_(Aduriz).jpg) Aduriz withAthletic Bilbao in 2018 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Aritz Aduriz Zubeldia[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1981-02-11)11 February 1981 (age 45)[2] | ||
| Place of birth | San Sebastián, Spain[2] | ||
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)[3][2] | ||
| Position | Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1994–1999 | Antiguoko[4] | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1999–2000 | Aurrerá | 25 | (8) |
| 2000–2002 | Bilbao Athletic | 90 | (18) |
| 2002–2004 | Athletic Bilbao | 3 | (0) |
| 2003–2004 | →Burgos (loan) | 36 | (16) |
| 2004–2005 | Valladolid | 46 | (20) |
| 2006–2008 | Athletic Bilbao | 82 | (22) |
| 2008–2010 | Mallorca | 69 | (23) |
| 2010–2012 | Valencia | 58 | (17) |
| 2012–2020 | Athletic Bilbao | 231 | (96) |
| Total | 640 | (221) | |
| International career | |||
| 2010–2017 | Spain | 13 | (2) |
| 2006–2019 | Basque Country | 13 | (12) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Aritz Aduriz Zubeldia (Basque:[aɾits̻aðuɾis̻];Spanish:[ˈaɾitsaˈðuɾiθ];[5] born 11 February 1981) is a Spanish former professionalfootballer who played as astriker.
He spent most of his career withAthletic Bilbao, scoring 172 goals across all competitions for the team over three spells.[6] He also surpassed a century of goals (104) inLa Liga, in which he additionally representedMallorca andValencia.
In addition to playing forSpain, Aduriz was a regular goalscorer for theBasque national side. He appeared for the former atEuro 2016, at the age of 35.
Born inSan Sebastián,Gipuzkoa, Aduriz came from a family keen on sport but more inclined towards the likes ofsurfing,mountaineering andcross-country skiing.[7] He excelled at the latter as a child, finishing runner-up in the junior national championship.[8]
Learning to play football on the sand atLa Concha beach,[9] he was brought through the ranks of local youth clubAntiguoko where he shared teams with future elite playersXabi Alonso,Mikel Arteta andAndoni Iraola, but was not initially picked up by a professional club like his teammates.[10][11] He became part of the famedLezama youth system atAthletic Bilbao, although he was already 19 when he arrived from amateursCD Aurrerá de Vitoria.[12]
After two seasons inthe reserves, Aduriz made his first-team debut on 14 September 2002 againstFC Barcelona in a 0–2 home loss,[13] but made only two more league appearances during the campaign, still turning out for the B-side where he made just short of 100 appearances in theSegunda División B. He went on to spend almost three seasons elsewhere (one withBurgos CF, one and a half atReal Valladolid in theSegunda División) before returning to Athletic in December 2005.[14][15]
Aduriz showed continuous progress, attested by his nineLa Liga goals in 34 games in2006–07, including ahat-trick againstReal Zaragoza on 19 May 2007, albeit in a 3–4 defeat.[16] He was overshadowed by the youngerFernando Llorente in thefollowing campaign, but still managed to net seven times in 33 league appearances.[17]
On 4 August 2008, Aduriz became the first player to score at theColchester Community Stadium, in afriendly match withColchester United.[18] He was sold toRCD Mallorca on the 23rd, signing a four-year contract.[19]
On 26 October 2008, Aduriz scored a brace for his new club in a 3–0 home victory overRCD Espanyol,[20] and finished hisfirst year as team top scorer, for a final ninth position. He repeated the individual feat in2009–10 – improving to 12[21][17]– as theBalearic Islands side ranked fifth, withqualification for theUEFA Europa League.[22]
Aged 29, Aduriz moved toValencia CF on 14 July 2010, for about€4 million.[23] He scored on his official debut on 28 August, opening an eventual 3–1 win atMálaga CF.[24]
From January 2011, after the arrival of BrazilianJonas in the wintertransfer window, and due to the fact managerUnai Emery often only played with one pure striker –Roberto Soldado – Aduriz found himself onthe bench more often than not.[25] He still managed to finish hisfirst season as aChe with 14 competitive goals, including two in theircampaign in theUEFA Champions League, one in each of the games againstBursaspor.[26][27]
On 27 June 2012, Aduriz rejoined first professional club Athletic Bilbao for a fee in the region of €2.5 million, signing for three years.[28] On 23 August, he scored his first goals in his second spell, netting a brace in a 6–0 home rout ofHJK Helsinki in theEuropa League playoff round (9–3 on aggregate).[29] On 20 October he returned to theMestalla Stadium to face his previous team and netted twice, albeit in a 3–2 loss.[30]
Aduriz continued with his form on 4 November 2012, scoring two goals in a 2–1 away win overGranada CF.[31] He quickly profited from Llorente's shaky contractual situation to become first-choice,[32][33] and finished hisfirst season in his second spell with 18 official goals, 14 in the league.[34]
