Daniel Passarella

1971/73 CA Sarmiento (ARG) 36 games, 9 goals

1974/82 River Plate (ARG) 258 games, 94 goals

(Argentine Championship: 226 games, 90 goals)

(Copa Libertadores: 32 games, 4 goals)

1982/86 Fiorentina (ITA) 139 games, 35 goals

(Italian Championship: 109 games, 26 goals)

(Italian Cup: 25 games, 8 goals)

(UEFA Cup: 5 games, 1 goal)

1986/88 Inter Milan (ITA) 73 games, 15 goals

(Italian Championship: 44 games, 9 goals)

(Italian Cup: 16 games, 5 goals)

(UEFA Cup: 13 matches, 1 goal)

1988/89 River Plate (ARG) 32 matches, 9 goals

With the National Team :

70 caps, 22 goals

(Friendly matches: 45 caps, 16 goals)

(World Cup qualifiers: 6 caps, 1 goal)

(World Cup: 12 caps, 3 goals)

(Copa America: 4 caps, 2 goals)

(Atlantic Cup: 3 caps)

1st cap: March 20, 1976 against the USSR (1-0)

Last cap: May 4, 1986 against Israel (7-2)

U23: 3 caps

Daniel Alberto Passarella

Born May 25, 1953 in Chacabuco (ARG)

Argentinian, libero, center-back, 1m73

Nicknames: El Pistolero, El Gran Capitan, El Guerrero

Daniel Passarella was born on May 25, 1953 in Chacabuco, Argentina. He made his debut in the Sarmiento club in 1971, at the age of 17, he became a defender of the future and caught the eye of the River Plate club. The small defender of 1m73 impresses with his defensive qualities, but especially for his technical ones, an excellent passer, he is also very good at dribbling, with great agility and balance. He is one of the first modern defenders, who are no longer limited to physical and defensive qualities.

Having become "El Pistolero", Passarella is among the most prolific defenders in history, playing as a libero and central defender, he will have scored a total of 184 goals during his career. At River Plate, he won 7 Argentine championships before leaving for Europe.

At the same time, he was first selected for the national youth teams, winning the Toulon Tournament alongside Alberto Tarantini against Maxime Bossis' French team (1 goal to 0). In 1976, he was voted best Argentine player of the year, which led him to be called up to the A team with which he would experience consecration in 1978.

With Passarella, Argentina would win its first World Cup. "El Gran Capitan" as he was nicknamed with the Argentine team would forever enter the history of football by being the captain of the Argentine team in 1978.

Four years after the supreme consecration, he took part in the 1982 World Cup in Spain, and remained one of the few not to disappoint with two new goals from the captain against El Salvador and Italy. Still present in Mexico in 1986, strangely poorly treated diarrhoea prevented him from being in the starting eleven and from savouring the new triumph of the Argentine team. Rumour has it that he would not have played anyway, not wanting to find himself under the orders of the new captain Diego Maradona, to whom everything opposed him. However, despite this bittersweet experience, his statistics in the World Cup finals speak in his favour: 12 matches played, 7 wins, 4 losses and 1 draw, 3 goals scored, one trophy lifted as captain and another as a substitute.

In Europe, Passarella will play in Italy, for Fiorentina and Inter Milan, where he becomes a legend for both clubs. However, even if he shines individually, he does not manage to win a single Italian championship.

He returns home to strengthen his Argentinian side in his favorite club River Plate, with a sixth national title. Daniel will hang up his boots in 1989, pushing the vice to the end with an exclusion during his last hurrah.

Daniel Passarella is also the only player to have won the 1978 and 1986 World Cups with Argentina, even though he did not play in the latter. He is also the only Argentine to have won the 1978 and 1986 World Cups, even though he did not play a single match in the latter. This leader of men who knows how to sacrifice himself defensively, tough on the man, vicious on occasion, is one of the best liberos in Argentine football. For Daniel Passarella, order and authority are basic principles. He put them into practice as captain, then as coach of the Albiceleste. A defender of great class, he also liked to interfere at the other end of the field, where his eye for goal worked wonders whether it was with his head or from free kicks.

- Voted Argentine Player of the Year in 1976

- Named to the 1978 World Cup Team of the Year

- Named to the FIFA 100

- Voted among the "legends" of football by Golden Foot in 2015

- Received the Konex Foundation Award as a player in 1990 and as a coach in 2000

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