Maximiliano Gastón López (born 3 April 1984) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a striker. He holds both an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

and an Italian passport. He is known as ''El Rubio'' ("The Blonde"), and ''La Gallina de Oro'' ("The Golden Hen"). Formed at River Plate, he spent most of his career in Italy, making 215

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

appearances and scoring 46 goals for

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

, AC Milan, Sampdoria, Chievo,

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

and Udinese. He also played in Spain for

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

and

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

, winning the

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

and

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

with the former in 2006, and for Grêmio and

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama ( , ; – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India, first European to reach India by sea. Da Gama's first voyage (1497–1499) was the first to link ...

in the

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian" or "Great Brazilian"), the Série A or the Brazilian Série A (to distinguish it from the I ...

Club career

River Plate

López began his career in 1997 with River Plate. On 19 August 2001, at age 17, he made his senior debut, against Talleres de Córdoba. That same season, he was officially promoted to the senior squad following five years with the youth program. With River Plate, he was a standout striker and the club won the Torneo Clausura in 2002, 2003 and 2004. With River Plate, he made 56 appearances, scoring 13 goals.

Barcelona

In January 2005, Barcelona signed López on a 4-year contract for €6.2 million following an injury to striker Henrik Larsson. On his

debut on 23 February, he came on as a second-half substitute for Ludovic Giuly and within four minutes beat Chelsea defender William Gallas to score an equaliser with his first shot for the club, an eventual 2–1 first-leg win. His only other goal for the club came in a

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

tie against Zamora on 11 January 2006. López failed to break into the club's first team; in his two seasons in

, he made just 14 league appearances.

Mallorca, Moscow and Grêmio

López transferred to

on loan for the 2006–07 season, with the deal not including a purchasing option. He scored 3 goals in 25 matches, and returned to Barcelona in the summer of 2007, only to be sold to FC Moscow on 16 August 2007 after a €2 million transfer fee was agreed by the clubs. With Moscow, López made 22 league appearances and scored 9 goals. On 13 February 2009, Brazilian club Grêmio signed López on a season-long loan. He made his debut the following month in a game against Santa Cruz. His first goal for the club came against São José-PA on 18 March 2009. López scored four goals in the 2009 Copa Libertadores and the winner in the centenary Gre-Nal

derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

match.

Catania

On 20 January 2010, López transferred to Catania for a €3 million transfer fee, signing a contract lasting until 30 June 2013. He made his

debut on 31 January, 4playing 55 minutes in the match against the Udinese. In the next match, away to

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

(0–1), he scored his first goal and the match-winner for the ''Rossazzurri''. On 3 April, he scored his first brace in the Italian top flight during the Sicilian derby against

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

. He closed the season in double figures, scoring 11 goals in 17 appearances and contributed to the safety of the ''Etnei'' in Serie A. The following season, López scored his first goal in a 2–0 home victory against

Cesena Cesena (; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy; and - with Forlì - is the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. Served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine M ...

on 22 September 2010. At the end of the season, he had scored 8 goals in 35 appearances, finishing 12th in the Serie A table with Catania. In the 2011–12 season, López scored his first goal on 18 September 2011, converting a penalty against Cesena. On 18 December 2011, in the match won 2–0 by Catania against Palermo, he converted his second penalty of the season and was tearfully substituted by Gonzalo Bergessio for a possible farewell before the winter session of the

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

Loan to AC Milan

On 27 January 2012, López was officially transferred to AC Milan in a €1.5 million loan move, with a buying option set at €8 million. He signed a contract with Milan until 30 June 2015 to receive €700,000 until the end of the 2011–12 season and €1.5 million per year for the following three seasons. He chose the number 21 shirt. López scored his first goal as a Milan player on 11 February 2012 in an away game against Udinese, equalising for Milan before going on to assist Stephan El Shaarawy to score the game-winning goal. However, at the end of the season, he returned to Catania after Milan opted not to exercise their buying option.

Loan to Sampdoria

On 11 July, López joined Sampdoria on a season-long loan deal from Catania. López returned to Catania from a loan spell for the duration of the 2013–14 season and on 28 January 2014, he rejoined Sampdoria on loan for the remainder of the Serie A campaign. He scored a winning goal in his first match back for Sampdoria against Genoa on 3 February 2014.

Chievo

On 30 June 2014, López signed a one-year deal with Chievo with an option to extend his contract for a further year after Catania relegation. He made his debut on the first day of the 2014–15 Serie A season, 30 August, against

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

, playing the full 90 minutes of a 1–0 home loss. In his second match, on 14 September, he scored the only goal as Chievo defeated Napoli.

