Milito Diego
Diego Alberto Milito (born 12 June 1979) is an Argentine former footballer best known for his time with Internazionale Milano, who last played as a striker for Racing Club and also formerly played for the Argentine national team. A prolific and consistent centre-forward, Milito has averaged just over a goal every two appearances over the course of his professional career. Milito began his club career in Argentina with Racing Club in 1999, and later moved to Italian side Genoa in 2003. In 2005, he was acquired by Spanish club Real Zaragoza, where he remained for three seasons, before returning to Genoa in 2008. His prolific goalscoring exploits during his second spell with Genoa earned him a move to defending Serie A champions Inter, where he was pivotal in the club’s 2009–10 treble-winning season scoring 32 goals in all competitions including two goals in the 2010 UEFA Champions League Final. He returned to Racing Club in 2014, where he retired in 2016. At international level, Milito has earned 25 caps for Argentina, scoring 4 goals, and represented his country in two Copa América tournaments, winning a runners-up medal in 2007, and at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He has been nicknamed El Príncipe (“The Prince” in Spanish) because of his physical resemblance with former Uruguayan footballer Enzo Francescoli, who had the same nickname.
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At the beginning of 2004, Milito moved to Italian second division club Genoa for £8 million. After two very successful seasons, where he scored 33 goals in 59 matches in Italy, Genoa were relegated down to Serie C1 as a punishment for an alleged match-fixing case in the final match of the 2004–05 season against Venezia. Due to this, Milito was forced to leave Genoa and would ultimately join his brother Gabriel at Real Zaragoza in the Spanish La Liga. On 1 September 2008, just a few minutes before the transfer window closure time, Genoa completed the transfer of Milito from Zaragoza after the Spanish team were relegated to the Segunda División. His agent, Fernando Hidalgo, confirmed Milito chose explicitly to return to Genoa despite having received more lucrative offers from other major European clubs. He made his Serie A debut on 14 September against Milan. Genoa won the game 2–0 with Milito assisting the first goal and scoring the second. On 9 November, Milito scored his first hat-trick for Genoa in the 4–0 victory against Reggina. He finished the season with 24 goals in 31 league appearances, placing him second behind Zlatan Ibrahimović in the Capocannonieri scoring title.
“Vision, timing, flawless technique and sangfroid – these two goals had everything a great striker needs, plus a sense of lyricism in the fluency of his movement. The 30-year-old Milito is hardly a fancy striker, not a Messi taking your breath away with a trick or a Tevez galvanising the stadium with elemental force, but his economy has been just as devastating” The Guardian
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On 20 May 2009, La Gazzetta dello Sport confirmed that Diego Milito was transferred to Inter alongside teammate Thiago Motta. The transfer fees were €28 million and €10 million respectively but Genoa also received Robert Acquafresca, Leonardo Bonucci, Riccardo Meggiorini, Francesco Bolzoni, Ivan Fatić and cash in exchange. The striker adapted to his new surroundings quickly and had an excellent start to his Inter career, scoring two goals in a 2–0 World Football Challenge win over city rivals Milan. Subsequently, on 29 August, in his first ever Derby della Madonnina against Milan in Serie A, Milito assisted two goals and scored a penalty, his first league goal of the season, as Inter won 4–0. Later, on 13 September, he scored his second league goal in a 2–0 home win against Parma. In the next league match against Cagliari, he scored both goals for Inter in a 2–1 away win. These two goals placed him at the top of the all-time Serie A scoring charts for best strike rate, with 28 goals in 35 games, giving him an average of 0.8 goals per game. Milito continued his fine run of form with another goal in the next league match against Napoli, scoring the second goal after Samuel Eto’o scored in the first minute, a game that they won 3–1. The striker adapted to his new surroundings quickly and had an excellent start to his Inter career, scoring two goals in a 2–0 World Football Challenge win over city rivals Milan. Subsequently, on 29 August, in his first ever Derby della Madonnina against Milan in Serie A, Milito assisted two goals and scored a penalty, his first league goal of the season, as Inter won 4–0. Later, on 13 September, he scored his second league goal in a 2–0 home win against Parma. In the next league match against Cagliari, he scored both goals for Inter in a 2–1 away win. These two goals placed him at the top of the all-time Serie A scoring charts for best strike rate, with 28 goals in 35 games, giving him an average of 0.8 goals per game. Milito continued his fine run of form with another goal in the next league match against Napoli, scoring the second goal after Samuel Eto’o scored in the first minute, a game that they won 3–1. Milito finished the season with 30 goals in all competitions, 22 of which came in the league, and 6 in the Champions League. After the treble success, many pundits took note of the fact that Milito had always been an effective and efficient striker, yet remained one of the most underrated players in world football because of his low-key manner and the fact that he had plied his trade for smaller, less competitive teams prior to joining Inter. Scoring goals on the biggest stages for a marquee team finally earned the striker the recognition merited by his skill and goalscoring record. On 9 August 2010, Milito signed a new four-year contract with the Nerazzurri. On 26 August, Milito was named 2010 UEFA Forward and Player of the Year.
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In 2016 a change.org petition proposed to change the name of Italia Street, which runs parallel to the Racing Stadium for three blocks up to the home of the arch-rivals Independiente in Avellaneda city (Buenos Aires’s province), to Diego Milito, and in a short time it attracted thousands of signatures from supporters of the initiative. The “Calle Italia” was officially changed its name in “Calle Diego Milito” in late July 2016.
