Arnaldo Ariel Ortega (born 4 March 1974) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. His nickname is "El Burrito" (The Little Donkey), thus he is called Burrito Ortega.

Ariel Ortega first played for River Plate on 14 December 1991 and until 1996 and returned in 2000–02, 2006–08 and 2009–11. Ortega also played for Spanish club Valencia, Turkish club Fenerbahçe and Italian clubs Parma and Sampdoria. A former Argentina international, Ortega played for his country in the 1994, 1998, and 2002 World Cups. He was also a member of the team that won the silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Club career

Beginnings in Argentina

Ortega began his professional football career in 1991 with Argentine club River Plate. With the club, he won the Primera División in 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1996, as well as the Copa Libertadores in 1996. He lost out on the 1996 Intercontinental Cup final to Juventus.

Europe

Ortega left Argentina in 1996. He played 1+1⁄2 seasons for Valencia before being signed by Sampdoria in 1998 for 23 billion Italian lire (£8 million), replacing Juan Sebastián Verón. After the club was relegated to Serie B, Ortega joined Parma, rejoining national and former club teammate Hernán Crespo, replacing Verón again who left for Lazio. Parma paid Sampdoria 28 billion lire (£9.4 million). However, in the following season he returned to Argentina with River Plate, to compensate the unpaid 12 billion lire transfer fees of Crespo (the 10% of the transfer fees to Lazio). Claudio Husaín also joined the club. River Plate acquired 50% registration rights of Ortega for a reported 5.5 million dollars. While, in Parma annual filing to Italian government, Ortega was sold for eleven billion lire.

Fenerbahçe and ban

In May 2002, Fenerbahçe signed Ortega from River Plate for a fee of US$7,500,000 (US$2,500,000 of which was paid to Parma). Fenerbahçe also bought his image rights for a further US$1,500,000. Ortega signed a 4-year contract. He was one of the key players of the team, scoring 5 goals in 14 matches.

Fenerbahçe were forced to file a complaint to FIFA in April 2003 as Ortega had failed to return from international duty since 12 February 2003. In June 2003 the FIFA Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC) ordered Ortega to pay Fenerbahçe USD 11,000,000 as compensation for breach of an employment contract and suspended him until 30 December 2003. Ortega appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in July 2003 but the case was dismissed on 5 November. Ortega served a 4-month suspension from that day. After the ban he was without a club.

Return to Argentina

In 2004, when he could finally come back to football, he joined Newell's Old Boys after he was called by his friend Américo Gallego, who at the time was Newell's' coach. Newell paid an unknown sum to Fenerbahçe as part compensation for what Ortega owed the club. They won the Apertura 2004.

In June 2006, he went back to his first team River Plate, where he played for about half of the Apertura 2006, before he stopped to begin treatment for alcoholism. In January 2007, during River's pre-season in Mar del Plata, and one day after playing an excellent game in which he scored, he surprised everyone with another alcoholic episode, after which River Plate's doctors suggested to the coach that Ortega should go back to Buenos Aires to resume treatment for his problem.

Coach Daniel Passarella later brought Ortega back, stating he was ready for a comeback. On 15 March 2007, in a Copa Libertadores 2007 match against LDU Quito, Ortega formed part of River's bench but was not given a chance to play. However, three days later, in a league match versus Quilmes, he came on during the second half to help break the opposing team's defense in a tight 0–0 up to that point. Ortega scored a controversial goal with his hand, in the 93rd minute, to give River the victory and himself a great comeback.

Upon the arrival of Diego Simeone as head coach of River, Ortega allegedly lost some "protections" he was rumoured to have and, despite being an important part of the team that achieved the Clausura 2008 title, Simeone left him out of the squad for the upcoming season, reasoning his decision on Ortega having several times not come to train as well as some episodes of alcoholism. After some controversy and rumours in the winter window of Argentine market, he was loaned to Nacional B side Independiente Rivadavia, signing a one-year contract where a twice a week trip to a Chilean Special Treatment Center for alcoholics is one of the clauses. On 1 May 2009 he was let go by Independiente officials. The club decided to terminate his contract in advance. Ortega was on loan from River Plate. On his first game back in River Plate, 25 July 2009, he scored an outstanding chip shot goal to give River a 1–0 victory over Everton of England in Edmonton, Canada during the pre-season. In the 2009 Apertura, Ortega scored a wonder lobbed goal against Chacarita Juniors to give River Plate a 4–3 victory. Later in the tournament, he scored a last minute equalizer against Estudiantes.

In the 2010 Clausura, Ortega started River's first two matches, but suffered another alcoholic relapse and missed the next ten games before returning against Newell's Old Boys in the 13th round of matches.

In 2011, he was loaned to Defensores de Belgrano.

On 8 April 2012, Fox Sports Argentina journalist Juan José Buscalia, confirmed that Ortega would join Chilean Primera División club Unión San Felipe in June 2012.

