Mauro Matias Zarate

WELCOME ZARATE!!!

Mauro Zárate en la Lazio, un sueño hecho realidad!!
Te damos la bienvenida, llegas a un club que es una enorme familia, con hinchas fantásticos y no solo en Italia.
Laziofever es un foro que une a laziales de todo el mundo, de todas las edades y que hablan distintos idiomas pero que tienen una cosa en común: su amor por la Lazio.
Este es nuestro hogar común y los clásicos con la Rioma es el momento en que todos los que podemos viajamos a Roma desde todas partes del planeta para apoyar a nuestra Lazio. Esperamos poder gritar con tus goles.
Ya disfrutamos con los cinco que hiciste en el primer partido y agradecemos tu entrega en la cancha..
Eres corajudo Mauro ... sos grande.
Forza Lazio ... forza Zárate!!!


Mauro Zarate at Lazio, the dream became real!!
We give you the best welcome, you arrive to a big club that is an enormous family, with great fanas and not just in Italy.
Laziofever is a forum that meet laziali all over the world, all ages and that speah diferent languages but have one thing in common: the love for Lazio.
This is our home and the derbies with Rioma is the moment when all that can come to Rome, from all over the planet to support our Lazio. We hope we will shout your goals.
We aleready enjoy the 5 your scored in the first game and apreciate the way you play.
You are corageous Mauro ... you are great.
Forza Lazio ... forza Zarate!!!




Date, 10th July, 2008

Direct: The presentation of Zaratè

Like with Juan Pablo Carrizo, our friends and former home, Piazza della Libertà, were present at the official press conference for the presentation of Mauro Zaratè (scheduled today at Formello)

Claudio Lotito introduced the presentation of the Argentine attacker like this: "Today we present a player, who many have thought wouldn´t arrive. I have listened to hallucinatory things... I have smiled. He comes from a different environment and didn´t understand all this disinformation.

Zaratè is 21 years old, his history demonstrates that he has potential: He has been the youngest topscorer in Argentina, has a good working ability, he plays with great quality with both feet and he is very fast. He will complete a very important attack and we will make to see that his qualities will give an important contribution. I hope also with regards to goals, in order for the team to regain the role in the league that we compete for. He is young and needs to acclimatisize, but he has the right attitude. It appears to me that he has a lot of willingness to demonstrate his worth and he wants to affirm his nations value on ground of what his compatriots that preceded him have done.

Then began the questions for Zaratè

In England it didn´t go very well, with which expectations do you arrive in Italy?
"I believe the experience in England has been positive considering where I came from. Now I hope to do at Lazio the same as I did in Argentina"

Why have you chosen Lazio?
"Out of all the teams that have approached me, noone has done what Lazio did in order to get me here. I wanted to come to Italy and I am very happy to be here"

For a young forward it´s not easy to get used to everything. Have your brother told you something about that?
"Because it´s difficult I must get used to it soon, the first games are fundamental"

We have read that Boca wanted you to replace Palacio who would arrive at Lazio. When did you know about Lazio´s interest? Do you think you are similar to Palacio?
"We are similar and it´s true that Palacio was supposed to come to Lazio, but I am happy that it is me who arrived"

Describe your strong sides and your lacks. Where do you think you can improve?
"I am a player who likes to dribble and exploit my speed. I like to always go forward. I have to learn to pass the ball first time in certain situations"

Are you a box player or rather a second forward?
"That´s not a problem. I can play in various attacking roles"

Did you already meet Delio Rossi?
"No"

Do you know Rocchi and Pandev?
"Yes, I know them. I am sure we will play well together"

When you played in the Under 20 World Cup, you were among the best.
"I was not able to demonstrate my true value, because I took a blow in the beginning which almost kept me out all the tournament, but I recovered in time for the final and I suceeded by scoring the decisive goal"

Do you have an idea about Lazio´s objectives? Do you know the level of the Italian championship?
"The objective for any player is to fight for the Scudetto. The teams that are above us in the standings will also aim for this, we´ll see"

Why did you go to Qatar two years ago?
"This question I have been asked many times, now I´m happy because I have returned to a competitive championship and I hope to do well"

In Lazio there have been many Argentine champions. Is that a responsibility for you?
"I understand that I will always be confronted with them, but I hope to always fight for the most important objectives just like my predecessors have done"

Have you been compared to some of the Argentines of the past?
"It´s difficult to compare me to anyone. I am similar to Palacio, I know only little of those from the past"

