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Iván De la Peña López pron. IPA: [i'βan dela'peɲa], (born May 6, 1976 in Santander, Cantabria) is a Spanish footballer who currently plays for RCD Espanyol, as a skilled central midfielder.

During his career, De la Peña earned the nicknames Little Buddha and Lo Pelat (The Shaven One) due to his shaven head and slight frame. He is known for his pin-point accurate passing, also being a free-kick specialist.

[edit] Club career

De la Peña was recruited by FC Barcelona as a youth player in 1991 and made his debut for the B team in 1993. He went on to play 37 games for them. Johan Cruyff gave him his debut with the senior team on September 3, 1995, as he came on as a substitute and scored, in a 2-0 win at Real Valladolid. At 19 he was initially regarded as the natural successor to Josep Guardiola. However, he gradually fell out of favour with Cruyff and found himself dropped, although he achieved a career-best 7 league goals in that rookie season.

With the arrival of Bobby Robson in 1996, De la Peña was given a second chance to establish himself in the team. He subsequently developed a partnership with Ronaldo and was a prominent member of the team that won the Spanish Cup/European Cup Winners' Cup/European Supercup treble in 1997. He was also voted the best young player by El País in both 1996 and 1997.

De la Peña found himself out of favour at Barça once again, after the arrival of Dutch Louis Van Gaal, and he was consequently transferred to S.S. Lazio. However, he failed to establish himself in Serie A and was loaned to Olympique de Marseille during the 1999-00 season. This move was not successful either and he returned to Barcelona, on loan, for 2000-01. After only appearing 9 times (one start, against Racing de Santander) throughout the season, under then coach Llorenç Serra Ferrer, De la Peña returned to Italy, being released.

In 2002, De la Peña moved to RCD Espanyol where he found the continuity and stability to produce some of the best football in his career. In 2005 he helped the Catalan outfit finish fifth in La Liga, enabling them to qualify for the UEFA Cup. In the 2006 domestic cup final, De la Peña masterminded a 4-1 victory against Real Zaragoza, setting up two goals. Raúl Tamudo scored after two minutes when he headed in a rebound following a De la Peña free-kick. Tamudo and De la Peña combined again to carve open the Zaragoza defence to lay on a goal for Luis García. As a result, Espanyol again qualified for the UEFA Cup and reached the 2007 competition final, where they lost to Sevilla FC on penalties.

[edit] International career

De la Peña, along with Fernando Morientes, Raúl and Gaizka Mendieta, played for the Spain U-21s at both the 1996 European U-21 Championship and at the 1996 Olympic Games.

Despite this, he did not make his debut for the senior Spain team until February 9, 2005, at the age of 28 years and 9 months, in a 2006 World Cup qualifier against San Marino (Almería, 5-0). He subsequently played for Spain on five occasions during the year, with his last coming against the same opponent.

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Honours

• FC Barcelona:
  • UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1996-97
  • UEFA Super Cup: 1997
  • Spanish Cup: 1996-97
  • Spanish League: 1997-98
  • Spanish Supercup: 1996

• RCD Espanyol:
  • Spanish Cup: 2005-06
  • UEFA Cup: Runner-up 2006-07

• S.S. Lazio:
  • UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1998-99

• Spain U-21s:
  • UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship: Runner-up 1996

[edit] External links

• Stats at Liga de Fútbol Profesional (Spanish)
• National team data (Spanish)
• Spain - Footballer of the year, at RSSF
• (French) Iván de la Peña French league stats at lfp.fr
• The lost boys of Barcelona, by Ronald Atkin, February 2005

v • d • e Spain squad – 1996 Summer Olympics 1 Mora • 2 Mendieta • 3 Juanfran • 4 Navarro • 5 Santi • 6 Óscar • 7 Raúl • 8 Roberto • 9 Corino • 10 Ignacio • 11 Idiakez • 12 Karanka • 13 Aizkorreta • 14 Morientes • 15 de la Peña • 16 Lardín • 17 Sietes • 18 Dani • Coach: Clemente