Trash Chronicles

Gonzalo Higuain has become the miracle man for the Men in White. Despite assuming the unglamorous supporting role in his first season and a half, he became an overnight sensation when his pivotal goals led Real Madrid to successive league titles in 2007 and 2008. He was the perfect super-sub, coming off the bench and like clockwork, jumping to his team’s rescue almost every single time.

But for the 2008-09 campaign, more was expected of ‘Pipita’, not because he hadn't done enough over the previous 18 months, but because it was now time for him to take a step up to the next level and become the side’s leading man. And he didn’t disappoint.

Right from the get go in the Spanish Supercopa against Valencia, Higuain repeated his trick of old, coming on as an 80th minute substitute in the second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu, and eight minutes later, he scored the crucial fourth goal for his side to seal a 4-2 win, having lost the first leg 3-2.

Even then, the Argentine was still not the regular first choice striker. But after scoring five further goals in the league and supplying two assists, the 21-year-old finally came of age on a madcap night in the Spanish capital in early November.

Entertaining Malaga at home, Gonzalo rattled in four goals as he single-handedly hauled Madrid out from the jaws of death when he orchestrated a biblical 4-3 comeback win after the Merengues had gone behind three times.

From then on, he became the darling of the Bernabeu, and aside from the occasional injury and rotation policy, he would go on to cement his status as an automatic starter. And just as he had done in the previous two years, the youngster continued to either score a number of extremely important and spectacular goals for Madrid, or provide the assists for his team-mates.

Incidentally, it was against Malaga in the reverse fixture in which he scored what he described as one of the best goals of his career. Winning the ball inside his own half, he steamed forward from the halfway line and breezed past three opponents before finishing past the goalkeeper with aplomb. It was a perfect demonstration of his pace, skill, ball control, strength, calmness and execution.


Smoking Pipita | Higuain sizzles against Malaga

His improvement from season to season is astoundingly clear. In league outings alone, he amassed 19 games, two goals and three assists in his first half season, 25 games, eight goals and three assists in his follow-up campaign, and last term, an impressive 34 games, 22 goals and nine assists. That tally is made all the more remarkable considering the instability at the club on and off the pitch.

He ended the 2008-09 term by scoring six goals in the final seven La Liga outings, although Los Blancos were playing virtually without any motivation in the remaining few rounds after their title hopes came to an end.

Despite breaking the 20 goals in a season mark, the year was still a disappointment for ‘El Pipita’. His efforts this time around failed to guide the team to the league title, and he once again failed to score in the Champions League, taking his record now to 12 appearances and no goals.

While the rest of the world are continuously fixated by compatriots Sergio Aguero and Lionel Messi, many forget that Higuain is still only 21-years-old and has an enormous amount of potential - he’s equally as dangerous, devastating and exciting to watch. But unlike the more illustrious duo, he is still waiting patiently for his first call-up to the Argentine national team.