Roque Santa Cruz
Roque Luis Santa Cruz Cantero is a Paraguayan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Paraguayan Primera División club Nacional. He is the record goal scorer and has earned over 100 caps for the Paraguay national team, thus he is regarded as one of the best players in the nation's history. Santa Cruz has scored goals at a professional level in each of the last four decades.
Santa Cruz started his career with Olimpia, progressing through their youth system to the first-team squad where he made his debut at the age of 15 in 1997. He finished his career with the club having scored 13 goals in 24 Primera División appearances where Olimpia claimed the 1997, 1998 and 1999 Primera División titles. Santa Cruz scored three goals in four appearances for Paraguay at the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship before debuting for the Paraguay national team at the 1999 Copa América, where he scored three goals in four appearances. He immediately joined Bundesliga club Bayern Munich in August 1999 for a fee of €5 million, which was the highest transfer fee in Paraguayan football until 2019. For Bayern, he scored five goals in 28 league appearances in his first season. He faced a series of injuries and heavy competition from teammates Giovane Élber, Roy Makaay and Claudio Pizarro which limited his impact and restricted his appearances for the club.
Santa Cruz was part of a successful team for Bayern, winning numerous Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and DFB-Ligapokal titles. He also won the 2000–01 UEFA Champions League and the 2001 Intercontinental Cup. He left Bayern Munich in July 2007 to join Blackburn Rovers for a transfer fee of €5 million, where he scored 19 goals in the 2007–08 Premier League season. In June 2009, he joined Manchester City for a fee of £17.5 million on a four-year deal. Since his transfer, he was loaned out to Blackburn and Real Betis.
He represented Paraguay at the 2002, 2006 and 2010 FIFA World Cup tournaments, and at the 1999, 2007, 2011 and 2015 Copa América tournaments. He retired from international football in 2016, but reversed his decision in May 2019.
Club career
Olimpia Asunción
1990–1999
Santa Cruz joined Primera División Paraguaya club Olimpia Asunción's youth academy at the age of nine, where he became the top scorer during several seasons. The club's first-team coach, Luis Cubilla, invited Santa Cruz to train with the team aged 15, and the player eventually made his first-team appearance in the 1997 Primera División Paraguaya at the age of 15, during the Torneo Clausura on 27 July when he entered the field in the 80th minute for Alfredo Mendoza in the Paraguayan derby against Cerro Porteño.1998 season
During the group stages of the 1998 Copa Mercosur, Santa Cruz scored his first goal of the competition in the 11th minute of Olimpia Asunción's 4–2 away victory against Argentine side Racing Club on 14 October 1998. The club finished in second position of their group with ten points, and advanced to the quarter-finals to face José Luís Chilavert's Vélez Sársfield. During the first-leg of the quarter-final match on 27 October, Santa Cruz scored in the 65th minute of Olimpia's 4–3 away victory. One week later, Santa Cruz scored a brace for Olimpia as they claimed a 2–1 home victory in the second leg on 4 November 1998. His goals came in the 24th and 40th minutes of the first half. All of his three goals were scored against his international teammate Chilavert. Bayern Munich's eyes looked at Santa Cruz for the first time after he scored his double past José Luís Chilavert. The club was later eliminated from the competition at the semi-final stage by Palmeiras, who would go on to win the tournament. During the 1998 Primera División Paraguaya season, Santa Cruz scored three goals in nine appearances as Olimpia were crowned champions of the league. The club had also reached the knock-out stages of the 1998 Copa Libertadores, where they were eliminated by Argentina's Colón.1999 season
During the 1999 Primera División Paraguaya season, Santa Cruz scored 4 goals and provided 6 assists in 14 appearances as Olimpia claimed the league title. Santa Cruz participated at the 1999 Copa Libertadores, where Olimpia were drawn in Group 3 with Cerro Porteño, eventual champions Palmeiras and Corinthians. In Olimpia first group stage match, against Cerro Porteño on 24 February, Santa Cruz scored a second-half double past Aldo Bobadilla in the 58th and 89th minutes as his side were defeated 4–3. On 5 March, Santa Cruz played a full 90 minutes in his side's second group stage match, a 4–2 home victory against Palmeiras. Santa Cruz again featured for Olimpia in their third group stage fixture, a 1–1 away draw against Palmeiras on 12 March. In Olimpia's fourth group stage fixture, Santa Cruz featured in the entire match as his side drew 2–2 at home against Cerro Porteño on 17 March. On 26 March, Santa Cruz played a full 90 minutes in Olimpia's 2–1 home defeat against Corinthians in their fifth Copa Libertadores group stage fixture. Olimpia had been 1–0 in front since the 31st minute of the match, before Corinthians would go on to score two goals in the second half.On 16 May 1999, a Bayern Munich delegation composed of Franz Beckenbauer, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Uli Hoeneß, Søren Lerby and Giovanni Branchinni entered surprisingly into the Estadio General Pablo Rojas to see a game between 12 de Octubre and Olimpia Asunción, in which Santa Cruz scored and was Man of the Match, making Bayern Munich hurry with the transfer process. The following day during a reunion with Olimpia's president, Osvaldo Dominguez Dibb, who wanted the sale to reach US$10 million, said "Pay the sum, or Roque stays at Olimpia", stamping his hand on his desk table. To unblock the situation, Santa Cruz' father, Aproniano, renounced a 30% of the transfer that corresponded him and Santa Cruz joined Bayern Munich without obstacles.
Santa Cruz had scored two goals in five Copa Libertadores appearances and would not take part in his club's last group stage fixture, a 4–0 away defeat against Corinthians on 9 April, due to his participation for Paraguay U20 at the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship, which was disputed at the same time. Santa Cruz played in his last Superclásico against Cerro Porteño in a 1–0 home victory during the 1999 Apertura on 30 May. Santa Cruz also played in his last competitive match for Olimpia Asunción a 1–0 win against Colegiales, on 6 June. The first contacts with Bayern Munich were via telephone and the US$20 million that the Olimpia Asunción president wanted for the transfer was considered by Bayern Munich a very elevated cost. His involvement with Paraguay's national teams, the striker was awarded with the Paraguayan Footballer of the Year award in 1999, and Olimpia club president Osvaldo Domínguez Dibb had assessed Santa Cruz to value from around US$20 million, however Santa Cruz was eventually sold to Bayern Munich for US$7 million, the transfer fee becoming the record transfer in Paraguayan football. He later revealed that he had the chance to join Real Madrid before he eventually signed with Bayern in 1999.
Santa Cruz confessed that his teammates and himself had been mis-treated by Osvaldo Domínguez Dibb after bad performances from the first-team where the players' salaries were not deposited into their bank accounts in order for the players to personally collect it in person from the president and would be threatened by guns and knives. "I remember that we once lost an important regional derby. The president entered the sleeping room where we all spent the night ahead of games and unloaded his gun in the ceiling. That wasn't all though. When a player had put in a bad performance, Osvaldo just strolled up to his car and urinated inside it while the player was standing right next to him. The president always wanted us to come up to him to pick up our monthly wages. If you hadn't played well that month, he stood up and asked 'What is it you want?' while tapping a machine gun on his desk. That always prompted players to wait for their money until they had put in some better performances again."