Medhi Benatia

Medhi Benatia

Benatia in action for Bayern Munich in 2014
Personal information
Full name	Medhi Amine El Mouttaqi Benatia[1]
Date of birth	17 April 1987
Place of birth	Courcouronnes, France
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)[2]
Playing position	Centre back
Club information
Current team	Juventus (on loan from Bayern Munich)
Number	4
Youth career
2000–2002	Clairefontaine
2002–2003	Guingamp
2003–2005	Marseille
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2005–2008	Marseille	0	(0)
2006–2007	→ Tours (loan)	29	(0)
2007–2008	→ Lorient (loan)	0	(0)
2008–2010	Clermont	56	(2)
2010–2013	Udinese	80	(6)
2013–2014	Roma	33	(5)
2014–	Bayern Munich	29	(2)
2016–	→ Juventus (loan)	3	(0)
National team^‡
2005	France U18	1	(0)
2006–2007	Morocco U20	4	(0)
2008–	Morocco	42	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18 September 2016. ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 3 June 2016

Medhi Amine El Mouttaqi Benatia^{[note 1]} (Arabic: المهدي أمين بن عطية المتقي‎‎; born 17 April 1987) is a footballer who plays for Italian club Juventus on loan from German club Bayern Munich, and for the Morocco national team, as a centre back.

He began his career at Marseille, spending his time loaned out to Tours and Lorient before joining Clermont in 2008. Two years later he joined Udinese, spending three seasons there before transferring to Roma. After helping them finish as Serie A runners-up in his only campaign there, he was signed by Bayern for €26 million, winning the Bundesliga in his first two seasons.

Born and raised in France, Benatia represents his father's Morocco at international level. He made his international debut for them in 2008 and represented the nation at two Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.

Early life

Benatia was born in Courcouronnes, France, to a Moroccan father and an Algerian mother.^[3][4]

Club career

Marseille

Benatia joined Marseille in 2003, and signed his first professional contract with them two years later.^[3] After loan spells at Tours and Lorient, he left for Ligue 2 club Clermont on 1 July 2008 on a free transfer.

Udinese

On 1 July 2010, Benatia signed for Serie A club Udinese Calcio, again on a free transfer. He made 80 league appearances for Udinese, scoring six goals.^[5]

Roma

On 13 July 2013, Benatia signed for Roma on a five-year contract in a €13.5 million transfer,^[6] with Nico López and Valerio Verre going the other way on co-ownership as part of the same deal.^[7] On 26 September, Benatia scored his first goal for the club in a 2–0 victory against Sampdoria.^[8] After further goals against Bologna, Catania.^[9] and Chievo Verona in the second half of the season, he ended the season with five goals from 33 games.^[10]

Bayern Munich

On 27 August 2014, Bayern Munich announced that they had signed Benatia^[11] on a five-year deal^[12] for a fee of €26 million.^[13] Bayern Munich beat Manchester City, Chelsea, Barcelona and Real Madrid, who were said to be also interested in signing him.^[14] He admitted he was disappointed to leave Roma but was told he had to go because the club needed the money.^[14] Upon hearing this, Roma President James Pallotta was furious and responded by saying he was sold for being a "poisonous liar".^[15]

On 17 September 2014, Benatia made his official debut for Bayern in a (1–0) home win against Manchester City, for the opening match of the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League season, where he played for 85 minutes, completing 93% of his passes.

In the return match at Manchester City, he was sent off in the 20th minute for denying Sergio Agüero a clear goalscoring opportunity; the subsequent penalty was converted by Agüero and City went on to win 3–2.^[16]

Benatia scored his first goal for Bayern on 13 December, opening the scoring in a 4–0 win at FC Augsburg with a header; this result put his club 10 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga table.^[17]

On 12 May 2015, Benatia scored his first Champions League goal, heading Bayern into the lead in their Champions League semi-final second leg against Barcelona; although his team won 3–2, they were eliminated 3–5 on aggregate.^[18]

He started the 2015–16 season in the German Super Cup, which Bayern lost in a penalty shootout after a 1–1 draw at VfL Wolfsburg.^[19] On 14 August, he headed Xabi Alonso's free kick for the first goal of the new Bundesliga season in a 5–0 thrashing of Hamburger SV.^[20]

Loan to Juventus

On 15 July 2016, Italian champions Juventus signed Benatia on a season-long loan for €3 million, with an option to buy for an extra €17 million at the end.^[21] He made his club debut on 27 August, in a 1–0 away win over Lazio in Serie A.^[22]

International career

Benatia was a member of Morocco's squad at the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, and played in their first two matches of an eventual group stage exit, defeats to Tunisia and Gabon.^[23][24] In the following year's tournament in South Africa, he played the entirety of all three matches as they again were defeated at the first stage.

Career statistics

Club

As of matches played on 18 September 2016.