What are you most curious about coming to Italy?
"Whatever player wants to play here. The championship is among the biggest in the World"

Crespo has been topscorer scoring 26 goals, do you have an objective?
"It´s very difficult, I will try to score as many goals as possible in order to carry Lazio as high up the table as possible"

What number jersey would you like?
"I always had number 9... I don´t know, we´ll see"

Have you ever player in a trident attack?
"I don´t have problems, with 3 attackers we´ll have more offensive possibilities because that system is played a lot on the sides too. Also with a central striker you create many chances. However in a trident attack, I prefer to play from the side"

You have played against Carrizo. What kind of goalkeeper is he?
"It was taken notice of that I have never scored against him when we played against eachother in Argentina. He is one of the best in the World"

Do you think you can become part of the National Team with Lazio?
"Yes, it´s one of my primary objectives, but to reach that, I have to do well at Lazio"

Would you have liked to take part in the Olympics?
"Yes very much..."
Lotito intervenes: "It´s better that he didn´t go, for Lazio and for Italy, jokes the President"

Do you have a rolemodel?
"Like every Argentine, I adore Maradona. But my rolemodel is Ronaldo. For attackers in my age, he is the point of reference"

Have you had time to see Rome. Have you met the fans? What did they say to you?
"The fans have demanded a goal against Roma. One said to me that he would have a tatoo made on his arm if I score a goal against Roma"

And will you score a goal in the derby?
"I will score two. Not one"

You have said that you have no fears, but is there nothing that worries you about this adventure?
"It´s a very tactical championship and you are marked very hard. In order to find the spaces, it´s a necessity to move quickly to find yourself one on one and take advantage of the speed and dribling.

Who is according to you the best attacker in Italy?
"Kaka..."
Once again Lotito intervenes: "he is going to be an attacker, not an observer. I seems to me that many of the questions are aiming towards this too much"

Are you here alone or with someone from your family?
"In some time my family will arrive, but not right away"

At the very end of the press conference, Mauro Zaratè has answered to a few other questions

What type of player are you? What are you characteristics?
"I like to move forward and I always do the best for the team"

Do you know Rocchi and Pandev? How will you play along with them?
"This we will have to see during the preperations"

How many goals do you promise?
"I don´t know, but for sure I will commit myself to the maximum in order to carry Lazio as high as possible"

Would you like to score against Roma?
"Of course..I wish"

Would you like to stay here further than the loan deal...for many years?
"Yes, I have come here to remain, I like it a lot"

Source : www.piazzadellaliberta.it

Translated by Sgt. Pepper, LF-Team

I am feeling there is LOADS of expectations on this guy...from Lotito of course, but also from us fans...I pray to God he is sytrong enough to handle all the pressure...5 goals is a good start

I read that he has changed his number from #9 to #10. Hopefully this means also that Baronio is leaving

Biancocelesti wrote:

I read that he has changed his number from #9 to #10. Hopefully this means also that Baronio is leaving

That's great. I think that the number 10 is much more suited to him. He's not a real out and out striker and because he does posses a lot of technical skills the number 10 is a much better choice.

Kozak or Mendicino can wear the 9 shirt.

thats grat because mean baronio is leaving!! and the number 9 is just for paoletto!!! xDDD

Put this young hero on the field , mr Rossi!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, do it Rossi and as soon as possible. There is already speculation (or just reporting of the real situation?) in the press that Zarate is pissed off that Makinwa has started in the last few games while Zarate hasn't. And no wonder - when a club pays millions just to loan you, you can hardly expect a nobody who hasn't socred a single goal in year and a half to bench you and not to play even when one of the starting duo of strikers is injured. So Rossi, we know you like Makinwa for some reason but enough is enough, how many chances is he going to get? Give Zarate (and Foggia) a fair chance, too.

I don't understand this!Even Ballotta is better than Makinwa as a striker.I don't have any problems with this guy,but Lazio is not the right place for him.

I don't have anything against him contrary I really se big potential in him but can't see what he is doing here if Rossi is refusing to let him have a chance . c'mon now let him play and show what his cappable of! Forza Zaraté

Ivan wrote:

Biancocelesti wrote:

I read that he has changed his number from #9 to #10. Hopefully this means also that Baronio is leaving

That's great. I think that the number 10 is much more suited to him. He's not a real out and out striker and because he does posses a lot of technical skills the number 10 is a much better choice.

Kozak or Mendicino can wear the 9 shirt.

From d begining I was hoping he will wear no 10.
The number really suited him! This is really a good news and I hope also a good luck for us!

