Pablo Gabriel García

Football player infobox
playername= Pablo Gabriel García


fullname = Pablo Gabriel García Pérez
nickname = Canario
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1977|5|11
cityofbirth = Pando
countryofbirth = Uruguay
height = height|m=1.85
currentclub = PAOK
clubnumber = 5
position = Defensive midfielder
years=1996–1999
1998-1998
1999–2000
2000–2001
2001–2002 2002–2005 2005–2006 2006–2007 2007–2008 2008-
clubs = Montevideo Wanderers
Peñarol
Atlético Madrid B
AC Milan
Venezia
Osasuna
Real Madrid → Celta Vigo (loan)
→ Real Murcia (loan) PAOK
caps(goals) = 35 (1)
14 (0)
44(3)
35 (0) 39 (0) 89 (9) 29 (0) 26 (0) 31 (0) 4 (0)
nationalyears = 1997–
nationalteam = Uruguay
nationalcaps(goals) = 68 (5)
pcupdate = 2008
ntupdate = 14 December 2007

Pablo Gabriel García Pérez (born 11 May 1977 in Pando, Canelones) is an Uruguayan football midfielder who currently plays for PAOK Thessaloniki. He has played over 60 games for the Uruguay national team [ [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/uru-recintlp.html rsssf: Uruguay record international footballers] ] His nickname is "Canario", referring to his origin in the department of Canelones.

Montevideo Wanderers

He started his career in his home country team, Montevideo Wanderers, before being transferred to Atlético Madrid after two seasons. He only played for "Atlético B" during this time, before being transferred to Italian giants A.C. Milan.

AC Milan

Whilst playing in Serie A for A.C. Milan he played as a starter for the season and then was sold to Venezia where he played a total of 89 games.

CA Osasuna

He played an impressive three seasons in the spanish top flight for Osasuna. Which saw him catching the interest of the spanish Giants Real Madrid. After returning to Spain and playing for CA Osasuna for three seasons, his impressive performances saw him transferred to the greatest club of spain.

Real Madrid

Whilst playing for Real Madrid he had formed a reputation as a combative - if dirty - midfielder, and received the most yellow cards in La Liga in the 2004/05 season. García is known to be an effective defensive midfielder or holding midfielder, and soon became Real Madrid's first-choice holding midfielder ahead of Danish midfield destroyer Thomas Gravesen. However, he was unable to find his form, at times struggling to keep pace. This, combined with some unfortunate injuries, kept him out of the starting squad. In the 2006/07 season, Garcia did not feature in Madrid's new manager Fabio Capello's plans, inevitably leading to a search for a new club.

On August 29 2006 Pablo García signed a one year loaning contract with Celta Vigo, and after an uneventful personal season where he was injured for most of the year, he returned to Real Madrid in July 2007, loaned immediately again, this time to La Liga's promoted Real Murcia.

PAOK Thessaloniki

On the 10th of July 2008, he had his contract terminated by Real Madrid.On July 23, 2008 Pablo agreed to join PAOK. Pablo Garcia was greeted at Thessaloniki airport by thousands of PAOK fans when he arrived.

Uruguay

At international level, García has been a mainstay on his national team, playing in the 2002 World Cup, although he was not able to help his country Uruguay qualify for the 2006 World Cup to be held in Germany as the Uruguayans, after a 1-0 home victory over Australia in the first-leg playoff, lost on penalty kicks in the away leg after Australia hung on to a 1-0 lead for 120 minutes.

He scored a powerful finesse shot from outside the box for Uruguay against Venezuela in the 2007 Copa America quarter finals, and missed a decisive penalty vs. Brazil in the semis, meaning the "Charrúas" would not play the tournament's final match.

Honors and awards

*1997 FIFA World Youth Championship silver-medal

External links

* [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/pggarcia-intl.html International statistics] at rsssf
* [http://www.national-football-teams.com/v2/player.php?id=7233 Career statistics] at National Football Teams
*es icon [http://www.tenfieldigital.com.uy/servlet/hprfchsj?0,2,2%2F43%2F,1,677 Profile] at Tenfield

References