Torino

On 13 January 2015, López joined

, signing a six-month contract with an option for another year. He debuted the next day against Lazio in the second round of the Coppa Italia. On 18 January, he scored his first goal for Torino, against Cesena in a 3–2 Torino victory. On 19 February, he scored a brace during the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

round of 32 against

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

, therefore managing to score in five different leagues (Argentine, Spanish, Russian, Brazilian and Italian) and in all international competitions (Copa Libertadores, Copa Sudamericana, Champions League and Europa League). He scored again in the victorious return leg in Spain seven days later, then the 28th round of the league away at

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

. On 17 May, he scored his first brace for Torino in Serie A in the 2–0 victory over his former club Chievo. After renewing for another year, on 24 November 2015 López signed a new contract with Torino lasting until 2018.

Vasco de Gama

On 14 July 2018, López joined

, signing an eighteen-month contract with an option for another year. He debuted against São Paulo. On 27 August, he scored his first goal for Vasco against Chapecoense in a 3–1 Vasco victory and also had two assists, winning man of the match honors. After 14 matches he had great displays, with 7 goals and 6 assists, being considered the best Vasco player in the second semester and becoming the supporters favorite.

Return to Italy

On 23 August 2019, López return to Italy in

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

club

Crotone Crotone (; ; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( or ; ), it became a great Greek city, home of the renowned mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras amongst other famous citizens, and one ...

for free. He signed a one-year contract. On 10 August 2020, he signed a one-year contract with

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

club Sambenedettese.

International career

López represented his birth nation of Argentina at under-15, under-17 and under-20 levels, also taking part to the 2003 South American Youth Championship. He was eligible for both

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, as he holds both citizenships and has never represented any national team at senior level. In July 2010, he explicitly stated he might accept a call-up from the ''Azzurri''.

International goals

Argentina U17

Personal life

López was married to Argentine model Wanda Nara from 2008 to 2013. The couple have three sons, Valentino Gastón (born January 25, 2009 in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

), Constantino (born December 19, 2010 in

) and Benedicto (born February 20, 2012 in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

). Nara and López split after her affair with López's former Sampdoria teammate Mauro Icardi, now with Galatasaray, was exposed. López had previously been good friends with Icardi, inviting his countryman on vacations and opening his home to Icardi when he first moved to Italy. She and López began divorce proceedings in December 2013. Nara and Icardi subsequently married on 27 May 2014. During the April 2014 Serie A match between Sampdoria and Inter, López notably refused to shake Icardi's hand, leading the press to dub the game the "Wanda derby". Since February 14, 2014, he has been in a relationship with the Swedish model; Daniela Christiansson. On May 26, 2021, they announced that they had become engaged; days before, on Christiansson's thirtieth birthday; in San Benedetto del Tronto. On September 26, 2022, they announced that they were expecting a baby. On November 3, they revealed that it would be a girl and on March 31, 2023, Elle was born; at

St Mary's Hospital, London St Mary's Hospital is a teaching hospital in Paddington, in the City of Westminster, London, founded in 1845. Since the UK's first academic health science centre was created in 2008, it has been operated by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust ...

. López's change of luck from being a somewhat criticised forward at River Plate to being signed by Barcelona made him an

internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...

in his native Argentina. Satirical blogs were created lobbying for his inclusion in the Argentinian squad for the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

. After Argentina's elimination from the World Cup, without López in the 23-man squad, the nature of the

meme A meme (; ) is an idea, behavior, or style that Mimesis, spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying c ...

changed to a series of reasons explaining his lack of time play on Barcelona with hyperbolic claims which closely resembled Chuck Norris Facts. In interviews, López has stated that he is "okay" with this unexpected following. López and fashion industry businessman Paul Richardson led a consortium interested in buying English

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

club

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

. They pulled out of any prospective deal in December 2022, citing a lack of agreement on revised terms.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

River Plate * Torneo Clausura: 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04 Barcelona *

: 2005–06 *

: 2004–05, 2005–06 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España, also known as the Spanish Super Cup, is a super cup tournament in Football in Spain, Spanish football. Founded in 1982 Supercopa de España, 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2 ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

Vasco da Gama * Taça Guanabara:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Argentina U20 *

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

Individual * Coppa Italia top scorer: 2017–18 (4 goals)

References

External links

European Champions Cup/UEFA Champions League Winning Squads
*
Profile and statistics
at FootballDatabase
Guardian statistics
* at Fútbol XXI {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Maxi 1984 births Living people Argentine sportspeople of Italian descent Footballers from Buenos Aires Argentine men's footballers Men's association football forwards Club Atlético River Plate footballers FC Barcelona players RCD Mallorca players FC Moscow players Grêmio FBPA players Catania FC players AC Milan players UC Sampdoria players AC ChievoVerona players Torino FC players Udinese Calcio players CR Vasco da Gama players FC Crotone players US Sambenedettese players Argentine Primera División players La Liga players Russian Premier League players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Serie A players Serie B players UEFA Champions League–winning players Argentina men's youth international footballers Argentina men's under-20 international footballers Footballers at the 2003 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for Argentina Pan American Games gold medalists in football Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Russia Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Argentine emigrants to Italy Internet memes Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games 21st-century Argentine sportsmen