Álvaro Arbeloa

Álvaro Arbeloa Coca (born 17 January 1983) is a Spanish World Cup winning football player currently playing for Real Madrid and the Spanish national team. He is predominantly a right back, although he can play as a central defender. During his return to Real Madrid, he has started most of the games as a left back.

Arbeloa trained with Real Madrid as a youth player, and worked his way up to the first team, making his debut in the 2004–05 season. However, he mostly played for the Real Madrid B team. He moved to Deportivo La Coruña to play first team football in La Liga in 2006, but moved to Liverpool after half a season. He cemented his place in the Liverpool first team and played in the 2007 UEFA Champions League Final, although the team lost to Milan. Arbeloa made 93 appearances in his three seasons at the club. He returned to Madrid in 2009 for a fee of €1 million.

Internationally, he made his senior debut in 2008 and has played for Spain at UEFA Euro 2008 and the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, winning the former tournament. Also part of the winning FIFA 2010 World Cup squad. His daughter, Alba, was born 26 April 2010.

Real Madrid
After signing as a teenager for Real Madrid. Arbeloa began playing with the youth team. He later graduated to the reserve team, and played with the first team twice.

Deportivo La Coruña
On 24 July 2006, Arbeloa signed for Deportivo La Coruña, following in the footsteps of teammate Roberto Soldado. Arbeloa said: "This is a strange situation for me; I have been playing for Real Madrid for five years, since I was 16-years-old. Real was nothing but good to me, but it's time for me to go. Madrid has the best players in the world and although that is great for the club, unfortunately that's not so great for cantera players; only a few of us can find their place in the first team, and even those who do find their place in the first team like Álvaro Mejía and Paco Pavón are only third or fourth pick, and that is why I want to leave the club to a club where I can get some regular playing time, in La Liga of course. Deportivo La Coruña is one of the best clubs in Spain and with Joaquín Caparrós as head coach I will certainly get more experience, and get better, what is most important is that he will have confidence in me. I have enjoyed my time at Real, and I thank everybody who helped me. I'm leaving Real Madrid to play more football, no other reason."

Liverpool
On 31 January 2007, Arbeloa signed for English Premier League club Liverpool, for a fee of around €4 million, with Real Madrid receiving 50% of the fee. He made his Premiership debut on 10 February against Newcastle United, coming as a substitute for Jermaine Pennant. He made his full debut against Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League at the Nou Camp, where he was employed as a left-back. This was done by coach Rafael Benítez for tactical reasons, as his stronger right foot could stop Lionel Messi, because Messi had a tendency to cut his runs towards the center of the field. His part in keeping Messi quiet helped Liverpool to a 2–1 win over the defending champions. He scored his first goal for Liverpool against Reading on 7 April 2007. He helped Liverpool to the 2007 UEFA Champions League Final, and came on as a susbtitute as they went down 2–1 to Milan.

Arbeloa's squad number changed from 2 to 17 as a personal preference for the 2007–08 season. Continuing his good form from the latter stages of the 2007–08 season, Arbeloa cemented a first team place in the Liverpool team following good performances during Liverpool's victories over fierce rivals Manchester United and Chelsea.

On 18 May 2009, in a match against West Bromwich Albion, Arbeloa was involved in an on-field clash with Liverpool teammate Jamie Carragher after continuous blips from Arbeloa and the two had to be separated by Xabi Alonso, Pepe Reina, Daniel Agger, and Emiliano Insúa. Carragher later explained that he clashed with Arbeloa as a moment of poor defending from the latter threatened the clean sheet. The Liverpool vice-captain explained, "we want to keep a clean sheet and we want Pepe to have a chance of the Golden Glove for the fourth season running." Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez refused to comment about the incident.

Return to Real Madrid
On 29 July 2009, it was announced that Real Madrid and Liverpool had reached an agreement on the transfer of Arbeloa to the Spanish club. A fee of €1 million (by exchange the same amount in Pound Sterling Liverpool paid for the player in January 2007) had been agreed between the clubs. Arbeloa signed a five-year contract after completing the deal. After the departure of fellow full backs Míchel Salgado and Miguel Torres, Arbeloa has been handed the number 2 jersey. At Real Madrid Arbleoa has played mainly at the left back position due to Los Blancos lack of experienced and dependable options in that area of the field. Arbeloa scored his first Real Madrid goal on 13 February 2010 in a 3–0 away win against Xerez. His second goal in the white jersey came in El Derbi madrileno on 28 March, scoring a right-foot goal past David de Gea in the 3–2 win over Atletico Madrid.

International career
On 1 February 2008, he was called up to the full Spanish national team squad for the first time, to play France in a friendly match in Malaga on 6 February, although he was forced to pull out because of injury. He made his international debut on 26 March against Italy. He was selected for the Spain squad for UEFA Euro 2008, starting the first round match against Greece.

Arbeloa continued in the national team through to the 2009 Confederations Cup, where he helped Spain to the semi-finals. He won the world cup with Spain in 2010 and made one substitute appearance in the tournament.

Club
Liverpool
 * Runner-up
 * UEFA Champions League: 2006–07

Country
Spain
 * FIFA World Cup: 2010
 * UEFA European Championship: 2008

Career statistics
Updated 8 May 2010