Diego Milito

Diego Alberto Milito (born 12 June 1979 in Bernal, Argentina, Buenos Aires Province) is an Argentina football (soccer) who currently plays as a striker for Italy Serie A club F.C. Internazionale Milano. Diego Milito also plays for the Argentina national football team.

Diego has a younger brother named Gabriel Milito who is also a footballer, currently playing for Spanish club FC Barcelona.

Club career

Diego Milito started playing at Primera División Argentina Racing Club de Avellaneda in 1999, where Diego Milito won the 2001 Apertura tournament. During this time, Diego Milito younger brother Gabriel Milito played for Racing's main rival, Club Atlético Independiente.

At the beginning of 2004, Milito moved to Serie B Genoa C.F.C.. After two very successful seasons, where Diego Milito 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. Due to this, Milito was forced to leave Genoa and Diego Milito joined Diego Milito brother Gabriel at Real Zaragoza. Diego again showed Diego Milito potential in Spain, scoring four goals in the first semi-final of the 2006 Copa del Rey to beat Real Madrid C.F. 6-1. Diego Milito finished the season as Real Zaragoza's top scorer with 16 goals in the La Liga.

Milito was the club captain at Real Zaragoza, taking over this role from brother Gabriel, who departed for FC Barcelona in 2007. Milito was one of the top scorers in the La Liga 2006-2007 season. Diego Milito scored 23 goals, two less than the top goalscorer Ruud van Nistelrooy and three behind European Golden Shoe winner Francesco Totti. Diego Milito goals helped Zaragoza to a sixth place finish in the league. As of January 2008, Diego was averaging higher than a goal every two games for Real Zaragoza, a statistic Diego Milito also achieved with Genoa.

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 Segunda División. Diego Milito agent Fernando Hidalgo confirmed Milito chose explicitly to return to Genoa despite having received more lucrative offers from other major European clubs. Diego Milito made Diego Milito debut on 14 September against A.C. Milan. Genoa won this game 2-0 with Milito assisting the first goal and scoring the second. On 9 November, Milito scored Diego Milito first hat-trick for Genoa in the 4-0 victory against Reggina Calcio. Diego Milito finished the season with 24 goals in 31 Serie A 2008-09 appearances, placing Diego Milito second behind Zlatan Ibrahimović in the Capocannonieri scoring title. On May 20, 2009, La Gazzetta dello Sport confirmed that Milito and Diego Milito teammate, Thiago Motta were transferred to Internazionale for an undisclosed sum.

International career

Milito scored a brace on Diego Milito international debut against Uruguay national football team in 2002, but appeared only intermittently during the following years, and was omitted from the 2006 FIFA World Cup squad. Diego Milito was given the nod for first team action against Brazil national football team in September 2006 where Diego Milito scored with a diving header, and played for Argentina in the Copa América 2007 tournament.