Federico Valverde

Federico Santiago Valverde Dipetta (Spanish pronunciation: [feðeˈɾiko βalˈβeɾðe];[lower-alpha 1] born 22 July 1998) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Spanish club Real Madrid and the Uruguay national team.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Valverde and the second or maternal family name is Dipetta.
Federico Valverde
Valverde with Uruguay in 2017
Personal information
Full name Federico Santiago Valverde Dipetta[1]
Date of birth (1998-07-22) 22 July 1998
Place of birth Montevideo, Uruguay
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[2]
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Real Madrid
Number 15
Youth career
2001–2008 Estudiantes de la Unión
2008–2015 Peñarol
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015–2016 Peñarol 12 (0)
2016–2017 Real Madrid Castilla 30 (3)
2017– Real Madrid 64 (5)
2017–2018 → Deportivo La Coruña (loan) 24 (0)
National team‡
2012–2013 Uruguay U15 25 (7)
2014–2015 Uruguay U17 24 (11)
2015 Uruguay U18 7 (3)
2015–2017 Uruguay U20 15 (2)
2017– Uruguay 22 (2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:55, 9 January 2021 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 13 October 2020

Club career

Peñarol

Valverde spent most of his youth career with Peñarol, where he quickly made an impression. Making his debut for Peñarol in their first fixture of 2015–16 season against Cerro.[3] He became part of Uruguayan's youth teams and attracted the interest of clubs like Arsenal, Barcelona, Chelsea and Real Madrid.[4][5][6]

Real Madrid

In July 2016 he transferred from Peñarol to Real Madrid, being assigned to the B team.[7] Two months later, Valverde made his debut for Castilla against Real Unión, in a game which his club eventually lost.[8] He became a regular member of the second team during his debut season. The midfielder scored his first goal for Castilla against Albacete in December 2016.[9]

In regards to his growing importance to the team, Santiago Solari, his coach at Castilla, said on 29 January 2017, "I'm very happy with him. He has adapted very well to the club and country. Valverde always generates a lot of football in midfield."[10]

Loan to Deportivo La Coruña

On 22 June 2017, Valverde was loaned to La Liga side Deportivo de La Coruña for one year.[11] He made his debut in the competition on 10 September, replacing Fede Cartabia in a 2–4 home loss against Real Sociedad.

Valverde contributed with 24 league appearances during the campaign, as his side suffered relegation.

2018: Return to Real Madrid

Upon returning from loan, Valverde impressed new manager Julen Lopetegui during the 2018–19 pre-season and was definitively assigned to the first-team.[12] On 23 October 2018, Valverde made his official Real Madrid debut in the UEFA Champions League Group stage against Viktoria Plzeň at the Bernabéu at just 20 years old.[13][14] He made 25 appearances and won the FIFA Club World Cup in his first season with the first team.[15]

2019–present: First team breakthrough

With the return of Zinedine Zidane to the dugout and the departure of Marcos Llorente, Valverde broke through the team to become a key player of the squad during the 2019–20 season.[16] On 9 November 2019, he scored his first goal for Real Madrid, in a 4–0 away win over Eibar in La Liga.[17]

On 12 January 2020, Valverde tackled Álvaro Morata during the Supercopa de España Final against Atletico Madrid, committing a professional foul and stopping play with Morata clean through on goal. Valverde was sent off, but his actions stopped what was an inevitable goal, forced a penalty shootout which Real Madrid won, and earned him the Man of The Match award and widespread praise. Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone later referred to the tackle as "the most important play of the game".[18] He made 33 appearances during the league season, as Real Madrid won the 2019–20 La Liga.[19]

On 27 September, Valverde scored Real Madrid's first goal of the 2020–21 season away to Betis in La Liga in an eventual 3–2 win and was selected as the ‘King of The Match’.[20] This was also his 50th La Liga match for Los Blancos.[21] One month later on 24 October, Valverde scored against FC Barcelona at the Camp Nou in just five minutes in an eventual 3–1 league win. Valverde became just the second Uruguayan to score in El Clásico (after Luis Suárez) and the first for Real Madrid.[22] One week later Valderde scored again, against Huesca in a 4–1 league win at the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium. This was his third goal of the season, meaning he had already scored more this season than the entirety of the previous campaign.[23]

International career
Valverde playing for Uruguay in 2017

Federico Valverde was awarded Silver Ball at the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup as Uruguay finished fourth in the tournament.[24]

On 5 September 2017, he made his debut with Uruguay national football team[25] and scored his first international goal with the senior team in a match against Paraguay.

In May 2018 he was named in Uruguay’s provisional 26-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia; however, he was left out of the final 23-man squad.[26]

In March 2019, manager Óscar Tabárez included Valverde in the final 23-man Uruguay squad for the 2019 Copa América in Brazil.[27] In the quarter-finals against Peru on 29 June, a 0–0 draw after regulation time saw the match go to a penalty shoot-out; Uruguay lost the shoot-out 4–5 and were eliminated from the competition.[28]

Controversies

In the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup quarter-finals match against Portugal, Valverde displayed a facial expression using his fingers to slant his eyes after scoring a penalty. This action was considered racist and offended numerous football fans in the host nation, Korea Republic and Valverde has been criticized by tens of thousands of football fans around the world.[29] He has since explained that the celebration was for his friend and agent "el Chino" Saldavia.[30][31]

Personal life

Valverde is in a relationship with Argentinian journalist and presenter, Mina Bonino. Together they have one son, Benicio, born on 20 February 2020.[32]

