Diego Milito

Diego Alberto Milito (born 12 June 1979) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a striker.

He was nicknamed Il Principe ("The Prince" in Italian) because of his physical resemblance with former Uruguayan footballer Enzo Francescoli, who had the same nickname.

A prolific and consistent centre-forward, Milito averaged a goal every two appearances over the course of his professional career.

Milito began his club career in Argentina with Racing Club in 1999, and later moved to Italian side Genoa in 2003.

Milito started playing at Argentine first division team Racing Club in 1999, where he won the 2001 Apertura tournament.

During this time, his younger brother Gabriel played for Racing's main rival, Independiente, as a defender.

The two clubs would contest the Avellaneda derby with the two brothers lining up against each other.

The people of Racing were in awe of the player.

His great scoring ability and talent within the area made him a complete striker, which made his future outside the club inevitable with a transfer to Europe.

The Italian club Genoa, would be the future destination of the forward.

At the beginning of 2004, Milito moved to Italian second division club Genoa for £8 million.

After two very successful seasons, where he scored 33 goals in 59 matches in Italy, Genoa were relegated down to Serie C1 as a punishment for an alleged match-fixing case in the final match of the 2004–05 season against Venezia.

Due to this, Milito was forced to leave Genoa and would ultimately join his brother Gabriel at Real Zaragoza in the Spanish La Liga.

In 2005, he was acquired by Spanish club Real Zaragoza, where he remained for three seasons, before returning to Genoa in 2008.

Milito scored four goals in the first semi-final of the 2006 Copa del Rey to beat Real Madrid 6–1.

He finished the season as Zaragoza's top scorer with 16 goals in the first division.

Milito was one of the top scorers in the 2006–07 La Liga season.

He scored 23 goals, two fewer than league top goalscorer Ruud van Nistelrooy and three behind European Golden Boot winner Francesco Totti.

In November 2006, it was reported Zaragoza decided to buy him outright after his two-year loan was set to expire.

At international level, Milito earned 25 caps for Argentina, scoring 4 goals, and represented his country in two Copa América tournaments, winning a runners-up medal in 2007, and at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Milito became the club captain at Zaragoza, taking over this role from brother Gabriel, who departed for Barcelona in 2007.

His contract was extended in August 2007 with a buy-out clause of €100 million.

His goals helped Zaragoza to a sixth-place finish in the league.

As of January 2008, Milito averaged higher than a goal every two games for Zaragoza, a statistic he also achieved with Genoa.

In total, he managed 61 goals during his three seasons with Zaragoza.

On 1 September 2008, just a few minutes before the transfer window closure time, Genoa completed the transfer of Milito from Zaragoza after the Spanish team were relegated to the Segunda División.

His agent, Fernando Hidalgo, confirmed Milito chose explicitly to return to Genoa despite having received more lucrative offers from other major European clubs.

He made his Serie A debut on 14 September against Milan.

Genoa won the game 2–0 with Milito assisting the first goal and scoring the second.

On 9 November, Milito scored his first hat-trick for Genoa in the 4–0 victory against Reggina.

He finished the season with 24 goals in 31 league appearances, placing him second behind Zlatan Ibrahimović in the Capocannonieri scoring title.

On 20 May 2009, La Gazzetta dello Sport confirmed that Diego Milito was transferred to Inter Milan alongside teammate Thiago Motta.

The transfer fees were €28 million and €10 million respectively but Genoa also received Robert Acquafresca, Leonardo Bonucci, Riccardo Meggiorini, Francesco Bolzoni, Ivan Fatić and cash in exchange.

The striker adapted to his new surroundings quickly and had an excellent start to his Inter career, scoring two goals in a 2–0 World Football Challenge win over city rivals Milan.

Subsequently, on 29 August, in his first ever Derby della Madonnina against Milan in Serie A, Milito assisted two goals and scored a penalty, his first league goal of the season, as Inter won 4–0.

Later, on 13 September, he scored his second league goal in a 2–0 home win against Parma.

In the next league match against Cagliari, he scored both goals for Inter in a 2–1 away win.

These two goals placed him at the top of the all-time Serie A scoring charts for best strike rate, with 28 goals in 35 games, giving him an average of 0.8 goals per game.

His prolific goalscoring exploits during his second spell with Genoa earned him a move to defending Serie A champions Inter Milan, where he was pivotal in the club's 2010 treble-winning season, scoring 30 goals in all competitions, including two goals in the 2010 UEFA Champions League Final.

He returned to Racing Club in 2014, where he retired in 2016.