Gonzalo Higuaín announces retirement from football

By
Roy Nemer
-
51

Gonzalo Higuaín has announced his retirement from football.

Higuaín has stated that he will be retiring from football at the end of the 2022 MLS season. Presently with Inter Miami, the 34 year old s scored 364 goals in his entire career.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Higuaín stated that this would be his final season. Here is what he had to say:

“My biggest motivation is helping my teammates I think the best gift that I can give to my teammates is to be able to retire as a champion with them because they’ve been there with me, they’ve seen me during my downs this year and they’ve helped me throughout this path. Not only players, but physios staff, my brother, my family and this is for all of them as well.

“I want to retire here as a champion, like I deserve to retire and it would be a very special dream. I know there’s two games left and we really hope that the fans come to the stadium and pack the stadium because it’s very important for us. And then once we get to playoffs, the story is different and my dream is to retire as a champion with all my teammates.

“Football has given me a lot. I leave having given all of me and more. Thank you to everyone. The time to say goodbye has arrived.”

The Argentine first started at River Plate where he played 15 games. He would join European giants Real Madrid, where he would win several trophies at the club and score 121 goals.

He would join Napoli and score 91 goals, with 36 of them coming in one season. At Napoli, he would win the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa Italiana at the club.

Juventus was his next club, scoring 66 goals and winning three league trophies. He wouldjoin AC Milan where he scored eight goals and after that Chelsea where he would score five goals.

Inter Miami is his present club. He has scored 27 goals in the MLS.

With the Argentina national team, he scored in his debut game. The historical 2-1 win vs. Peru, he would make his debut and score the first goal of the game.

For several years, he would form part of the fantastic four with Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria and Sergio Aguero. A scorer of many big goals, his biggest with the Argentina national team was at the 2014 World Cup vs. Belgium.

His goal against Belgium took Argentina to their first semi finals of a World Cup in 24 years. A finalist of three tournaments with the national team, Higuaín is often remembered for his miss in the World Cup final.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

51 Comments

  1. It does have no value if you score 100 goals but miss 1 crucial goal.Gotze scored that 1 crucial goal and Higuain missed that.At least I will not remember this guy who was the culprit of tears in my eyes not for once but thrice.

  2. This is a very sensitive subject..
    Allow me to say 2 things:

    1. First of all, Higuain was a great striker, one of the best of his generation, but he was nowhere near Batistuta by any means. Batistuta, Imbrahimovic and Ronaldo da lima were the best strikers or if you want 9s that have ever played the game. Then comes Kempes, Crespo, Van Basten, Henry, Sevchenko and others that i may forget who are among the best strikers of all time. Higuain was great, one of the best in his generation, but not one of the best of all times.
    Anuparno, sometimes your posts can be interesting (when you are not refering to our rivals as mighty, or wonder or whatever of course) but sometimes you can easily cause a brain explosion with your comments. As Sabellista said, please go and check Higuain’s goal against Bengium in 2014 wc quarterfinals again.

    2. I feel very sorry for Higuain. As much as it hurts the fact that we lost in 2014 wc final despite we were better than Germany, i also feel very sorry for him. I will try to explain.
    In my country, Greece, we have a saying: “We should all try to put our feet into other people boots”. This means it may worth a try to put ourselves in Higuain’s position.
    I remember him when scored the goal which was disallowed as offside, he was celebrating like crazy, with limitless passion like all of us, until we all realised that it was offside. Imagine how he felt when he missed the chance to score, or even worse, can you imagine the weight that he would carry up to the end of his career because of those misses? All the hate, the negativity and mainly the huge disappointment that he would carry on to live with?
    I am sorry, but as much as it hurts that we lost, i don’t feel like that any human being deserve all of this. We are talking about his misses. In my humble opinion, instead of accusing him, i am trying to see it in a different way: Sometimes, it just doesn’t meant to be. Sometimes, it feels like, that the ball doesn’t want to go in. I had this awful feeling in all three finals ans especially in the world cup final.
    I just want to remind, that it was in Brazilian soil, just after Brazil’s humiliation, whose fans with no trace of any dignity but disgracefully were chanting loudly for the team that humiliated them with 7 goals. The atmosphere couldn’t have been more hostile than that.
    I also want to remind, that it wasn’t only Higuain who missed a huge chance. Palacio screwed two huge chances to score as well, in front of Neuer. Both of them were inside the box and he blew them both! On the other hand, Germans had just 2 chances, one hit the post and the other was the goal.
    We created more chances than them, we were more dangerous than them, Higuain should have also awarded a penalty by Neuer’s challenge, but simply it wasn’t meant to be.

