Gonzalo Rubén Bergessio (; born 20 July 1984) is an Argentine professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

for Club Atlético Platense.

Club career

Early career

Born in Córdoba, Córdoba Province, Bergessio started his career in the lower leagues with Club Atlético Platense. In 2005, he was signed by Instituto Atlético Central Córdoba of the

Primera División Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

, but at the end of the 2005–06 season Instituto were relegated, and the player was sold to Racing Club de Avellaneda. Bergessio contributed six goals in the ''Apertura'' 2006 and, in the following year's '' Clausura'', continued to score on a regular basis. His fast pace earned him a big following at the

Estadio Juan Domingo Perón A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

, and he became a fan favourite after scoring the game winner against

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

, adding another against

Club Atlético River Plate Club Atlético River Plate, commonly known as River Plate, is an Argentine professional sports club based in the Núñez, Buenos Aires, Núñez neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Founded in 1901, the club is named after the English name for the city ...

Benfica, return to Argentina

On 26 June 2007, Bergessio signed a five-year deal with

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

club S.L. Benfica for a reported

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

2.5 million fee, as an unknown party remained eligible to 50% of the future transfer fee the Portuguese received. He only appeared in three league matches during his spell, one more than his opportunities in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

, and, in January of the following year he returned to his country. In January 2008, Bergessio joined San Lorenzo de Almagro. On 8 May, he was involved in the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

tie against River where, after his team had two players sent off and were 0–2 down, he scored twice to give it an improbable aggregate win.

Saint-Étienne

On 25 August 2009, Bergessio returned to Europe by agreeing to a four-year contract with France's

AS Saint-Étienne Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire (), commonly known as A.S.S.E. () or simply Saint-Étienne, is a professional football club based in Saint-Étienne in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. The club was founded in 1933 and competes in ...

, for an undisclosed fee. He scored his first goal for his new club during his second appearance, a 1–1 home draw with AJ Auxerre, but netted just five times more in his first one and a half seasons with the

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

club.

Catania

In the last hours of the 2011 winter

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

, Bergessio joined Italian side

Calcio Catania Catania S.S.D., commonly known as Catania, is an Italian football club based in the city of Catania, Sicily, that plays in . Originally founded in 1908 as ''Associazione Sportiva pro Educazione Fisica'', the club boasts 17 appearances in the ...

, arriving on loan for the remainder of the season – the

Sicilians Sicilians or the Sicilian people are a Romance speaking people who are indigenous to the island of Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, as well as the largest and most populous of the autonomous regions of Italy. Origin and i ...

had the option to sign him player permanently at the conclusion of this loan agreement. He made his

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

debut on 20 February, playing the full 90 minutes and being booked in a 1–0 away loss against

S.S.C. Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli (), is an Italian professional football club based in the city of Naples ( it, Napoli, nap, Napule), Campania that plays in Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. Napoli ha ...

. After an initial delay in the transfer, Bergessio signed a permanent four-year contract on 29 August 2011 for €945,000. In the 2012–13 campaign he became a key part of

Rolando Maran Rolando Maran (born 14 July 1963) is an Italian Association football, football coach (sport), manager who was most recently the head coach of Pisa S.C., Pisa. His playing career as a Defender (association football), defender was spent mostly wit ...

's team, forming an efficient attacking partnership with countrymen

Pablo Barrientos Pablo Cesar Barrientos (born 17 January 1985) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Club career San Lorenzo Barrientos was born in Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina. He began his professional career ...

Lucas Castro Lucas Nahuel Castro (born 9 April 1989) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays for Sarmiento, as a winger. Club career Gimnasia La Plata Castro began his career within the youth ranks of Argentine club Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata in ...

and

Papu Gómez Alejandro Darío Gómez (; born 15 February 1988), known as Papu Gómez is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward, winger or attacking midfielder for Spanish club Sevilla and the Argentina national team. Gómez started hi ...

; he scored his first

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in Italy's top flight on 5 May 2013, in the 3–0 home win over

A.C. Siena Associazione Calcio Robur Siena 1904, commonly referred to as Siena, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Siena, Tuscany. The club was re-incorporated in 2020 after the bankruptcy of the previous legal entity Robur Siena, whi ...

. Bergessio helped Catania eventually finish in eighth position, with a record in total points for the fifth consecutive season. On a personal level he was also the club's highest goalscorer during a single campaign, since

Gionatha Spinesi Gionatha Spinesi (born 9 March 1978) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Career Born in Pisa, Spinesi started playing for Pisa Calcio. In November 1995 he signed for Inter Milan, however, he was not able to mak ...

netted 17 times in 2006–07. On 30 October 2013, Bergessio suffered a broken

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity is ...

as a result of a late tackle by

Giorgio Chiellini Giorgio Chiellini (; born 14 August 1984) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC. Considered one of the best defenders of his generation, Chiellini is known for his strengt ...

in a 4–0 defeat at

Juventus FC )''I Bianconeri'' (The White and Blacks)''Le Zebre'' (The Zebras)''La Signora Omicidi'' (The Killer Lady)''La Gheuba'' (: The Hunchback) , founded = as Sport-Club Juventus , ground = Juventus Stadium , capacity = 41,507 , owner = Agnelli ...

Sampdoria

On 1 August 2014, Bergessio was sold to

U.C. Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, S ...

of the same country and league for a fee of €2.65 million, putting pen to paper to a three-year deal. On 3 June of the following year, after 24 appearances in all competitions and two goals, he was released by mutual consent.

Later years

Bergessio moved teams and countries again on 24 June 2015, joining

Atlas F.C. Atlas Fútbol Club () is a Mexican professional football club based in Guadalajara, Jalisco that currently plays in Liga MX. It plays home matches at the Estadio Jalisco. Founded in 1916, Atlas has won three league titles and four domestic cups ...

from Mexico. The following 8 September, he signed a one-year deal with former club San Lorenzo.

International career

Bergessio made his debut for

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

on 15 October 2008, playing the second half of a 1–0 loss in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

for the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

qualifiers. He scored his first and only two goals for his country on 20 May of the following year, in a 3–1 win over

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bergessio, Gonzalo 1984 births Living people Argentine footballers Footballers from Córdoba, Argentina Association football forwards Argentine Primera División players Club Atlético Platense footballers Instituto footballers Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers San Lorenzo de Almagro footballers Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers Primeira Liga players S.L. Benfica footballers Ligue 1 players AS Saint-Étienne players Serie A players Catania S.S.D. players U.C. Sampdoria players Liga MX players Atlas F.C. footballers Uruguayan Primera División players Club Nacional de Football players Argentina international footballers Argentine expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Mexico Expatriate footballers in Uruguay Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Argentine expatriate sportspeople in France Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Uruguay