Lazio Player

Mauro Matías Zárate (born March 18, 1987 in Haedo, Morón Partido, Buenos Aires Province) is an Argentine professional footballer, currently playing for S.S. Lazio in the Italian Serie A on loan from Al-Sadd of Qatar.

Mauro is the brother of fellow footballers Rolando (Barcelona (Ecuador)) and Ariel (All Boys), as well as former international Sergio Zárate

Playing career

Zárate made his full debut on April 21, 2004 against Arsenal de Sarandí. He shared the top-scorer award for the Apertura 2006 with Rodrigo Palacio (Boca Juniors) with 12 goals each.

On June 18, 2007, Zárate signed a two-year deal with Al-Sadd in the Qatari League in a deal thought to be worth around $20M.

In 2007 Zárate helped the Argentina Under-20 team to win the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup, scoring the winning goal in the final against the Czech Republic.

On January 21, 2008, he joined Premier League side Birmingham City on loan until the end of the 2007–08 season, with a view to a permanent deal. He made his debut for the club in the 2–0 defeat at Sunderland on January 29, 2008, and made his first start in March against Portsmouth. He scored his first goal for the club against Reading on March 22, 2008, followed by a brace in their next match against Manchester City and an equalising free kick against Everton. Zárate left the club at the end of his loan spell, their relegation from the Premier League meaning that no extension to the loan would be considered

Lazio

The player completed a move to S.S. Lazio on July 5, 2008. He joined initially on loan, with Lazio having an option to make the deal permanent, and following a successful medical was presented to the media a few days later.

Zárate immediately endeared himself to the Lazio faithful, scoring a brace in his Serie A debut against Cagliari and dedicating the second to the Lazio supporters. Zarate also scored on his home debut, with a left footed strike from outside the penalty area.

External links

• (Spanish) Argentine Primera statistics at Futbol XXI
• Mauro Zárate career stats at Soccerbase