Club	Season	League			Cup^1		Europe		Other^2		Total		Ref.
		League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Tours	2006–07	Ligue 2	29	0	1	0	—		0	0	30	0	[25]
Lorient	2007–08	Ligue 1	0	0	1	0			0	0	1	0
Clermont	2008–09	Ligue 2	27	1	0	0			0	0	27	1	[26]
	2009–10		30	1	0	0			2	0	32	1	[25][26]
	Totals		57	2	0	0	—		2	0	59	2	—
Udinese	2010–11	Serie A	34	3	0	0	—		—		34	3	[26]
	2011–12		27	1	0	0	11	1			38	2	[26]
	2012–13		19	2	0	0	6	0			25	2	[26]
	Totals		80	6	0	0	17	1	—		97	7	—
Roma	2013–14	Serie A	33	5	4	0	—				37	5	[26]
Bayern Munich	2014–15	Bundesliga	15	1	2	0	7	1	0	0	24	2	[27]
	2015–16		14	1	1	0	6	0	1	0	22	1	[19][28]
	Totals		29	2	3	0	13	1	1	0	46	3	—
Juventus (loan)	2016–17	Serie A	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	[26]
Career totals			231	15	9	0	30	2	3	0	273	17	—

• 1.^ Includes Coupe de France, Coppa Italia, and DFB-Pokal.
• 2.^ Includes Coupe de la Ligue, DFL-Supercup, and Supercoppa Italiana.

International goals

Scores and results list Morocco's goal tally first.^[29]

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	4 June 2011	Stade de Marrakech, Marrakech, Morocco	Algeria	1–0	4–0	2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

Honours

Club

Roma^[30]

• Serie A Runners-up: 2013–14

Bayern Munich^[30]

• Bundesliga: 2014–15, 2015–16
• DFB-Pokal: 2015–16

Individual

• CAF Team of the Year: 2013^[31][32][33]
• European Sports Media's European Team of the Season: 2013–14^[34]
• Serie A Team of the Year: 2013–14^[35]

Notes

1. Though frequently misspelled as "Mehdi", "Medhi" is correct. See, for example, his Twitter account and official profiles from FC Bayern and UEFA.

References

1. "M. Benatia" (in Dutch). Voetbal International. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
2. "Medhi Benatia". FC Bayern Munich. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
3. Yokhin, Michael (4 February 2014). "Mehdi Benatia – how France lost the best of Generation '87". ESPN. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
4. "INTERVIEW. "Lemerre n'y est pour rien…"". Telquel (in French) (N° 379). Retrieved 30 August 2014.
5. Medhi Benatia career statistics at Soccerbase
   
6. "Transfer news: Roma sign defender Mehdi Benatia from Udinese". Sky Sports. 13 July 2013. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
7. De Martinis, Julian (13 July 2013). "Roma sign Benatia and a new goalie you've never heard of". ESPN. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
8. "Another win for Roma". Sky Sports. 25 September 2013. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
9. "Mehdi Benatia's Match History". WhoScored. Archived from the original on 7 January 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
10. "Team statistics". A.S. Roma. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
11. "Mehdi Benatia: Bayern Munich sign Roma defender". BBC Sports. 27 August 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
12. "Transfer von Benatia ist fix" (in German). Süddeutsche Zeitung. 26 August 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
13. "OPERAZIONI DI MERCATO BENATIA" (PDF) (in Italian). AS Roma. 27 August 2014. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
14. "Transfer news: Mehdi Benatia says Bayern Munich was obvious choice despite European interest". Sky Sports. 8 September 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
15. Pallotta, James (8 September 2014). "Statement by James Pallotta". Retrieved 10 September 2014.
16. "Man City 3–2 Bayern Mun". BBC Sport. 25 November 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
17. "FC Augsburg 0–4 Bayern Mun". BBC Sport. 13 December 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
18. Jurejko, Jonathan (12 May 2015). "Bayern Mun 3–2 Barcelona". BBC Sport. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
19. "Joker Bendtner ist zweimal zur Stelle". kicker (in German). 1 August 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
20. "Bayern Munich 5-0 Hamburg: Bavarians begin Bundesliga campaign in ominous fashion". Goal.com. 14 August 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
21. "Official: Juventus sign Benatia". Football Italia. 15 July 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
22. Mina Rzouki (28 August 2016). "Khedira stars again as Juventus earn a hard-fought win at Lazio". ESPN FC. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
23. "Tunisia take bragging rights". Sky Sports. 23 January 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
24. Fottrell, Stephen (27 January 2015). "Nations Cup: Gabon grab late winner against Morocco". BBC Sport. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
25. "M. Benatia". Soccerway. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
26. "Medhi Benatia » Club matches". World Football. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
27. "Medhi Benatia". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
28. "Medhi Benatia". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
29. "Morocco – M. Benatia – Profile with news, career statistics and history". soccerway.com. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
30. "M. Benatia". Soccerway. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
31. "Glo-Caf Awards Lagos 2013". cafonline.com. 2013. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
32. "Glo-Caf Award Winners 2014". 9 January 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
33. "Aubameyang, Samatta rule Africa". cafonline.com. 7 January 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
34. "Die ESM-Topelf der Saison 2013/14 - ein Deutscher ist dabei" (in German). kicker.de. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
35. "Serie A, Gran Galà del Calcio Aic. Tutte le frasi e i premi" [Serie A, Gran Galà del Calcio Aic. All the quotes and awards] (in Italian). Tuttosport. 15 December 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2016.

External links

• Medhi Benatia profile at Soccerway
• Medhi Benatia career statistics at Soccerbase
  
• Lega Serie A profile (Italian)