Mathieu Valbuena

Mathieu Valbuena (born 28 September 1984) is a French professional footballer who plays for Super League Greece club Olympiacos. He plays as an attacking midfielder and a winger and is known for his pace, technical ability, and tenacious style of play. He is described by his former coach at Libourne Saint-Seurin, Didier Tholot, as "an explosive player who is capable of quickly taking two opponents out of the game to create space, above all due to his dribbling skills." Due to his small stature, Valbuena is nicknamed ''le petit vélo'', which translates to "the little bike".

Valbuena began his career at professional club Bordeaux. He was let go from the club after two seasons and subsequently joined amateur club Langon-Castets in the fifth division of French football. In 2004, Valbuena joined Libourne Saint-Seurin in the Championnat National, the third level of French football. The midfielder had a good 2005–06 season with the club and signed with Ligue 1 club Marseille, prior to the 2006–07 season. With Marseille, Valbuena played in the UEFA Champions League for the first time and, in the 2009–10 season, was part of the team that won the league and league cup double, as well as the Trophée des Champions.

Valbuena is a French international and made his debut with the team in May 2010 in a friendly match against Costa Rica. He scored his first international goal in the same match and was named to the team to participate in the 2010 FIFA World Cup as a result. Valbuena appeared in only one of the three matches France contested at the World Cup. In November 2010, he scored his second career international goal against England at Wembley Stadium.

Club career

Early career

Valbuena began his football career at hometown club ES Blanquefort. He developed an interest in the sport of football through his paternal heritage as he often attended matches at the Camp Nou in Barcelona during school holidays as a youth. At the age of nine, his football career was put on hold after he received over 50 stitches in one of his legs following a swimming accident. After the injury healed, Valbuena returned to football and quickly impressed club coaches. In 1998, he was given a Best Player award at a local youth tournament played at the Camp des Loges, the training center of professional club Paris Saint-Germain. In 2001, Valbuena was recruited by professional club FC Girondins de Bordeaux.

Valbuena spent two years playing on the club's under-18 team playing alongside the likes of Rio Mavuba and Marouane Chamakh. Valbuena appeared in only three matches with the reserve team before being released from the club after failing to impress Jean-Louis Garcia, the reserve team manager. It has been commonly stated that Valbuena was let go by the club due to his small size; however, former club player and trainer Philippe Lucas explained that Valbuena was let go because he struggled to "transform his game from that of a young player to that of a professional" and that "his game needed to be faster and he needed to avoid confrontations".

Amateur career

After being let go by Bordeaux, Valbuena put his ambitions of becoming a professional player on hold, and was recommended by Garcia to play for amateur club Langan-Castets in the Championnat de France amateur 2, the fifth division of French football. Unlike at Bordeaux where he trained numerous times a week, Valbuena only trained three times a week with Langon-Castets and, due to the club's amateur status, worked as a sports shop salesman when he was not playing football. In his only season at the club, he impressed with his technical ability and was subsequently recruited by Championnat National club Libourne Saint-Seurin who had scouted the player eight times while he was at Langon-Castets.

While at Libourne Saint-Seurin, Valbuena's play went through an upgrade. In his first season at the club, he struggled for meaningful minutes under coach André Menot, playing in 20 league matches and scoring two goals. Menot was fired mid-season and was replaced by Didier Tholot. The club ultimately finished the season in 13th place in the league. In the next season, manager Tholot took immediate notice of Valbuena. Tholot described Valbuena as "the architect of the team" and sought to build the team around him. As a result, Valbuena's playing time improved dramatically. He played in 31 league matches and scored nine goals, all of which came in victories. Valbuena earned rave reviews for his performances, but still suffered criticism on occasion due to "wanting to do everything" as stated by Tholot. On 12 August 2005, he scored his first goal of the season in a 2–0 win over Moulins. Two weeks later, Valbuena scored a double in a 3–1 victory away to Cherbourg. One low-point during the season came on 9 September 2005 in Libourne's 2–1 defeat to Gazélec Ajaccio when Valbuena received his first-ever red card. The loss was the team's first of the season and Valbuena was suspended for three matches. Valbuena returned to the team on 7 October in a 1–0 loss to Bayonne.

In November 2005, Valbuena returned to his early season form after scoring four goals over the course of three matches. He scored his first goal of the month on 5 November in a 2–1 win at home against Nîmes. Two weeks later, Valbuena scored against Angers in another win and, in the following week, scored both goals in a 2–0 win over Pau. As a result of his performances, Valbuena was linked to several clubs in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, most notably Saint-Étienne and Auxerre, in December. The midfielder, however, denied the approaches stating his desire to help Libourne achieve promotion to the second division. Valbuena went scoreless through the winter months, but remained a fixture in the starting eleven as the club remained in contention for promotion to Ligue 2. On 29 April 2006, with Libourne in a battle for the final promotion spot, Valbuena scored another double, this time against Toulon in another shutout victory. Libourne went unbeaten in its final four matches, which resulted in the club finishing in third place, thus achieving promotion to Ligue 2 for the first time in its history since the local clubs of Libourne and Saint-Seurin agreed to merge in 1998. For his efforts that season, Valbuena was named the league's Player of the Year, which led to heightened interest from several professional clubs in Ligue 2 and Ligue 1.

Marseille

2006–2010

On 9 June 2006, Valbuena signed his first professional contract after agreeing to a transfer to Olympique de Marseille. He signed a three-year deal with the club and was assigned the number 28 shirt by manager Eric Gerets. Valbuena made his professional debut for the club on 15 July 2006 in the team's third round match against Ukrainian club Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in the 2006 UEFA Intertoto Cup. He subsequently struggled to meet the demands of training and suffered an ankle injury in the pre-season period, which resulted in the player missing the start of the 2006–07 season. Valbuena made his league debut on 19 November 2006 in a league match against Valenciennes appearing as a substitute in the team's 1–0 victory. He appeared as a substitute for the majority of the season and even spent some time playing on the club's reserve team in the fifth division. On 19 May 2007, Valbuena scored his first professional goal in a 2–1 victory over Saint-Étienne. The game-winning goal allowed the club to maintain control of second place, which merited Marseille a spot in the UEFA Champions League for the first time since the 2003–04 season.

Following the departure of Franck Ribéry to German club Bayern Munich ahead of the 2007–08 season, Valbuena was inserted as his replacement. It is during this season the midfielder acquired the nickname ''le petit vélo'' (''the small bike''), which is a play on Valbuena's size and his parent club's stadium, the Stade Vélodrome. Valbuena started the season off healthy under Gerets and featured primarily as a substitute, but by late August 2007, had become a starter forming partnerships in the midfield with Samir Nasri, Lorik Cana, and Benoît Cheyrou. Valbuena made his UEFA Champions League debut on 18 September 2007 against Turkish club Beşiktaş appearing as a substitute in a 2–0 win. In the team's next group stage match against English club Liverpool at Anfield, Valbuena scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory. The victory over Liverpool was the first time a French club had ever won at Anfield. Later that month, Valbuena signed a contract extension with Marseille, committing himself to the club until June 2012.

In the league, Valbuena appeared in 29 matches and scored three goals. The first two goals came in the club's 6–1 win over Caen

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