Pirès Constantino

Robert Emmanuel Pires (born 29 October 1973) is a French former professional footballer. He is widely regarded as one of Arsenal's greatest ever players and considered by some to be one of the best wingers in the history of the sport.

Pires played for French clubs Metz and Marseille prior to his time with Arsenal, where he won three FA Cups and two Premier League titles, including the club's unbeaten season of 2003–04. A former France international, Pires earned 79 caps between 1996 and 2004 for his country, including winning both the 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2000. He has been included in the PFA Team of the Year for the 2001–02, 2002–03 and 2003–04 seasons, was the Player of the Tournament for the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup, FWA Player of the Year for the 2001–02 season, Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year for the 1995–96 season, and was included in the FIFA 100 by Pelé. He was also voted by Arsenal fans as the sixth greatest player in the club's history.

Pires played the majority of his career as a left winger, but could also play all across the midfield or in a position to support the forward line. Pires used to be a coach at Arsenal.

Early years

Pires was born in Reims, France, to a Portuguese father and Spanish mother. Pires, the elder of two boys, spent most of his childhood dressed in two football shirts that reflected his divided loyalty. One was a Benfica shirt (his father was a fan) and the other was a Real Madrid shirt. Pires confessed he had difficulty in school because he did not speak French well at the time, due to the fact his parents only spoke Spanish and Portuguese. His passion for football was inherited from his father, António, who played with ''Les Corpo'', a local team, and every Saturday night Pires would watch him play. At the age of 15, Pires left school and began his dream of a career in football with a two-year sports degree course in Reims. At the insistence of his mother, Pires continued with Reims and eventually was called up four years later.

Club career

France

Pires is a graduate of the Metz youth academy, making his senior debut in 1993 against Lyon. During his six seasons there, he scored 43 goals in 162 matches, and won the Coupe de la Ligue, prompting a £5 million move to Marseille in 1998. Pires had a mixed two-year stay in Provence; his first season saw Marseille miss the 1998–99 French Division 1 title by a point (he had been even closer the year before when Metz had finished runners-up on goal difference) and they also reached the 1999 UEFA Cup Final, losing to Parma. His second season saw him suffer a spate of on- and off-field problems, which led him to boycott the club at the season's end.

Arsenal

2000–01

Pires was signed by Arsenal for £6 million in 2000, after stiff competition from Real Madrid and Juventus, replacing Marc Overmars, who had left for Barcelona for a record £25 million. He made his debut as a substitute against Sunderland on 19 August 2000. Initially, Pires' form was indifferent, and some people criticised him after his comments that the English game was too physical. However, he slowly began to regain the form he had shown at Metz, scoring a superb solo goal in October 2000, his first for Arsenal, against Lazio in the 2000–01 Champions League. Days later he scored his first league goal in a 2–1 win against West Ham United. During his time at Arsenal Pires had a habit of scoring against rivals Tottenham Hotspur, something he did on eight occasions. The first of such occasions came in a league game on 31 March 2001 when Arsenal won 2–0. A week later he scored against Tottenham again, this time the winner in the FA Cup semi-finals. However, Arsenal went on to lose the Cup final to Liverpool 2–1; Pires set up Arsenal's goal for Freddie Ljungberg.

2001–02

By 2001–02, Pires had fully got to grips with the English game and had one of his best seasons. Pires scored superb goals against Middlesbrough and Aston Villa. Against Aston Villa, Pires chased after a long ball by Freddie Ljungberg, and lobbed the ball over the pursuing George Boateng, and finished off the move with a delightful lob over Peter Schmeichel. Pires also scored in a 1–1 draw against Tottenham at White Hart Lane, which would commence a sequence of five consecutive league seasons in which he would score in the North London Derby away at their rivals. He led the Premier League assist charts and was voted both FWA Footballer of the Year and Arsenal's player of the season, as Arsenal won the league title. Pires provided the assist for Dennis Bergkamp when he scored his memorable pirouette goal against Newcastle United. However weeks later against the same opposition in the FA Cup Pires suffered a cruciate ligament injury (a game in which he had earlier scored). This also ruled him out of playing in the 2002 FA Cup Final and the 2002 World Cup with France.

2002–03

After a lengthy layoff, Pires made his comeback in November 2002 as a substitute against Auxerre in the UEFA Champions League. Although Pires initially found it tough, he eventually returned to form, scoring 14 Premiership goals in 20 starts that season, including a hat-trick against Southampton on the penultimate day of the season. Other highlights included scoring twice against Fulham, including a last minute winner, and his customary goal at White Hart Lane. Pires was voted the Premier League Player of the Month for February 2003. Pires capped off his season by scoring the winning goal in the FA Cup Final against Southampton.

2003–04

He went on to be a crucial part of Arsenal's quest for the Premier League title in the 2003–04 season, which they achieved, remaining unbeaten and becoming the first English top flight club to do so in 115 years. Pires and his Arsenal teammate Thierry Henry were instrumental in that season, scoring a combined 57 goals in all competitions. Pires made a sluggish start to the campaign, with just one goal to his name (against Everton) prior to October, but a wonder-goal against Liverpool at Anfield kick-started his season. Pires showed football fans his sublime technique, skills and finishing, most notably with his goals against Liverpool, Bolton Wanderers, and Leeds United. He surprised a lot of people with a world class tackle on Claude Makélélé and, following that, a run into the penalty box which dragged William Gallas and John Terry away, thus making space for Patrick Vieira to have a one-on-one with the Chelsea goalkeeper and subsequently scoring. Arsenal won that match 2–1, with Vieira's goal the equaliser. That day of Premier League action proved decisive, as Manchester United's failure to beat Leeds United during the same day resulted in Arsenal getting a huge lead in the title race. Arsenal never lost 1st place in the table for the rest of the season. In the UEFA Champions League quarter-final's 1st leg match against Chelsea, Pires managed to beat John Terry to a header, which resulted in the equaliser for Arsenal, after Eiður Guðjohnsen had given Chelsea the lead. However, Arsenal were eliminated after they lost 1–2 in the return leg, courtesy of an 87th minute Wayne Bridge goal. Pires also scored home and away against Tottenham Hotspur. He showed his playmaking skills in a goal against Tottenham at White Hart Lane, in which Pires was the architect in building up the goal, and capped off the move with a goal to score Arsenal's 2nd goal of the game. Tottenham refused to give up, and managed to claw their way back and claimed a 2–2 draw. Despite that, Arsenal won the title after the match. Pires finished that season with an impressive tally of 14 goals and seven assists in the Premier League. He was Arsenal's second top scorer (behind Thierry Henry) and had the joint amount of assists (along with Dennis Bergkamp) that season.

