Diego Placente

Diego Rodolfo Placente (born 24 April 1977) is an Argentine manager and former footballer who played as a left-back. He is the current manager of the Argentina U20 national team and Argentina national under-17 football team.

Club career Born in Buenos Aires, Placente started playing professionally in 1996 with Argentinos Juniors, before moving to Argentine giant River Plate in 1997. He transferred to Bayer 04 Leverkusen in 2001, where he played until 2005 when his contract expired. Subsequently, he turned down an offer from English club Everton FC to join Celta de Vigo. While at Leverkusen he played in the 2002 UEFA Champions League Final.

In 2008, he returned to Argentina to play for San Lorenzo de Almagro. In the 2008 summer transfer window, he transferred to the French side of Bordeaux, and penned a two-year contract. After finishing that contract, he returned to San Lorenzo on a free transfer.

International career

Placente played his first match with the Argentina national team in 2001, and was capped 22 times.

Career statistics International

Honours Argentinos Juniors Primera B Nacional: 1996–97

River Plate Argentina Primera Division: 1997 Apertura, 1999 Apertura, 2000 Clausura Supercopa Libertadores: 1997

Bayer Leverkusen DFB-Pokal runner-up: 2001–02 UEFA Champions League runner-up: 2001–02

Bordeaux Ligue 1: 2008–09 Trophée des Champions: 2008, 2009 Coupe de la Ligue: 2009

Nacional Uruguayan Primera División: 2012

Argentina U20 South American Youth Championship: 1997 FIFA U-20 World Cup: 1997

Argentina Copa América runner-up: 2004 FIFA Confederations Cup runner-up: 2005