Pisa.

His fast start has already invited comparisons to the great Maradona, who transformed the club in the 1980s and fired the Neapolitans to Scudetto glory in 1987.

However, Lavezzi is not so much flattered by the attention as frustrated and has called for calm at this early stage of the campaign.

“The new Maradona? Now that’s an exaggeration,” he growled. “Being idolised like this is already too much for me to take.

“My job is to stay calm during all this. I just want to do all I can to make those close to me and the Napoli faithful happy and proud.”

channel4.com - Football Italia

Super Pibe #7 · 23-10-2007, 10:41 PM

He has been great so far for napoli. Genoa must be pretty pissed lol

**lionel** · 11-11-2007, 03:50 PM

in a saturday morning in mid-october, there was a lot of traffic in one of the main roads of napoli, when suddenly one of the cars started going backwards and hit the car behind.
the passengers of the two cars, two in each, jumped out of their cars to estimate the damage, but when those from the hitten car asked the hitting driver to compensate them for the accident that was only his fault, the guy started screaming and threatening.
"he looked drugged. his reaction was totally out of proportions", said a witness.
as a bonus, the girlfriend of the hitting driver, slapped one of the other passengers.

Ezequiel Lavezzi never was a calm guy. at 17 he already retired from football after long years in the youth teams of boca juniors, and decided to start a career in electricity, like his brother. but after a short time, estudiantes(not la plata) from the second division in argentina asked him to join and play for them. and quickly after, he got the not-unique nickname, "el loco", the crazy. that for his quick-burning mind and for the many bookings.

two citizens of napoli might not be so happy, but more than 15 years after, the crowd of the local team found a new hero in the 22-year-old argentinian striker, whose body is covered with 11 tatoos. after all, the napolitans, like many of their neighbours from the south of italy, are known for their hot mood, plus, the only god of the city, that who's called diego armando maradona, isn't known for being polite and calm. with comparisons to maradona for his performances on the field even before he came to italy, ezequiel lavezzi is the new sensation of the seria A.

breaking all the theories

Napoli started the season in italy like a typical new promoted team. the first match in sao-paolo was easy on paper, against modest calgiari, but the team lost 0-2. after the home loss it seemed that the team is on the doorway of a hard getting-along year. the next match was away, against udinese, who are traditionaly in the last years challenge for a CL spot. 0 out of 6 first point looked very likely to happen, but a concert of the team from the south ended with a huge 5-0 in napoli's favour.

few weeks before napoli knocked chenza and pizza out of the italian cup, when the maestro of the concert was the new signing from argentina lavezzi, who also scored a hattrick against pizza(the first since 14 years!), but those were matches against seria B teams. while, after the 5-0 against udiese, all the fans and the reporters in italy went crazy over lavezzi's performance. a goal, 2 assists and planting panic in the udinesian defense gave napoli 5 goals away for the first time since 1929 and a first away win in udinese since the 3-0 in 1987 with two goals from maradona.

"we can't ask for more", summed rino chezareno from 'correia delo sport' the performance of the argie and sebastiano vernasse from 'gazetta delo sport' agreed:" he left everyone with open mouths. we talk about modern football, with order and pressure on the opponent, but then comes a player like lavezzi and with one action breaks all the theories". one fan of napoli was heard shouting from his seat in prioli of udinese, calling to the argie:"you are better than maradona". of course, when that fan calmed down from anothe magical dribble of lavezzi he appologized deafly in front of the god of football of his team, but after that match the names of lavezzi and maradona were being put in the same sentence very often.

the signing of the century

the huge winning of napoli is actually the huge loss of genoa. after the striker came back to football, towards the age of 18 for estudiantes, he was on fire. the people of genoa noticed the jewel who has an italian passport, who paid him about 1m euros to join the club, that were promoted to the seria A in the end of the 04/05 season. two years after he left football for electricity, it looked that the career of lavezzi went on the right track, just that instead of promoting to the seria A, genoa were relegated to seria C because of financial problems and the striker was loaned to an lorenzo and stayed in argentina. one year later, the argentinian team took advantage of the financial problems of genoa to buy lavezzi for 1.2m euros.

in san lorenzo lavezzi became a star in the first divison also and he earned a new nickname - "El Pocho", the lightning. few months ago he was a main factor in san lorenzo winning the clausura title, but more important, in the team he met one of the people who affected his career the most, his coach Ramos Diaz. "Ezequiel is the best young player in argentina. I coached him and I know what his value is. if there is someone in napoli who doubts his signing, I am ready to send him a DVD of his actions, it would convince them", said the coach, an ex-inter and napoli player, who announced a year ago that the plaer's value is around 20m $ and in the end he accepted 6m euros.

