Vidal Arturo 

Arturo Erasmo Vidal Pardo is a Chilean professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. After starting his career with Colo-Colo, Chile’s most successful club, Vidal joined Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen, where he played for four seasons. He then moved to Juventus in 2011, where he won Scudetti in all four of his seasons, played in the UEFA Champions League final, and became widely recognized as one of the best midfielders in world football. Vidal has earned over 80 caps for the Chile national team since his debut in 2007, playing in the 2011 and 2015 Copa América tournaments, as well as the Copa América Centenario, and the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups, helping them to victory at the 2015 Copa América and the Copa América Centenario.

JUVENTUS F.C.


2013-2014


Match Worn Shirt


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After a good 2010–11 season, Vidal was linked with various clubs, including Bayer’s Bundesliga rivals Bayern Munich. On 22 July 2011, however, Vidal joined Serie A club Juventus for €10.5 million on a five-year contract. He made his competitive debut in the opening league game of the season against Parma, coming on as a second-half substitute for Alessandro Del Piero; he marked his first appearance with a goal six minutes after his introduction in Juventus’ 4–1 win. It was initially speculated that he would compete with Claudio Marchisio for a spot alongside Andrea Pirlo, but Juventus manager Antonio Conte instead played all three effectively in a three-man midfield in his 3–5–2 formation. Vidal was an integral part of the 2011–12 Scudetto-winning side that went undefeated the entire season. He contributed seven league goals and three assists, including crucial goals against Napoli and a double against Roma.

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A tactically versatile and hard-working player, Vidal is capable of playing anywhere in midfield, and in several different formations. He initially played in several different defensive and midfield roles in his early years, before eventually coming into his own in the centre, with Juventus, as either a “mezzala” or box-to-box midfielder, roles in which he is capable of assisting his teammates in both defence and attack. Throughout his career, he has also been deployed as a central defender, as a defensive midfielder, as an attacking midfielder, or even on the wing, due to his crossing ability. He is also capable of playing as a full-back or wing-back on either side of the pitch, while with the Chile national team, he has even played in a more advanced role on occasion, positioned as a centre-forward or striker, but effectively functioning as a false-9. He has also been used as a second striker, and as a false attacking midfielder on occasion. It was these displays for Juventus that led him to be nicknamed Il Guerriero (“The Warrior”), Rey Arturo (“King Arthur”) and La Piranha by the Italian press for his hard-tackling and aggressive, tenacious style of play. Vidal is a complete midfielder, known for his marking, positional sense, tackling, and anticipation, attributes which allow him to be effective at intercepting passes, winning back possession, and subsequently starting an attack. He is also gifted with good technique, pace, and stamina, as well as good vision, good distribution, a powerful shot from distance, and an eye for goal. Having been the first-choice penalty shooter for Juventus, he is also an accurate penalty kick taker. Due to his strength and physical characteristics, as well as his ability to make late attack runs from behind into the penalty area, he is also effective in the air. All these qualities have enabled him to become one of the leading exponents of his position. At Juventus, Vidal became an integral part of the Bianconeri alongside teammates Claudio Marchisio and Andrea Pirlo in the club’s three-man midfield, and has made a name for himself as one of the best players in the world in his position; Vidal credited his development and maturity as a player to club legends Pirlo and Gianluigi Buffon. Vidal is also considered one of the most complete midfielders in the world due to his tackling abilities and his ability to support the team in both defence and attack at a high level. In 2013, Bloomberg ranked him the 11th-best player in Europe. On 5 July 2013, EA Sports announced that they had featured Vidal on the Central and South American cover of FIFA 14, alongside global cover star Lionel Messi. The cover, however, would not be featured in the Brazilian version of the game. On 16 June 2015, during the 2015 Copa América, Vidal suffered minor injuries when he crashed his Ferrari while under the influence of alcohol in Santiago. He left the hospital in a police car and was summoned to court to face charges for drunk driving.[127] On 8 July 2015, Vidal was given a two-year driving ban, however he was allowed to continue playing in the Copa América that year. His cousin, Gonzalo Vásquez, is a former footballer who is now an engineer. The professional footballer Daniel Malhue is married to his younger sister, Victoria, and they have a son. In March 2020, Vidal and fellow Chilean footballer Gary Medel, donated to the Chilean Red Cross under an initiative to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in Chile.


Match Worn Boots


Barcelona F.C.


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On 3 August 2018, Barcelona announced an agreement with Bayern Munich for Vidal’s transfer. He was officially presented as a Barça player and signed a three-year contract with the club on 6 August 2018.[58] The paper Diario AS announced that the deal was reportedly worth 19 million euros, plus variables,[59] and the paper Sport announced that the deal was reportedly worth 18 million euros, plus 3 million euros in variables. Even so, there wasn’t an FC Barcelona statement about the transfer fee and the club’s vice-president, Jordi Mestre, announced that the fee will not be disclosed at the request of Bayern Munich. On 12 August 2018, Vidal made his debut for the club after coming on as a substitute in a 2–1 victory over Sevilla FC as his side won the 2018 Spanish Super Cup. On 28 October, Vidal came on as a substitute in the 84th minute of El Clásico. 3 minutes later, Vidal scored his first ever goal for Barcelona to cap off a 5–1 home win over rivals Real Madrid in La Liga. On 27 April 2019, he assisted the winning goal by Lionel Messi in a 1–0 win against Levante, to secure the La Liga title. In the 2019–20 season, Vidal mentioned ahead of the Champions League match against his former club Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals: “Bayern will be playing against the best team in the world: Barca”, then he added, “They aren’t playing against some random Bundesliga team. It’s going to be a proper football game. They better be ready for us, because we’re looking forward to the challenge.” However, the match ended with an 8–2 defeat to Barcelona, which was also his last match with the club.