Ariel Ortega

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Ariel Ortega
Personal information
Full name	Ariel Arnaldo Ortega
Date of birth	March 4, 1974 (age 33)
Place of birth	Libertador General San Martín, Argentina
Height	170 cm
Nickname	El Burrito - The Little Donkey
Playing position	Attacking midfielder, Striker
Club information
Current club	River Plate
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1991-1997 1996-1998 1998-1999 1999-2000 2000-2002 2002-2003 2004-2006 2006-	River Plate Valencia Sampdoria Parma River Plate Fenerbahçe Newell's Old Boys River Plate	132 (30) 32 (9) 27 (8) 18 (3) 55 (24) 12 (4) 26 (5)
National team2
1993-2004	Argentina	85 (17)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of ?. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of ?. * Appearances (Goals)

Olympic medal record
Competitor for  Argentina
Men's football
Silver	1996 Atlanta	Team Competition

Ariel Arnaldo Ortega (born March 4, 1974 in Libertador General San Martín, Jujuy) is an Argentinian footballer, who currently plays for Club Atlético River Plate as a midfielder. His nickname is El Burrito ("The Little Donkey"), thus called Burrito Ortega.

Ortega's previous clubs have included Fenerbahçe, Parma A.C., U.C. Sampdoria, Valencia C.F., and River Plate. He has been capped 89 times for the Argentinian national team, scoring 17 goals (as of the end of 2004). Ortega played for his country in the 1994, 1998, and 2002 World Cups. He was also a member of the team that won the silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

He is widely recognised for his blinding pace and outstanding ability from dead ball situations, but most of all for his incredible dribbling ability. At his prime he was one of the best dribblers in the world.

Along with his skills, Ortega is infamously temperamental. During the 1998 World Cup, in the quarter-finals against the Netherlands, Ortega received a red card for headbutting Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar after van der Sar confronted him after a controversial situation where some people claim a play-acting attempt to draw a penalty[1], while others suggest the referee should have called the foul. Shortly after Ortega's sending off, Dennis Bergkamp scored the winning goal to make it 2-1, eliminating Argentina.

Due to his volatility, Ortega never remained at one club for an extended period of time. After he resigned his contract with Fenerbahçe on 2003, he was suspended by the FIFA, and not allowed to step on a soccer field for about one year and a half. While he was trying to deal with the situation he asked many times about the possibility of playing for free in River Plate. However, his petition was denied, and in 2004, when he finally could come back to football, he went to Newell's Old Boys, as he was called by his friend Américo Gallego, who at that time was Newell's' coach. Together, they won the Apertura 2004.

On June 2006 he went back to his first team River Plate, where he played for about half of the Apertura 2006 ^[1] , and then he stopped to start a treatment against alcoholism. On January 2007, during River's pre-season in Mar del Plata, and one day after playing an excellent game in which he even scored, he surprised everyone with another alcoholic episode, after which River Plate's doctors suggested to the coach that Ortega should go back to Buenos Aires to enforce the treatment against his problem.

Coach and father figure Daniel Passarella brought back Ortega stating he was ready for a comeback. On the March 15, 2007 Copa Libertadores match against Liga de Quito, Ortega formed part of River´s bench but not having a chance to come in. However 3 days later, in a league match versus Quilmes, he came in the second half to help break the opposing teams defense in a tight 0-0 up to that point. Ortega would score a controversial goal with his hand on the 48th minute to give River the victory and a great personal comeback.

[edit] References

Club Atlético River Plate - Current Squad
2 Tuzzio | 3 Domínguez | 4 Álvarez | 4 Ferrari | 5 Ahumada | 6 Lussenhoff | 7 Ortega | 8 Belluschi | 9 Farías | 11 Falcao | 12 Carrizo | 14 Gerlo | 16 Zapata | 18 Sambueza | 20 Nasuti | 24 Fernández | 25 Méndez | 26 Lima | 30 Pellegrino | 31 Mareque | • Buonanotte | • Burdisso | • Domingo | • Martínez Montagnoli | • Morales Neumann | • Toja | • Villalba | coach: Passarella

	Argentina squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Burgos | 2 Ayala | 3 Sorín | 4 Pochettino | 5 Almeyda | 6 Samuel | 7 C. López | 8 Zanetti | 9 Batistuta | 10 Ortega | 11 Verón | 12 Cavallero | 13 Placente | 14 Simeone | 15 Husaín | 16 Aimar | 17 G. López | 18 González | 19 Crespo | 20 Gallardo | 21 Caniggia | 22 Chamot | 23 Bonano | Coach: Bielsa

	Argentina squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup Quarter-finalists
1 Roa | 2 Ayala | 3 Chamot | 4 Pineda | 5 Almeyda | 6 Sensini | 7 López | 8 Simeone | 9 Batistuta | 10 Ortega | 11 Verón | 12 Burgos | 13 Paz | 14 Vivas | 15 Astrada | 16 Berti | 17 Cavallero | 18 Balbo | 19 Crespo | 20 Gallardo | 21 Delgado | 22 Zanetti | Coach: Passarella

	Argentina squad - 1994 FIFA World Cup
1 Goycochea | 2 Vázquez | 3 Chamot | 4 Sensini | 5 Redondo | 6 Ruggeri | 7 Caniggia | 8 Basualdo | 9 Batistuta | 10 Maradona | 11 Medina Bello | 12 Islas | 13 Cáceres | 14 Simeone | 15 Borelli | 16 Díaz | 17 Ortega | 18 Pérez | 19 Balbo | 20 Rodríguez | 21 Mancuso | 22 Scoponi | Coach: Basile