Walter Samuel

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Personal information
Walter Samuel
Full name	Walter Adrián Samuel
Date of birth	March 23, 1978 (age 28)
Place of birth	Laborde, Córdoba, Argentina
Nickname	Il Muro (The Wall)
Position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Internazionale
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1996-1997 1997-2000 2000-2004 2004-2005 2005-present	Newell's Old Boys Boca Juniors AS Roma Real Madrid Internazionale	37 (0) 75 (4) 122 (9) 30 (2) 33 (2)
National team**
1999-	Argentina	53 (4)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of ?. ** National team caps and goals correct as of 11 October, 2006.

Walter Adrián Samuel (born March 23, 1978 in Laborde, Cordoba Province) is an Argentine football (soccer) player, who currently plays for Internazionale of the Italian league.

Samuel started playing professionally in 1996 in Argentina for Newell's Old Boys, and a year later moved to Boca Juniors where he stayed until 2000. In that year AS Roma bought his contract for €19.8m. He gained notoriety as one of the best defense players of the Italian league, which attracted interest from Spanish team Real Madrid. Real paid 25,000,000 Euros (almost 30,000,000 U.S. dollars) for his transfer in 2004. But Samuel had a poor performance that season, and in August 2005 he returned to the Italian League, with a transfer to Internazionale for 16 million euros, signed 4 year contract.

The centre-back got the nickname of Il Muro (The Wall) while playing for AS Roma in Italy, due to his defensive skills.

He played 53 matches for the Argentine national team, scoring 4 goals. He played for his country in the 2002 World Cup.

[edit] Club history

Season	Club	Games	Goals
2005~2006	Internazionale	33	2
2004~2005	Real Madrid	30	2
2003~2004	AS Roma	30	1
2002~2003	AS Roma	31	2
2001~2002	AS Roma	30	5
2000~2001	AS Roma	31	1
1999~2000	Boca Juniors	29	2
1998~1999	Boca Juniors	34	2
1997~1998	Boca Juniors	12	0
1996~1997	Newell's Old Boys	37	0

[edit] Achievements

2006 Italian Super Cup (Internazionale)
2006 Coppa Italia (Internazionale)
2005 Italian Super Cup (Internazionale)
2001 Italian Super Cup (AS Roma)
2001 Italian Championship (AS Roma)
2000 Copa Libertadores (Boca Juniors)
1999 Argentine Clausura Championship (Boca Juniors)
1998 Argentine Apertura Championship (Boca Juniors)
1997 FIFA's Football World Youth Championship

	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