Maxi Lopez

From Guardian Football -

After equalising and setting up the winner for Barcelona against Chelsea in the Champions League almost a fortnight ago many were left wondering who this Maxi Lopez really was. To be quite honest, we were too.
Maxi Lopez recently joined Barcelona from River Plate for around £4m. He has been regarded as one of the most talented up-and-coming Argentinian strikers around, and proved what all the fuss was about in his debut against Chelsea. The now well-publicised substitution resulted in a goal and a peach of an assist to Samuel Eto'o. But where did he really come from?

Maximiliano Gaston Lopez was born on April 2, 1984 in Capital Federal in Argentina. He enrolled in the River Plate youth academy and was quickly recognised as one of the greatest talents River has churned out. In recent years this academy has produced regular Argentina internationals such as Pablo Aimar, Javier Saviola, Andres D'Allessandro, Fernando Cavenaghi, Diego Placente and Juan Pablo Sorin.
Despite being only 20, Lopez has been getting lots of attention in the Argentinian media. His strong physique, height - 1,88m - powerful shot, mazy dribbles and 20/20 vision have drawn comparisons with Hernan Crespo - another graduate of the River academy - and Gabriel Batistuta, who played one season for River before his decade-long destruction of the Serie A.

His career statistics sheet is coming along nicely as well. He has already won three Argentinian Championships with Los Millionares, scoring a respectable 13 goals in 56 league appearances.

After his River debut at the age of 17, Lopez was quickly selected for the Argentinian under-17 and under-20 teams

time of the month