    I wish all the best to Pipita and i also wish this time is our time.

    • As for me, I can’t keep crying about the 2 costly misses in 2014 & 2016. 2015, was Levezzi’s fault Pipita just reached the outgoing ball because he was quick to react. Most strikers would have not even reached the ball. If the penalty against Neuer was given and Messi scored,we would have been champions. And none of you would be talking about the miss the misses. The fact of the football matter is that Argentina did not create 1 clear cut chance in that game. Aguero had half chance. Thanks to Fat Tata Martino, who preferred to possess the ball more than goals.

      • We didn’t create 1 clear cut chance in the copa final, you are refering to this game i suppose. Because in the wc final, the Germans were the ones that didn’t create a clear cut chance apart from the goal.
        Anyway, i used to keep crying about those defeats too and the wc final still hurts, but when we finally ended the trophyless draught i can now see things diferently ever since.

  3. Catalans dogs trying to distract Messi from World cup. Spreading fake rumors of his return when in fact Messi never forgive Pique and Laporte. Today i wish lautro show Barca Europa again.

  4. In his real madrid days i love to wear Gonzalo Higuaín shirt rather than messi..in my friend circle sometimes they used to call me higuain..
    But at the end he was the culprit for 3 final lost. But i wish him good luck for future.
    He was part of Argentine unlucky golden generation, specifically parts of Fantastic four….he was great number 9 with his club and country too but i think he just can not take pressure in high pressure games…what a unlucky generation they are! Maximum played big big clubs! Best wishes Gonzalo Higuaín

  7. In this forum many disrespecting our legends quite easily first locelso over riquelme now higuain over Batistuta.Comparison between Batistuta and higuain is stupid. In 2014 other than scoring a tap in against Belgium he did nothing. We reached the final because of 3 players yes all contributed bt major contribution was from 3 players
    1.messi
    2.mascherano
    3.romero
    And whole defense was rock and dimaria scored a vital goal from messi pass.
    I know Copa America is not as prestigious as world Cup but Batistuta won Copa where as higuain won nothing. For me Batistuta is the best striker we ever produced if he didn’t limit himself to florentina he could have won a balondor.

    • @Anuparno please go and watch Higuain’s goal vs Belgium again. That was no tap inIn 2014 vs Belgium. His shot was a difficult shot with the outside of his boot.(If you have played football, you’ll know how difficult it is to be accurate with that technique). Higuain might not be a legend because of the 2 misses in the final. 2015, if Levezzi’s intention was to square the ball, then it was a bad square pass) but for the NT, Higuain gaves more happy moments and contributed more than the Riquelme. Messi combined for more goals with Higuain than Riquelme.I have seen Higuain winning back possessions a few times which I can’t remember with Roman. Also, Riquelme would have not functioned well with Bielsa and Sabella high tempo and physical football styles because of his laziness and slowness.

      • I didn’t compare higuain with riquelme. Riquelme plays in a different position the post was about batistuta vs higuain and the Belgium goal was tapin or not its the only contribution he made in the whole 2014 wc campaign important but only. Not like he is the major reason we reach that final. Batistuta anyday was a better striker than higuain doesn’t matter he played wc final or not. Even if messi doesn’t win the wc you can’t put mario kempes ahead of him its a team game some teams even with brilliant players in it could not reach final it happens

      • Good, considering Montiel is out of form and Foyth is getting injured. We needed to find a player in an emergency case. May be that’s Maffeo. We don’t have options available.