2004–05

In the 2004–05 season, Pires finished third in the Premiership goalscorers' table with 14 goals, behind teammate Thierry Henry and Crystal Palace's Andrew Johnson. Pires also picked up a second FA Cup winners' medal; he scored in the semi-final against Blackburn Rovers and then Arsenal beat Manchester United on penalties in the final. Pires was replaced by Edu in the 2nd half of extra time in that match.

2005–06

During the 2005–06 season, Pires started the season poorly, and players such as Freddie Ljungberg, José Antonio Reyes and Alexander Hleb were preferred to him on both wings. As the season progressed, though, Pires' form improved, outscoring his selection rivals overall despite a bizarre penalty incident with Thierry Henry against Manchester City when Pires, having scored from the spot earlier in the game, tried passing it to Arsenal's star striker but Henry missed the ball and it went down as a penalty miss. Highlights in the league that season included scoring at White Hart Lane for the fifth consecutive season (his eighth and final goal against Tottenham) to help Arsenal salvage a 1–1 draw, and also scoring in the last game at Highbury against Wigan Athletic. Pires was instrumental in Arsenal's Quarter Final Champions League first leg against Juventus, where Arsenal won 2–0. Pires successfully tackled Patrick Vieira and fed the ball to Thierry Henry who passed to Fàbregas to score Arsenal's first goal, the first time that Pires had gotten the better of Vieira.

Pires played his last game for Arsenal in the UEFA Champions league final against Barcelona in Paris, which Arsenal ultimately lost 2–1. However, Pires was substituted after only 18 minutes when goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was sent off and had to be replaced with Manuel Almunia. Pires later said Wenger's decision to substitute him "killed" him: "the fact that I was substituted and only allowed to play 18 minutes remains painful, there's no point denying that... Wenger knows it and we still talk about it. I'll never agree that he made the right decision."

Departure

During the 2005–06 season, Pires wrangled with Arsenal over a new contract, in the hope of a new two-year deal. In keeping with the club's policy regarding players over 30, Pires was only offered a 12-month extension to his contract, which expired in June 2006.

In May 2006, Pires agreed to an offer from Villarreal after a month of speculation, during which time he and Arsenal defeated Villarreal in the Champions League semi-final.

One of the main reasons Pires gave for leaving Arsenal was that he felt he was no longer a first choice under manager Arsène Wenger. Pires was quoted as saying: "I have to say I have had some disappointments this season. For instance, I was on the bench very often". Pires additionally suggested that Wenger's decision to withdraw him in the UEFA Champions League final showed he had slipped in the eyes of his French boss. Pires said that he felt hurt by how Wenger did not trust him anymore, which was a major factor that convinced him that it was time to move on from Arsenal.

On the official Arsenal matchday program for the game against Wigan Athletic on 11 February 2007, Pires revealed his heartbreak of being substituted so early on during the Champions League final. Pires stated: "I was very disappointed. When I saw my number on the fourth official's board to be substituted, I couldn't believe it. It was my last game after six years at the club, a Champions League Final in front of all my family in Paris where I became World Cup champion and it lasted just 12 minutes. That was very hard to take".

On 11 July 2008, Arsenal fans voted Pires as the club's sixth greatest player of all time.

Villarreal

In May 2006, Pires agreed to join Spanish side Villarreal on a two-year contract. He joined on a free transfer, subject to passing a medical, bringing to an end his six-year career as an Arsenal player. After Villarreal were eliminated in the semi-finals of the 2006 Champions League by Arsenal, Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini had wanted to sign Arsenal's Pires or Thierry Henry.

He scored his first goal for the club in 3–3 pre-season draw with Newcastle United on 5 August 2006. However, on 18 August 2006, Pires damaged the cruciate ligament in his left knee in a friendly match against Cádiz and required corrective surgery to alleviate the problem, which kept him out of action for seven months in his new club in Spanish top flight. Pires finally recovered from knee injury and made his first league appearance for Villarreal as a second-half substitute when he was named in Villarreal's squad to face Real Sociedad on 17 March 2007. Pires scored his first league goal on his return from injury in a 3–3 draw away to Real Betis on 31 March 2007. After three appearances as a substitute, Pires made his first start for Villarreal on 22 April 2007 against Barcelona. He opened the scoring for his team to defeat league leaders Barcelona 2–0, avenging his premature departure against Barcelona in the Champions League Final the previous May.

On 13 May 2007, in a 4–1 win at Osasuna, Pires scored a seventh-minute opener as Villarreal continued their late-season push for a European spot. The run took Villarreal, at 11th spot without him in the side, to the brink of a UEFA Cup place in barely six weeks. Villarreal ended the season in 5th spot wherein Pires played crucial roles in helping Villarreal with the late charge up winning each of their final eight games and an entry into the UEFA Cup.

The 2007–08 season was marked by the ongoing saga between Juan Román Riquelme

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