Llorente left forJuventus FC in summer 2013, and Aduriz was made the starter by new managerErnesto Valverde.[35] On 28 February of the following year, he scored three of his team's goals to help the hosts beatGranada CF 4–0.[36]
On 8 February 2015, Aduriz scored in a 2–5 home loss to Barcelona to complete a century of goals in Spain's top flight.[37] In the last match ofthe campaign on 23 May, he netted twice in a 4–0 home victory againstVillarreal CF to clinch theZarra Trophy by surpassingRayo Vallecano'sAlberto Bueno, whilst alsoqualifying for the Europa League. In the 24th minute, he ceded apenalty kick to Iraola who was leaving the club after 16 years, but his teammate declined, so he converted it instead.[38]
Aduriz scored a hat-trick as Athleticwon 4–0 against Barcelona in the first leg of theSupercopa de España, on 14 August 2015,[39] and equalised in a 1–1 draw in the return match to hand his team the trophy, the first of his career.[40] On 16 October, after startingthe season strongly with 11 goals in 14 matches in all competitions, the 34-year-old agreed to a contract extension until 2017.[41]
Aduriz again proved influential for his team on 5 November, scoring one goal andassisting a further two in a 5–1 defeat ofFK Partizan in theEuropa League group stage – in the process, he reached the 100-goal mark with the club.[42][43] On 24 January 2016, he netted through abicycle kick to help his team come back from a 1–0 deficit to win 5–2 over neighbouringSD Eibar.[44] On 18 February, in the Europa League'sround-of-32 tie atOlympique de Marseille, he scored what was described as a "wonderful" and "incredible" goal, the only one at theStade Vélodrome.[45][46]
Aduriz was theLa Liga Player of the Month for March 2016 after scoring three goals, becoming the first Athletic player to win the award since its introduction in 2013. In that month, he also struck to eliminate former side Valencia from the last 16 in Europe.[47] Even though the team was eliminated in the following round by eventual winnersSevilla FC, he finished as thecompetition's top scorer with ten successful strikes,[48] totalling 36 overall and only trailingTelmo Zarra (47) andBata (37) for goals during a single season with the club.[49][50]
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On 3 November 2016, in aEuropa League group stage home fixture toK.R.C. Genk, Aduriz scored all five of his team's goals (including three penalties) in a 5–3 victory, becoming the first player to accomplish this feat in the competition in the process.[51] Having previously been level with Llorente on 16, that achievement also took him clear as the club'stop scorer in European matches.[52]
Aduriz renewed his contract with Athletic once more in November 2017, this time to run until summer 2019.[53] The following month, he became the club's oldest goalscorer after surpassingAgustín Gaínza.[54]
Aduriz was named the league's Player of the Month for the second time, winning the January 2018 award after showing goodsportsmanship during aderby against Eibar: he fell in the penalty area going for a loose ball between two defenders, but immediately signalled to the referee and the supporters that no foul should be awarded (he also scored a few minutes earlier, one of two strikes during the month).[55]
Despite the club being eliminated from the2017–18 Europa League at the last-16 stage, 37-year-old Aduriz finished as the competition's top scorer – along withSS Lazio'sCiro Immobile – with eight goals in the tournament proper.[56] His2018–19 campaign was severely curtailed by injuries[57] as the team generally struggled to score and collect points, and he scored only two league goals from 20 appearances; both were penalties in successive home fixtures, the first in aPanenka-style againstGirona FC past former teammateGorka Iraizoz for a last-minute 1–0 victory,[58][59][60] and the second against Valladolid an unusual precise kick with no run-up, described as a "remarkable...five-a-side... minimalist" technique.[58][59][60] He agreed a new one-year contract in May 2019,[61] later confirming at the outset of2019–20 that it would be his last season as a player before retiring.[62]
On 16 August 2019, Aduriz scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory against Barcelona through abicycle kick in the last minute of the first league fixture, helping his side to their first league win against that opposition since 2013 and also equallingLionel Messi's record of scoring in 15 consecutive league seasons.[63][64][65] He had a stoppage-time penalty saved in a match away to previous employers Mallorca four weeks later,[66] and injuries then caused him to miss three months of matches over that winter. He returned to play a role from the bench in wins over Barcelona and Granada in February that helped the team qualify for the2020 Copa del Rey final,[65] but did not score again himself before the season was suspended due to theCOVID-19 pandemic[65]– his last appearance being as a last-minute substitute in a win over another former club, Valladolid.[67][65]
