Ludovic Giuly

Ludovic Giuly (born July 10, 1976 in Lyon) is a France footballer who plays as a Winger (football) for A.S. Roma.

After starting his career with Olympique Lyonnais in 1994, Giuly was signed by AS Monaco FC in January 1998. Then, FC Barcelona paid €7 million to Monaco in order to signed him on June 28, 2004 a contract until June 2008. Giuly has been capped for France national football team, but was removed from his country's 2004 European Football Championship squad due to a heart-breaking leg injury he sustained in the 2004 Champions League Final.

Honours earned by Giuly include helping France to victory in the 2003 Confederations Cup and winning the French Ligue 1 with AS Monaco FC in the 1999-00 season. He also captained AS Monaco FC on an amazing run to the Champions League final where they lost to FC Porto in the 2003-04 season. More recently he helped his club, FC Barcelona, win La Liga in the 2004-05 season. He was the second top scorer for the club scoring 11 goals. Although his season was disrupted by several muscle injuries, Giuly was able to fulfill his promise to reach double digits in goals in his first year at his new club. In 2005-06 he helped FC Barcelona win the Spanish title again, as well as capture the second Champions League trophy for the Catalan club. Giuly propelled Barca into the Champions League Final by scoring the only goal in their semi-final against A.C. Milan. Amazingly, he was not selected for the French 2006 FIFA World Cup squad, as young Marseille playmaker Franck Ribéry was selected over Giuly. However, with Djibril Cissé having broken his leg in a World Cup warm-up match against China, Giuly could have been called up, but he asserted after the initial France squad was announced that he would go on holiday to Dubai and Kish, Iran instead of waiting idly in the stand-by squad, and Sidney Govou was called up instead. Even after the World Cup, Raymond Domenech said "there is no need for Giuly to keep on playing for France, there are younger and better alternatives for him". French and FC Barcelona fans were extremely annoyed about this, but Giuly told his fans to respect the manager's decisions. However, he also added that if he got a chance to play for his country again, he would take it.

During his career Giuly has been employed as a wide midfielder and as a "second striker" playing behind and to the side of an out-and-out forward, such as Fernando Morientes at Monaco. At Barcelona, Giuly played on the right side of a three man forward line which included Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto'o.

On 17th July 2007 he signed with AS Roma for a fee of 1,8M€ per year to the player and 3,2M€ to his former club.

Honours

- Ligue_1: 2000 (AS Monaco)
- La_Liga: 2005, 2006 (FC Barcelona)
- Coupe_de_la_Ligue: 2003 (AS Monaco)
- Spanish_Super_Cup: 2006 (FC Barcelona)
- Italian_Super_Cup: 2007 (AS Roma)
- UEFA_Champions_League: 2006 (FC Barcelona)
- Confederations_Cup: 2003 (France national football team)

Trivia

- He earned himself the nicknames Ludo, Petit Prince de Monaco, Magic Imp, The Atomic Goblin, El Raton and Speedy Giuly.
- During the 2005/06 season, his teammates at Barcelona decided that Giuly looked like Freddie Mercury and started calling the Frenchman by the name of the former Queen (band) singer. According to some, he also resembles French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
- Before the 2006 Champions League Final, Giuly pledged to come to the next preseason with a moustache (in honor of Mercury) if Barça won.
- A cult hero in his native France, Ludovic Giuly has spawned many fan clubs and dedicated fans.