Career statistics

Club
As of 20 January 2021[33]
Club Season League Cup1 Continental2 Other3 Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Peñarol 2016 Uruguayan Primera División 1200010—130
Real Madrid Castilla 2016–17 Segunda División B 303———303
Deportivo La Coruña (loan) 2017–18 La Liga 24010——250
Real Madrid 2018–19 La Liga 1605040—250
2019–20 La Liga 332306020442
2020–21 La Liga 153103010203
Total 6459013030895
Career total 1308100140301578

1 Includes Copa del Rey.
2 Includes Copa Libertadores and UEFA Champions League.
3 Includes Supercopa de España.

International
As of match played 13 October 2020
Uruguay
YearAppsGoals
201741
201840
2019121
202020
Total222

International goals
Scores and results list Uruguay's goal tally first.
NoDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.5 September 2017Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción, Paraguay Paraguay1–02–12018 FIFA World Cup qualification
2.7 June 2019Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay Panama3–03–0Friendly

Honours

Peñarol

Real Madrid

Individual

Notes
  1. In isolation, Valverde is pronounced [balˈβeɾðe].

References
  1. "Acta del Partido celebrado el 19 de mayo de 2019, en Madrid" [Minutes of the Match held on 19 May 2019, in Madrid] (in Spanish). Royal Spanish Football Federation. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  2. "Real Madrid profile".
  3. "CERRO VS. PEÑAROL 0 – 3". Soccerway.
  4. Arsenal battle Real Madrid for Uruguayan starlet Federico Valverde
  5. Arsenal ‘launch transfer bid to sign Uruguay starlet Federico Valverde ahead of Barcelona’
  6. Arsenal and Chelsea battling transfer Uruguayan talent.
  7. "Real Madrid sign up starlet Valverde – MARCA English". Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  8. "1-0: Castilla lost by the tightest of margins in Irún - Real Madrid C.F." Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  9. "3-1: Castilla see off the leaders at the Di Stéfano - Real Madrid C.F." Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  10. "Valverde – one of Real Madrid Castilla's most important players – MARCA English". Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  11. "Fede Valverde, nuevo jugador del Deportivo para la Temporada 2017–2018" [Fede Valverde, new player of Deportivo for the 2017–2018 season] (in Spanish). Deportivo La Coruña. 22 June 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  12. "Fede Valverde will stay with Real Madrid". Marca. Spain. 17 August 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  13. "Fede Valverde celebrates his first game for Madrid: 'I'm happy with debut, bur winning was more important'". Tribuna.com. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  14. "Federico Valverde delights in his Real Madrid debut". The Real Champs. 24 October 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  15. "Valverde turns 22 | Real Madrid CF". Real Madrid C.F. – Web Oficial. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  16. "Modric is no longer a sure-fire starter for Real Madrid". AS.com. 31 October 2019. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  17. "Karim Benzema double helps Real Madrid cruise past Eibar". espn.in. 9 November 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  18. "Real Madrid win Super Cup – and it's all down to Federico Valverde's red card". BBC. 13 January 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  19. "Real Madrid win the longest LaLiga Santander season". Marca. Spain. 17 July 2020. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  20. "Betis 2–3 Real Madrid: results, summary and goals". AS.com. 28 September 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  21. "Valverde makes 50th LaLiga appearance for Real Madrid | Real Madrid CF". Real Madrid C.F. – Web Oficial. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  22. "Barcelona-Real Madrid: 1–3: Superb win in the Clásico". Real Madrid C.F. – Web Oficial. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  23. "Real Madrid-Huesca: 4–1: Real Madrid ease past Huesca to move top". Real Madrid C.F. – Web Oficial. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  24. "U20 World Cup displays convince Real Madrid of Valverde talent". MARCA in English.
  25. https://www.referi.uy/el-futuro-la-celeste-esta-asegurado-n1128223
  26. Crawford, Stephen (4 June 2018). "Revealed: Every World Cup 2018 squad – Final 23-man lists". Goal.com. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  27. "Uruguay Team Squads Copa America 2019". copaamerica2019.live. 7 March 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  28. "Uruguay 0–0 Peru". BBC Sport. 29 June 2019. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  29. "[U-20 현장 리액션] '인종차별 논란' 발베르데, "한국팬들에게 죄송하다"". 다음스포츠 (in Korean). 5 June 2017.
  30. "Under-20 World Cup: Real Madrid's Federico Valverde denies making racist gesture". BBC Sport. 5 June 2017.
  31. "'인종 차별 논란' 발베르데와 우루과이, FIFA 징계 임박". Naver Sports (in Korean).
  32. "Fede Valverde and Mina Bonino, parents of 1st child after 14 hours of labour". BeSoccer. 20 February 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  33. Federico Valverde at Soccerway
  34. "F. VALVERDE PASSPORT". Soccerway.
  35. "Real Madrid win 2019/20 LaLiga Santander". LaLiga. 16 July 2020. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  36. "Real Madrid win the Supercopa from the spot". Marca. Spain. 12 January 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  37. Rodríguez, José María (22 December 2018). "El Madrid agranda su leyenda" [Madrid largen their legend]. Marca (in Spanish). Spain. Archived from the original on 8 October 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
  38. "FIFA U-20 World Cup Korea Republic 2017 – Awards". FIFA.
  39. "Equipo Revelación de La Liga 2019/20". UEFA. 21 July 2020.
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