    • Yes Scaloni is closely following Maffeo. It is very good news as he is only 25 years of age and is an attacking full back like Molina. Definitely an upgrade over Montiel to me. He is one of those who is good enough to play for the likes of Madrid, Barca, or Atletico.

      I read that his preference is Spanish national team but is also open to Argentina and Italian national team (father Italian, mother Argentine).

      I like what the coaching staff do. They show ambition. They try their best winning the dual nationality players like Senesi, Garnacho, Carboni brothers, Paz, and now Maffeo. Too bad Gio Reyna chose USA. Hope Takahashi chooses us next.

      This is what Takahasi says about playing for Argentina:

      The Catalan jewel with Argento-Japanese blood also contributed her reflection regarding her eligibility in three selected teams from different continents and did not close the door to any: “I would like to play with all three teams. Try and look around a bit. I already tried the Spanish one. I would like to do it with the others to choose where I feel most comfortable. Nor do I want to be always changing, but I would like to try and, where I think I am better, then stay. Since I am lucky to have triple nationality, I want to take advantage of it ”.

      • Dadir10 Thanks bro
        I never watch him play before I will starting watching him God willing. we desperately need new attacking righ back to challenge molina
        As montiel disappointed me I had high hopes when he moved to seville but sadly he has been below average not deserves to go world Cup ,
        Thanks to el_principe too to give us bit more details of him, just to add that the advantage we have over Italy is Argentina going world Cup hoping to be world champion and scaloni lives in Mallorca

  10. People here are giving me individual accolades in the team game. I never said higuain was better player than batistuta, we all know batistuta was just different level than higuain, however 1994WC elimination- round of 16, 1998WC- elimination quarter finals, 2002WC elimination- group stage whereas Argentina played final in 2014 and we almost won it. We give more credit to our 2014 NT than 1994/1998/2002 national teams and higuain was undisputed starter of that team. It’s not easy to win a world Cup, they got close in a brazilian soil where everyone was cheering against them.
    P. S. -plz maintain decorum, everyone has their own views.

  11. Despite the the important missed goals he’s caused, he was always one of my favorite strikers.. phenomenal player!

    I wish him the very best. He’s got nothing else to prove.

  12. Thank you Higuain. Wishing you good health. I’m sorry for the bad luck in your football career. I’m not criticizing you but I don’t want to repeat the impossible about you here.

  13. Yeah it was Higuain mistake but the reality is Neuer was in top form and when he stretched his hands the post looked like a Futsal one. I still remember as a superstitious 18 year boy that 2014 wc final, it’s all got worsen when the time goes by. First time I woke up late for an Argentina match in that tournament and sadly it was in the final. It was 3 am or something. The connection was not proper enough to watch for the first time. And now I regret about those superstitions. But I still believe those superstitions made Argentina qualified upto the final😂. Like sitting in the same chair. Haha. It was interesting and increased the emotion that no one experienced and also it gave depression for upto 1-2 weeks without even reading any football news.

  14. Arg. fans can’t forget about his famous 3 great misses that leads and costs major trophies for Arg..Although fact is that he is a decent striker with unfortunate NT history.Best luck for future life..

  15. What Higuain has done remains a history, he has been an important part of Arg N/T story. Like or dislike he has delivered at his best, yes he missed the golden chance to create a legacy. Thanks, El Pipita. Best of luck in your new role.

  16. Higuain….. you don’t deserve to retire a champion. U are a choker… yes even for clubs he choked in important games. I’ll never forget u had that goal at your disposal in 2014 and u screwed us up.. I don’t care much about the copa misses. But after Germany embarrassment in 2010 that was our revenge..

