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 lea ...

who plays as a striker.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Córdoba Córdoba most commonly refers to: * Córdoba, Spain, a major city in southern Spain and formerly the imperial capital of Islamic Spain * Córdoba, Argentina, the second largest city in Argentina and the capital of Córdoba Province Córdoba or Cord ...

, Bergessio started his career in the lower leagues with

Club Atlético Platense Club Atlético Platense is an Argentine sports club based in Florida, Buenos Aires. The club nickname is (Squid) after the journalist Palacio Zino said that the team moved "like a squid in its ink". Although the club hosts many activities, Pla ...

. In 2005, he was signed by

Instituto Atlético Central Córdoba Instituto Atlético Central Córdoba (commonly referred to as Instituto) is an Argentine sports club from the city of Córdoba, whose professional football team currently plays in the Primera División, the first division of the Argentine footba ...

of the Primera División, but at the end of the 2005–06 season Instituto were relegated, and the player was sold to

Racing Club de Avellaneda Racing Club () is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Avellaneda, Argentina. They compete in the Argentine Primera División, Primera División, the top tier of Argentine football league system, Argentine f ...

. Bergessio contributed six goals in the ''Apertura'' 2006 and, in the following year's ''

Clausura The ' () and ' () tournaments is a split season format for Spanish-speaking sports leagues. It is a relatively recent innovation for many Latin American football leagues in which the traditional association football season from August to May is ...

'', continued to score on a regular basis. His fast pace earned him a big following at the Estadio Juan Domingo Perón, and he became a fan favourite after scoring the game winner against

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional Association football, football team which, since its promotion in 1913 ...

, adding another against

Club Atlético River Plate Club Atlético River Plate is an Argentine professional sports club based in the Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Belgrano neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Founded in 1901, the club is named after the English name for the city's estuary, Río de la Plata. ...

Benfica, return to Argentina

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

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

club

S.L. Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904, as ''Sport Lisboa'', Benfica is one of the " ...

for a reported

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

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 (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

, and, in January of the following year he returned to his country. In January 2008, Bergessio joined

San Lorenzo de Almagro Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro is an Argentine professional sports club based in the Boedo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its football team, which plays in the Primera División, the first tier of the Argentine foot ...

. On 8 May, he was involved in the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

tie against River where, after his team had two players

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

and were 2–0 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 (), abbreviated as A.S.S.E. () and commonly known as Saint-Étienne, is a French professional football club based in Saint-Étienne, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The club was founded in 1933 and competes ...

, 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 Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise (), commonly known as AJ Auxerre or by the abbreviation AJA, is a French professional association football, football club based in the Communes of France, commune of Auxerre in Burgundy. The club plays in L ...

, 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 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

club.

Catania

In the last hours of the 2011 winter

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

, Bergessio joined Italian side

Calcio Catania Catania Football Club, commonly known as Catania, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in the city of Catania, Sicily, that plays in Serie C. Originally founded in 1908 as ''Associazione Sportiva pro Educazione Fisica'', the clu ...

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

Sicilians Sicilians () are a European ethnographic group who are indigenous to Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean, as well as the largest and most populous of the autonomous regions of Italy. History The Sicilian people are indigenous to ...

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

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

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

SSC Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli (), commonly known as SSC Napoli or simply Napoli, is an Italian professional football club based in Naples, Campania that currently competes in the Serie A, the highest league of Italian football. Napoli are am ...

. 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's team, forming an efficient attacking partnership with countrymen Pablo Barrientos, Lucas Castro and

Papu Gómez Alejandro Darío Gómez (; born 15 February 1988), known as Papu Gómez, is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward, Winger (association football), left winger or attacking ...

; 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 Wick ...

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

AC Siena Siena Football Club Società Sportiva Dilettantistica, 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 ...

. 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 scorer during a single campaign, since Gionatha Spinesi netted 17 times in 2006–07. On 30 October 2013, Bergessio suffered a broken

fibula The fibula (: fibulae or fibulas) 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. ...

as a result of a late tackle by

Giorgio Chiellini Giorgio Chiellini (; born 14 August 1984) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, centre-back or Defender (association football)#Full-back, left-back. Consi ...

in a 4–0 defeat at

Juventus FC Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

Sampdoria

On 1 August 2014, Bergessio was sold to

UC Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Genoa, Liguria. Sampdoria was formed in 1946 from the List of football club mergers, merg ...

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. 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, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

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 western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

for the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

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, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bergessio, Gonzalo 1984 births Living people 21st-century Argentine sportsmen Argentine men's footballers Footballers from Córdoba, Argentina Men's association football forwards Argentine Primera División players Primera Nacional players Club Atlético Platense footballers Instituto Atlético Central Córdoba footballers Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers San Lorenzo de Almagro footballers Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers CSyD Tristán Suárez footballers Primeira Liga players S.L. Benfica footballers Ligue 1 players AS Saint-Étienne players Serie A players Catania FC players UC Sampdoria players Liga MX players Atlas F.C. footballers Uruguayan Primera División players Club Nacional de Football players Argentina men's international footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's 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