LaziOttimo wrote:

I don't understand this!Even Ballotta is better than Makinwa as a striker.I don't have any problems with this guy,but Lazio is not the right place for him.

The problem lyes in the fact Delio doesn't consider Zarate to be a real striker but a trequartista (the same as Mauri, Foggia and Pandev). Rossi thinks that Zarate can't play up front as the lone striker (Rocchi, Makinwa).

My impression is that Zarate and the fans are a bit impatient. They guy joined Lazio only two months ago and he wants to be a starter in the team. On the other hand if Mauri has a couple of bad games I honestly do hope that Rossi will put Zarate in the game.

There's another week of mercato left and maybe Makinwa leaves or someone else comes and that will make for a somewhat different situation.

Pandev doesn't usually play as a trequartista and I doubt Rossi or anyone considers him more of a trequartista than fantasista (support striker). And Rocchi is not a classic striker either, so there is no need to replace him with only classic strikers (not that Makinwa is really one but that's whole different story). I am sure we can play with Pandev-Zarate in attack, with Foggia/Mauri/Meghni a bit behind. Or Zarate and Foggia on the wings with Pandev in the centre. Rossi needs to be more flexible and accept that the Makinwa he knew at Atalanta once upon a time won't be coming back (or if he does, he should do it when he gets a chance - but as a sub), it's time to move forward. This kind of reminds me of Rozehnal and Radu last season. the latter was immediately introduced into the team, felt appreciated and did very well. The former was mostly snubbed and we had to wait for the Euro to see with out own eyes that he is not a bad defender at all.

Of course Zarate wants to be a starter - who doesn't? He doesn't seem to buy the "real striker" excuse and I think he is right. A big part of the job of our forwards is to keep the ball surrounded by defenders, waiting for midfielders/striking partners to come running and receive a pass. Now I have seen little of Zarate but he obviously has way, way better first touch and dribbling than Makinwa could ever dream of. And if Rossi needs a "real striker" so desperately in his tactics - well, shouldn't we have bought one months ago?

Agree with u Matrim.. Honestly, I don't want us to buy anymore striker, I really put a big hope on Zarate, I don't want him to be benched and be rotten and lose confidence because of it.

When we got Zarate, I really thought that it's gonna be hard for Rossi to choose between Rocchi and Zarate and maybe Rocchi's place eventually will be taken by Zarate...Now when the Rocchi's injured, it should be a perfect time to try Zarate on his place..

I'm really wondering why Rossi so stubborn to still want to use 3 strikers upfront when we don't have much of them... maybe he already found a lethal formation

Have to agree with Matrim also. Makinwa seems like a lost cause. Yes, he may have the right characteristics, but you can't play one way to accomadate one particular player, most of all if that player is Makinwa. Just change the dynamics a little bit for the attack and put in Pandev and Zarate together. I'm really worried by this situation actually.

The annoying thing is that Zarate has been given so few minutes lately. Ok, Rossi wanted to see if Makinwa had anything coming, but he could have subbed out Pandev or any other player and given Zarate some more time on the pitch and with the team. I didnt expect him to be a regular straight away but when we realised Rocchi was out for some time Zarate shoould have been given a hint that he would be a starter by being a starter against Benevento. I think the offemsive line to go for should be Pandev - Zarate on top with Foggia slightly behind, but looking at the recent starting XI, or even the subs during games, neither Zarate or Foggia is set to be a part of the XI and that makes me very worried about Sunday...

Everyone counts Zarate nearly as he is Ronaldo, Messi etc....
In fact , what I have seen from him in a preseason , I can completely understand Rossi.He is just playing for safety.
Who is Zarate to have such a demands....,to be a starter.....

On the other hand Rossi didn't try him not once to play up front, I don't know for what reason , maybe he had too much hopes on Makinwa, who was poor once again.
I agree with Ivan that the fans and Zarate himself are too impatient. He was very nervous and a little bit selfish in his game so far.It is understandable, because he is new in Italy and he is eager to make an impact on the audience fast.
I see Zarate in the same way as Pandev, when he came in the squad for his first season. Very talented , but still unexperienced enough to be a completely reliable player.
However I wish him all the best, hopefully he will live up to everyones expectations.