  18. A strange career for such a talented player who played consistently well for many years.

    Not loved by River cause he didn’t return.
    Overshadowed in Real Madrid by Ronaldo and Benzema.
    Not even loved by Napoli where he had incredible seasons cause he left to the hated Juve.
    Again overshadowed by Ronaldo in Juve and forgotten.
    Hated by Argentina.

  20. One missed chance or two BUT three, that hurt a lot…..things would have so much better if he only put one away…btw, the German Schmuck did foul him inside the box and no call

  22. I think there is an unfair hate for higuain…. The reality is he played those final because of merit. At least he did more than those so called world class strikers batistuta, crespo, tevez, aguero for NT. He deserves some respect… He was the first choice of almost every coach of our NT. For me he is always will be above than i mentioned above, yes he missed some crucial chances but he still did pretty well.

    • How did he do more than Batistuta and Crespo?
      You’re right about Tevez & Aguero. They had the bad luck to be incompatible with Messi but both were better players than Higuain.

      Bati scored 10 goals in 12 WC matches.
      Crespo 4 in 8 but he only started in 4 of those.
      Higuain 5 in 14. He was not a big match player.

      • Copa America
        Bati 13 goals in 16 apps, including 2 in the final win.
        Crespo 2 goals in 3 matches.
        Higuain 7 goals in 13 apps, including 2 bad misses and a pk miss.

        Our striker progression has been: Batistuata>Crespo>Higuain>Lautaro
        Continually worse although Lautaro is better in big matches than Higuain

    • I never make it personal but if you think Higuain is in the same level of Batistuta you need to have your head examined or stop taking recreational drugs man. That is the dumbest thing I have heard about football in about a decade. My God.

      • Shubham are you ok mate? You probably do not know Batistuta. If Messi and Batistuta played in the same time, Messi would already have a WC championship. Unfortunately Batistuta could not play with Maradona completely as Diego was expelled from the WC 94. The 2 games they played together we looked unstoppable beating Greece 4-0 (Bati Hattric and a Diego Golazo) and Nigeria 2-1. Without Maradona Bati won Copa America and Fifa Cofederation Cup. He also had 2 WC hattricks. Bati is a legend, Higuain is not, but he was a decent forward. Batigol was a Legendary Striker. There is a statue made of him in Florence, Italy.

        • Probably drunk.

          Batistuta won 2 Copa, scored 3 goals across 2 finals. Was top scorer in Copa America twice (1991 & 1995). Higuain only has 5 goals at WC while playing as #9, Batigol has 10 goals in just 12 games.

          Bati also scores and won the Confederation cup, and his winning goal against Australia in play off allowed Argentina to qualified for WC 1994.

          Another fact, Batistuta scored against Brazil in two Copa America knockout stage (1991 & 1995).

    • Not surprised by your comments. Based on some other comments you have made. Really Batistuta compared to Pipita? You probably haven’t watched football.

      Do you even know who scored the winning goal last time we won copa, before 2021?

      If you are in your teens or early 20s, I will forgive your ignorance. But you surely don’t understand the game.

    • Batistuta won a COPA, Higuain cost us 2 Copa and one world cup. However he didn’t do it deliberately. He wasn’t simply strong mentally for high pressure matches unfortunately.

  23. He was an incredible striker over the course of his career. But the couple of chances he HAD to score he didn’t. Actually not even a couple. Several. All served on a tray. Thank you sincerely for the goal against Belgium, but that’s as far as I can force myself to be positive. I feel sorry to admit it but I can’t look at him or hear his name without immediately thinking about the finals. Anyways I don’t think he should be haunted forever because it really is tough and sad to be hated by so many people. Some people take it way too far. I wish him good mental and physical health away from the spotlight and a peaceful retirement. But it’s hard to forgive him.

  24. The great strikers of the past eras, Kempes, Bati, Crespo would have buried at least some of the chances he had. Enjoy the retirement with your millions and hope that Argentina can lift the trophy this fall.

  25. He caused us 1 world cup and 2 Copa america.
    i wish him be good and healthy but i will not miss or remember him.

    thanks for nothing.

Comments are closed.