On 20 May 2020, Aduriz announced his retirement as a professional footballer.[68][69]
After an impressive start to his Valencia career, 29-year-old Aduriz earned a first call-up to theSpain national team, being picked for twoUEFA Euro 2012qualifiers in October 2010. He made his debut on the 8th, replacing Llorente for the last 15 minutes of a 3–1 home win againstLithuania.[70][71][72]
Six years later, at the age of 35, Aduriz was recalled by managerVicente del Bosque for friendlies withItaly andRomania.[73] He started and scored in the first match, a 1–1 draw at theStadio Friuli,[74] and was selected forUEFA Euro 2016 in France.[75][76] He made two substitute appearances in the group stage, always replacing Juventus'Álvaro Morata in the second half.[77][78] On 27 June, in the round-of-16 clash against Italy at theStade de France, he came out forNolito at the start of the second half, but had to leave the pitch injured in an eventual 0–2 loss.[79]
On 12 November 2016, after contributing to a 4–0 victory overMacedonia in the2018 World Cup qualifying phase inGranada, Aduriz became Spain's oldest ever goal scorer at the age of 35 years and 275 days.[80]
Aduriz made his debut for theBasque representative team on 8 October 2006, opening a 2–2 draw at theCamp Nou againstCatalonia.[81] He also scored braces in victories overFIFA membersEstonia,Bolivia andPeru.[82][83][84]
As of 2017, Aduriz had 12 goals in friendly matches for the Basque team, making him their record goalscorer.[85]
Aduriz was known for his aerial ability and first touch.[86][87][88]
| Club | Season | League | Copa del Rey | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Aurrerá | 1999–2000 | Segunda División B | 25 | 8 | – | – | – | 25 | 8 | |||
| Bilbao Athletic | 2000–01 | Segunda División B | 33 | 7 | – | – | – | 33 | 7 | |||
| 2001–02 | 35 | 8 | – | – | – | 35 | 8 | |||||
| 2002–03 | 22 | 4[a] | – | – | 6[b] | 1[b] | 28 | 5 | ||||
| Total | 90 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 96 | 20 | ||
| Athletic Bilbao | 2002–03 | La Liga | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 4 | 0 | ||
| Burgos | 2003–04 | Segunda División B | 36 | 16 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 38 | 16 | ||
| Valladolid | 2004–05 | Segunda División | 32 | 14 | 6 | 2 | – | – | 38 | 16 | ||
| 2005–06 | 14 | 6 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 14 | 6 | ||||
| Total | 46 | 20 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 52 | 22 | ||
| Athletic Bilbao | 2005–06 | La Liga | 15 | 6 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 17 | 6 | ||
| 2006–07 | 34 | 9 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 35 | 9 | ||||
| 2007–08 | 33 | 7 | 5 | 1 | – | – | 38 | 8 | ||||
| Total | 82 | 22 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 90 | 23 | ||
| Mallorca | 2008–09 | La Liga | 35 | 11 | 5 | 0 | – | – | 40 | 11 | ||
| 2009–10 | 34 | 12 | 4 | 1 | – | – | 38 | 13 | ||||
| Total | 69 | 23 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 78 | 24 | ||
| Valencia | 2010–11 | La Liga | 29 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 8[c] | 2 | – | 39 | 14 | |
| 2011–12 | 29 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 10[d] | 1 | – | 45 | 9 | |||
| Total | 58 | 17 | 8 | 3 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 84 | 23 | ||
| Athletic Bilbao | 2012–13 | La Liga | 36 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 6[e] | 3 | – | 44 | 18 | |
| 2013–14 | 31 | 16 | 5 | 2 | – | – | 36 | 18 | ||||
| 2014–15 | 31 | 18 | 9 | 5 | 8[f] | 3 | – | 48 | 26 | |||
| 2015–16 | 34 | 20 | 5 | 2 | 14[e] | 10 | 2[g] | 4 | 55 | 36 | ||
| 2016–17 | 32 | 16 | 4 | 1 | 6[e] | 7 | – | 42 | 24 | |||
| 2017–18 | 33 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 14[e] | 11 | – | 48 | 20 | |||
| 2018–19 | 20 | 2 | 3 | 4 | – | – | 23 | 6 | ||||
| 2019–20 | 14 | 1 | 3 | 0 | – | – | 17 | 1 | ||||
| Total | 231 | 96 | 32 | 15 | 48 | 34 | 2 | 4 | 313 | 149 | ||
| Career total | 640 | 221 | 66 | 22 | 66 | 37 | 8 | 5 | 780 | 285 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spain | 2010 | 1 | 0 |
| 2016 | 10 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | 13 | 2 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 24 March 2016 | Stadio Friuli,Udine, Italy |  Italy | 1–1 | 1–1 | Friendly |
| 2 | 12 November 2016 | Estadio Nuevo Los Cármenes,Granada, Spain |  North Macedonia | 4–0 | 4–0 | 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification |
Athletic Bilbao
Individual
Media related toAritz Aduriz at Wikimedia Commons
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