Éric Abidal

Personal information
Full name	Éric Sylvain Abidal[1]
Date of birth	11 September 1979 (1979-09-11) (age 32)
Place of birth	Lyon, France
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Barcelona
Number	22
Youth career
1999–2000	Lyon Duchère
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2000–2002	Monaco	25	(0)
2002–2004	Lille	60	(0)
2004–2007	Lyon	76	(0)
2007–	Barcelona	115	(0)

Éric Sylvain Abidal (French pronunciation: [eʁik abidal]) (born 11 September 1979) is a French footballer who plays as a left or central defender for FC Barcelona and the France national team.

Club career

Abidal (center) with former teammates Jeffrén Suárez (left) and Bojan Krkić (right) during a training session with Barcelona

Abidal was trained at Lyon-Duchère, a team playing in
the suburbs of Lyon. He started his professional career with Monaco on 16 September 2000, where he made 25 first-team appearances. He moved to Lille OSC where he was reunited with his former manager Claude Puel and earned 62 first-team appearances. At the end of 2004, he returned to his native region by joining Olympique Lyonnais, which had just won its second successive Ligue 1 championship. During his time in France he was considered "one of the best fullbacks in the Ligue 1", self confidence of this title was shown when Lyon played Manchester United: "As a defender, my aim is to infuriate the opponent," Abidal explained. "I want him to be so sick of the sight of me that he has to move somewhere else on the pitch to get away."^[2] In the Lyon defence, he played alongside other French internationals (Grégory Coupet, François Clerc, and Anthony Réveillère) and two Brazilian internationals (Cris and Caçapa).
On 17 January 2007, Abidal scored the first goal of his career in a 1–0 Lyon victory over Le Mans on a 2006–07 Coupe de la Ligue semi–final match.^[3] Later the same year, on 30 June, Abidal moved to FC Barcelona for €9 million, after repeatedly stating that he would not return to training if he did not get the move, signing a four-year contract^[4] and taking the #22 jersey, as the #20 he wore at Lyon was already taken by Deco. Barça president Joan Laporta also mentioned that Abidal's contract would contain a €90 million release clause, and that Lyon would receive an extra €500,000 if Barcelona win the Champions League in any of the next four seasons.^[5]
Abidal missed the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final, played against Manchester United, due to picking up a red card in the semi-final against Chelsea. The referee deemed Abidal to have fouled fellow French International Nicolas Anelka, and denying a goal scoring opportunity, although video evidence suggests that any contact was minimal. Abidal was again questionably sent off in the next match he played, a league tie with Villarreal CF. The ensuing suspension meant that he missed the Copa del Rey final; Barcelona won with a 4–1 victory over Athletic Bilbao.
He continued to be first choice left back during Josep Guardiola's second season in charge, despite the arrival of Maxwell from Internazionale.
On 5 January 2011, Abidal scored his first goal with Barcelona at the San Mamés Stadium in a Copa del Rey match against Athletic Bilbao. His goal meant that Barcelona could advance to the quarter-final due to the away goals rule.
On January 16, 2012, Abidal signed a renewed contract keeping him at the Camp Nou until June 30, 2013. He scored his second goal with Barcelona and the winning goal in a 2-1 win over Real Madrid in the first leg of theCopa del Rey quarter-final match.

International career

Abidal has earned 55 caps with the French national team, having earned his debut cap on 18 August 2004. Despite numerous injuries and disagreements with FIFA in the past few seasons, Abidal played on the French team in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, starting at left back and playing every minute of the tournament with the exception of France's match against Togo, from which he was suspended after earning two yellow cards over the previous two games. Mikaël Silvestre filled Abidal's left back slot for that game. When France and Italy were forced into a penalty shootout in the Final, he was placed third in France's five shooters and scored, but since it was a penalty shootout, it is not recognised as a goal, and Abidal has yet to score for France properly.
He went on to become France coach Raymond Domenech's top choice for left-back in nearly every UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier. Abidal was chosen as centre back in their final group match of Euro 2008 against Italy, but he conceded a penalty and was sent off in the first half; France lost the match 2–0 and were eliminated from the tournament. He played the 2010 FIFA World Cup as a centre back.

Health

On 15 March 2011,
Barcelonaannounced that Abidal was diagnosed with a tumor on his liver. He had surgery on his liver on 17 March 2011.^[6] Citing privacy concerns as wished by the player, the club did not release additional information in regards to his condition.^[7] In response to the announcement, players and fans from all over the world alike dedicated well wishes for the ill player on multiple social networking sites and sports websites.^[8][9]
Before their Round of 16 match in the Champions League both Real Madrid and Olympique Lyonnais players exited into the pitch wearing Ánimo Abidal (Strength Abidal) t-shirts along with the same message on the Santiago Bernabéu's scoreboards in show of support and solidarity.^[10][11]
During Barcelona's match against Getafe CF on 19 March, the fans at the stadium clapped for the entire 22nd minute, which is Abidal's shirt number for Barcelona, as a respectful moment for him.
On 28 May 2011, Barcelona beat Manchester United 3–1 to win the Champions League Final. Abidal played the whole game. In a moving gesture to mark his recovery, Abidal's teammates gave him the captain's armband as well as allowing him to be the first in the team to raise the trophy in front of 85,000 people at Wembley Stadium in London.