Mauro Camoranesi

Camoranesi had always been a big fan of the Argentinian club River Plate growing up, but as a youngster, he played in the squad of Club Atlético Aldosivi. Aldosivi is situated in Mar del Plata just 100 miles away from Camoranesi's birthplace of Tandil. However, he moved to Mexico to begin his professional playing career at Santos Laguna during the 1995–96 season and scored one goal in 13 games for the team; Santos Laguna fans nicknamed him "El Cholo".[3]

More travels came for the young Argentine the following year, as he moved to Uruguayan club Montevideo Wanderers briefly, before returning to his homeland to play for Banfield in 1997, solidifying himself as an impressive attacking right midfielder, while playing 38 games with 16 goals.[3]

The following season, Camoranesi returned to Mexico as a member of club Cruz Azul, where he played from 1998 to 2000, making over 60 appearances and scoring 20 goals.[3]

He caught the attention of Italian Serie A side Verona by scoring 21 goals in 79 games with Cruz Azul, an impressive achievement for a midfielder. He moved to Italy in 2000, signing with Verona where he played for two years, helping the club avoid relegation in his first season with 4 goals in 22 appearances.[3]

Camoranesi wearing Juventus' shirt in 2008

In 2002, Camoranesi was signed by Juventus on a co-ownership deal; initially Juventus agreed a price of €1[4] in cash plus player deal (which Max Vieri was sold for €517,000 (or 1 billion lire) plus €2.324 million cash (or 4.5 billion lire cash)) On 26 June 2003, he was signed outright by the Bianconeri on a permanent basis for an additional fee of €5 million; this was the same day Juventus signed Marco Di Vaio in similar deal.[3]

Camoranesi soon established himself into the starting line-up on the right wing, following an injury to Gianluca Zambrotta, and in his first season with the club, he won the 2002–03 Serie A title, and the 2002 Supercoppa Italiana, also reaching the 2003 UEFA Champions League Final; the following season, he also added the 2003 Supercoppa Italiana to his trophy cabinet. Camoranesi also won two more Serie A titles with Juventus in the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons, but Juventus were stripped of both of those titles as result of their involvement in the 2006 Italian football scandal, and relegated to Serie B.[3]

Despite his agent Sergio Fortunato linking the player to clubs such as Lyon, Valencia, and Liverpool over the summer of 2006, following Juventus's relegation, Camoranesi made an announcement himself in September, pledging loyalty to Juventus "In January, I will not ask to be sold; I'm happy to stay here.",[3][5] he stated.

Camoranesi put on some notable performances and contributed to a number of notable goals for Juventus during the 2006–07 Serie B season, scoring 4 in total, as Juventus won the title and earned promotion back to the Italian top flight.[3] Against Lecce in April 2007, he performed an impressive piece of skill similar to a Cruyff turn, turning the ball through a defender's legs on the wing, before retrieving it to help set up Juventus's first goal of the match. Later in the match, he scored his side's third; Camoranesi took the ball past three Lecce defenders, before hitting the ball from the edge of the box, with his left foot into the top corner.[6] Just days before he had scored a header in the 2–0 victory against close title contenders Napoli.

Despite initially rumours of his departure, on 10 July 2007, he extended his contract with the club until 2010. For the 2007–08 Serie A season, his shirt number was changed from 16 to 8. Despite suffering several injuries during the 2007–08 season, he was a very important and influential player in Juventus's first Serie A season since their return to the top flight season. He scored 5 goals in 22 appearances, and also won the Guerin d'Oro award, as the player with the highest average rating, for his performances throughout the season.[3]

Camoranesi changed back to number 16 jersey ahead of the 2008–09 Serie A season, and also extended his contract for another year. Camoranesi had an impressive pre-season, but was often sidelined by injuries at the start of the season.[3] After struggling in the first few games in the start of the 2009–10 Serie A season, Camoranesi came back strongly and proved to be one of Juventus's most important players. He managed to get his name on ths scoresheet too, scoring the solitary goal against Maccabi Haifa in the Champions League, as well as a brace in a 5–2 win over Atalanta.

On 31 August 2010, Camoranesi signed a one-year contract with Stuttgart as a free agent.[7] His contract with Juventus was mutually terminated on the same day.[8] On 26 January 2011, his contract with Stuttgart was mutually terminated, with Camoranesi admitting that he "just didn't fit in the club sporting wise, although he liked the team, the people and the city." He expressed a desire to continue his career in Argentina.[9]

On 2 February 2011, Camoranesi signed a two-year contract with Lanús with the option to coach youth players if he decides to retire.[10] In October 2011, Camoranesi made headlines for kicking an opponent in the head. In a match against Racing Club, Camoranesi fouled Patricio Toranzo and was shown a red card by the referee. Instead of walking off, Camoranesi ran back and kicked Toranzo in the head while Toranzo was still lying on the ground. Toranzo later commented that Camoranesi is "not much of a man, just a coward" and suggested Camoranesi would need to see a psychiatrist for his violent behaviour. Camoranesi faced a long ban from football for this incident.

On 20 July 2012, Camoranesi signed in for Argentine side Racing Club from Avellaneda. On 13 June 2013, he announced that he would retire from football at the end of the season in June, although rumours have circulated he could be close to joining Leicester to link up with Argentine midfielder Esteban Cambiasso.[11][12][13] On 16 March 2014, Mauro was subbed on in the 68th minute for teammate Rodrigo De Paul, his side lost 0–2 away to Newell's Old Boys, a club which saw former Juventus teammate David Trezeguet score the second goal of the game in the 83rd minute. This turned out to be Camoranesi's last game in his career.

As of 20 December 2020

Source:[28]

Scores and results list Italy's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	7 September 2005	Dinamo Stadium, Minsk, Belarus	Belarus	4–1	4–1	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
2.	11 October 2006	Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena, Tbilisi, Georgia	Georgia	2–1	3–1	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
3.	30 May 2008	Stadio Artemio Franchi, Florence, Italy	Belgium	3–0	3–1	Friendly
4.	10 October 2009	Croke Park, Dublin, Ireland	Republic of Ireland	1–1	2–2	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification

Juventus[29]

• Serie A: 2002–03
• Supercoppa Italiana: 2002, 2003; runner-up 2005
• Serie B: 2006–07
• Coppa Italia runner-up: 2003–04
• UEFA Champions League runner-up: 2002–03

Racing Club[29]

• Copa Argentina runner-up: 2011–12

Italy[29]

• FIFA World Cup: 2006

• Guerin d'Oro: 2007–08[30]

• 
  CONI: Golden Collar of Sports Merit: 2006[31]

• 
  4th Class / Officer: Ufficiale Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana: (2006)[32][33]