Cash wrote:

The annoying thing is that Zarate has been given so few minutes lately. Ok, Rossi wanted to see if Makinwa had anything coming, but he could have subbed out Pandev or any other player and given Zarate some more time on the pitch and with the team. I didnt expect him to be a regular straight away but when we realised Rocchi was out for some time Zarate shoould have been given a hint that he would be a starter by being a starter against Benevento. I think the offemsive line to go for should be Pandev - Zarate on top with Foggia slightly behind, but looking at the recent starting XI, or even the subs during games, neither Zarate or Foggia is set to be a part of the XI and that makes me very worried about Sunday...

I think Delio is looking to go 4-3-2-1 with either a Pandev-Mauri combo (they should work well, they know each other) or a Foggia-Zarate pairing (two new boys, in a sense). Tommaso was first choice striker, Stephen back up. Now Tommaso's out and Makinwa is awful, he HAS to change the plan. So in his mind, he can go with Makinwa-Pandev-Mauri or try out Zarate-Pandev-Mauri. He will in all likelihood NOT try the Foggia-Pandev-Zarate combo I want, unless Pandev plays as the striker. I would rather Zarate played that role.

I cant agree with you usampa. I dont think anyone in here expects Zarate to be a star and a top performer straight away, what I think most of us feel is that he should at least be tested. So much hype about a player, yet he is not even given a fair chance in friendlies nor the Benevento game. We know what Pandev and Makinwa have to give, therefore Zarate should have played against Benevento. Pandev had a NT game the same week, we need him in top form on Sunday and nothing would have been more relevant than testing Zarate in a fairly easy, but still serious, game. He could have tried being a trequartista, fantasista or even prima punta.
I understand why Rossi is fielding Makinwa game after game, but the question is if it would not be better using him as a sub for a few games now? He has been given a lot of time during the last games, and it cannot be good for his confidence to never score. Therefore he should now be considered a sub, hopefully he will come in and with his pace he can out-run any tired defence and maybe even find the back of the net. At the same time Zarate could be given some time to adapt and, voila, we would have two potential forward players that we could count on. As it is right now we have an expensive prospect that we think is good but that hasnt been tested at all, and we have a striker in Makinwa who has not scored even against a serie C team. Hopefully Mister knows exactly what he is doing, because I honestly dont.

We start our season on Sunday without being able to count on anyone but Pandev as offensive force. Am I the only one being worried?!?

Cash wrote:

I cant agree with you usampa. I dont think anyone in here expects Zarate to be a star and a top performer straight away, what I think most of us feel is that he should at least be tested. So much hype about a player, yet he is not even given a fair chance in friendlies nor the Benevento game.

He had enough chances in our pre season campaign. Yes he wasn't in Benveneto game, but that is coach decision, and this is just one game....
Absolutely fair time he received in other friendlies as everyone else from the squad. What about Foggia, for example I wanted to see him a lot more in action , but there should be time for everybody to play.
I am sure Zarate will have his opportunities and everything depends on him. If he would be a starter, everything is up to him.
You can not deny, that there is a lot of euphoria and a lot of expectations about this kid. I think this brought influence and pressure on him, it is not healthy neither for him , neither for supporters.
So far, he didn't come near the big expectations.....It is what I saw, and you can disagree , of course...

I dont diasgree with the basics of what you are saying about the expectations, all I am trying to highlight is the fact that we have some uncertaintees when it comes to who will play and were and now we dont have any more chances to "test" our squad. Zarate should have been given all the time on the field that Makinwa has been given lately (in the more demanding friendlies) rather than Zarate being thrown in the second half. I think Pandev should have been the one resting a bit more since everybody knows he is a starter and the most experienced attacker we have in our team, specially since he played in Macedonias friendly three days before the Benevento game. There are lots of expectations on Zarate, no doubt, and to be able to succeed I think he most feel that Mister (and everyone supporting the club) has confidence in him and believes he is capable of becoming an important player. In the Benevento game he could have gained a little more of that confidence, but Rossi decides and his decisioin was to keep him on the bench. Maybe he is sure of what Zarate has to offer and he considered starting Makinwa´s engine more important instead!?
From Sunday it is "for real" and by now we should know how to form our troops. I also think Foggia should be considered more of a starter as I see him developing into an important piece in this years Lazio.

Time will tell us...

Would you like to score against Roma?
"Of course..I wish" // Zarate #10

I like that, and I think he will make every laziale proud.

FORZA LAZIO!!!

oh no.. he's injured

Belleri made him injured

ok so now its makinwa to start for sure :s

i hope zarate gets better for next match


Get well soon !

AbedElkader wrote:

ok so now its makinwa to start for sure :s

i hope zarate gets better for next match


Get well soon !

...or Crespo!

Get well soon Zarate.