diaz gave lavezzi freedom in the offensive part of the team and received shows. "he is a panoman", said after his move to napoli, "it'll take him some time to get along, but very soon napoli will understand that they had made the signing of the century. I bet you that". however, "panoman" is a word that is following his performances all the time, and already after his first formal match with the team, 4-0 over chenza in the cup, announced the coach eddy regga about the striker: "he is a panoman, he is one level above all the squad".

the 5th of July

few weeks ago ezequiel lavezzi said that he is bored from the comparisons to maradona. with that weight on the shoulders, there isn't an argentinian, besides leo messi, who can stand. and those comparison aren't realy based. maradona played as a number 10, a playmaker of the type we no more have. lavezzi is a second striker, who wears number 7, as the argentinian tradition says.
"I can try and go in the steps of maradona, but maybe I can compare myself to carlos tevez. our style is very close", he tryed to explain the differences.

but lavezzi has some more similar things to the god and not only because maradona was represented in sao paolo in the 5th of july 1984 and lavezzi signed a contract in the team exactly in the same date, 23 years later. like maradona, the big star of napoli today doesn't stop to work on the field to get to an open spot and get the ball. when it happens, the magic begins. in the 80s there was only one way to stop maradona - to make fouls on him. it's impossible to forget the 1986 WC, where many of the argentina matches looked more like american-football matches with the scene repeating itself - maradona picks the ball, starts to run forward escaping tackles untill one of them stops him. then he gets up, takes the ball and starts a new race that ends in another foul after 15 meters. whole minutes of the napoli matches look like they were written by the same producer, when fast lavezzi with his out-of-this-world ball control, plays the maradona role, but adds impressive vision that is seen from his masterpiece passes.

he is short (1.73m, 8 more than diego), he concedes infinitive fouls, he is argentinian, he has a colorful character and the time is making him fan-favourite in napoli. with all that he is leading a team of average players to the top of the seria A. but, for now, Ezequiel Lavezzi doesn't want to be compared to Diego Armando Maradona. for the italian commentators it doesn't matter.

TalkSoccer Media Player

* thanks to robino4ever for the information about him, and the videos.

Amuro^Mushashi · 11-11-2007, 04:33 PM

Lavezzi? wow.. interesting player !

**Jager** · 11-11-2007, 08:12 PM

Is he even considered for the Argentinian national side?

**lionel** · 11-11-2007, 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jager

Is he even considered for the Argentinian national side?

no, not for now. atm basile prefers crespo, tevez, aguero and messi as strikers. even saviola and diego milito come before.
but if lavezzi can keep this form, I don't see basile ignoring him anymore.

he is young, I'm sure he'll get to the NT at some point... I just can't predict to which direction his career will go. if he joins a big club and finds success, he can IMO compete with tevez on the second striker position. if he stays at napoli and leads them to amazing results like 1-6 place this season and the next season he leads them to CL and so on... then Idk.

maybe you can tell me what are napoli thinking of doing with him? and at what rank can napoli finish this season?

**Jager** · 11-11-2007, 08:30 PM

Its there fist season in Serie A, they are doing well, midtable, outside chance at UEFA cup spot, but that is slim. Staying in Serie A is the goal for Napoli.

As for him, there is a thread in the Italian section, I will move it here, then you can merge.

**lionel** · 11-11-2007, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jager

As for him, there is a thread in the Italian section, I will move it here, then you can merge.

thanks jager. I hadn't noticed that thread before.

diego had better players at his side when he was at napoli, didn't he?

**Jager** · 11-11-2007, 08:51 PM

They had players like Gianfranco Zola, Daniel Fonseca and Careca. They were most certainly better back then, even without Maradona. However you must realise, they are knew, and before Napoli came back to win Scudetto with Maradona, they slowly built up. I expect the same with this side.

**lionel** · 11-11-2007, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jager

They had players like Gianfranco Zola, Daniel Fonseca and Careca. They were most certainly better back then, even without Maradona. However you must realise, they are knew, and before Napoli came back to win Scudetto with Maradona, they slowly built up. I expect the same with this side.

aha, I understand...

I don't realy think that lavezzi will lead napoli to what maradona lead them to. but if napoli can purchase 4/5 more class players, then there is a slim chance.

but it is amazing how a team with such players gets those results against much better teams. lavezzi's talent is behind all this.