International career

Ortega was included in the squad for the 1994 World Cup. His debut in the starting eleven occurred on 3 July 1994 when Argentina was knocked out of the competition by Romania. He also reached the final of the 1995 King Fahd Cup with Argentina, and he won a Silver Olympic medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

Ortega was handed the number 10 shirt for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, where he was expected to carry the mantle of the team's playmaker, and it was his first World Cup as an established star. Despite impressing in the early rounds to be considered a favorite as player of the tournament, Ortega was most notable for his sending-off in the quarter-finals against the Netherlands. Ortega received a second yellow card for head-butting Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar when van der Sar confronted him after a dive in the penalty area, for which Ortega was just getting his first yellow card. Shortly after Ortega's sending-off, Dennis Bergkamp scored the winning goal to make it 2–1, eliminating Argentina.

Ortega was also a member of the squad for the 2002 World Cup. Ortega missed a penalty in the last match against Sweden, which was then followed up and converted into the back of the net by Hernan Crespo, nonetheless the result meant that Argentina was knocked out in the first round.

On 24 September 2009, he was recalled to the Argentina national first-team squad, but had to miss the friendly match against Ghana due to an injury he picked up during the weekend in the Argentine Domestic League.

In April 2010, 17 years after his Argentina debut, Ortega received a call-up again, this time against Haiti. All the players in Diego Maradona's squad were from the Primera División Argentina. He played the match as starting XI on 5 May.

Style of play

A highly creative player with excellent technical ability, Ortega was well known for his pace, mobility, dribbling, and skills from dead ball situations, as well as his ball trickery, clever body feints, and lobbed shots. At his prime he was regarded as one of the best dribblers in the world; primarily deployed as an attacking midfielder, Ortega was an effective playmaker due to his vision and passing ability, which earned him comparisons with Maradona as a youth. Along with his skills, Ortega was infamously temperamental, and he was criticised throughout his career for not living up to his potential.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
ClubSeasonLeagueNational cupContinentalOtherTotal
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
River Plate1991–92Primera División141–––141
1992–93275–71–346
1993–94294–4073408
1994–95257–81–338
1995–96237–223–4510
1996–97166–30–196
Total13430—4457318539
Valencia1996–97La Liga127–––127
1997–9820230––232
Total32930––359
Sampdoria1998–99Serie A27841––319
Parma1999–2000183107010273
River Plate2000–01Primera División279–123–3912
2001–022914–102–3916
Total5623—225–7828
Fenerbahçe2002–03Süper Lig145–60–205
Newell's Old Boys2004–05Primera División245—––245
2005–06296—70–366
Total5311—70–6011
River Plate2006–07Primera División184—30–214
2007–08264—92–356
Independiente Rivadavia (loan)2008–09Primera B Nacional254—––254
River Plate2009–10Primera División223—20–243
2010–11161—–—161
Total8212—142–9614
All Boys (loan)2010–11Primera División120—––120
Def. Belgrano (loan)2011–12Primera B Metropolitana27410––284
Career total480109911001283597126

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Argentina199310
1994101
1995162
199673
199791
1998135
199982
2000113
200170
200240
200310
200400
200500
200600
200700
200800
200900
201010
Total8817

Scores and results list Argentina's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ortega goal.

List of international goals scored by Ariel Ortega
No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
127 December 1994Buenos Aires, ArgentinaYugoslavia1–01–0Friendly
28 January 1995Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaJapan2–05–11995 King Fahd Cup
320 September 1995Madrid, SpainSpain1–21–2Friendly
424 April 1996Buenos Aires, ArgentinaBolivia1–03–11998 FIFA World Cup qualification
52–0
69 October 1996San Cristóbal, VenezuelaVenezuela1–15–21998 FIFA World Cup qualification
730 April 1997Buenos Aires, ArgentinaEcuador1–02–11998 FIFA World Cup qualification
822 April 1998Dublin, IrelandRepublic of Ireland2–02–0Friendly
914 May 1998La Plata, ArgentinaBosnia and Herzegovina4–05–0Friendly
1025 May 1998Buenos Aires, ArgentinaSouth Africa2–02–0Friendly
1121 June 1998Paris, FranceJamaica1–05–01998 FIFA World Cup
122–0
137 September 1999Porto Alegre, BrazilBrazil2–42–4Friendly
1413 October 1999La Plata, ArgentinaColombia2–12–1Friendly
1526 April 2000Maracaibo, VenezuelaVenezuela2–04–02002 FIFA World Cup qualification
163–0
1715 November 2000Santiago, ChileChile1–02–02002 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

River Plate

Parma

Newell's Old Boys

Argentina

Individual

  • South American Team of the Year: 1994, 1996, 2001

External links

  • – FIFA competition record (archived)
  • at National-Football-Teams.com
  • at BDFutbol
  • (in Spanish)