Hernán Jorge Crespo (born 5 July 1975) is an Argentine footballer who currently plays for Genoa of the Italian Serie A. Crespo has scored over 300 goals in a career spanning 17 years. His honours include an Olympic Games silver medal, a Copa Libertadores, and an English Premier League title. Club career River Plate Crespo made his debut with River Plate during the 1993-94 season, scoring 13 goals in 25 league appearances as River Plate won the Apertura league title. In 1996, Crespo helped River win the Copa Libertadores, scoring twice in the home leg of the final in Buenos Aires. Parma Crespo left River Plate for Parma in August 1996 after he won the silver medal with Argentina at the 1996 Summer Olympics and finished as the top scorer with six goals. In May 1997, coached by Carlo Ancelotti, Crespo scored 12 goals in 27 matches as Parma finished runners-up to Juventus. He won the 1998-99 Italian Cup and scored the opening goal in Parma's 3-0 UEFA Cup final victory over Olympique de Marseille. Lazio In 2000, Lazio broke the then-world transfer record by paying £35 million (by paid £16 million in cash and Matias Almeyda and Sérgio Conceição) to acquire Crespo,[2] who in turn finished as Serie A's top scorer with 26 goals. Internazionale On 31 August 2002, Crespo signed with Internazionale as replacement for the departed Ronaldo who expected to shine again after suffered from injuries for reported €20 million and Bernardo Corradi.[3] Internazionale was short of striker as highly rated Mohamed Kallon injured in August.[4] and only Álvaro Recoba, Christian Vieri and as well as reserves Bernardo Corradi and Nicola Ventola were available. In his only season at the club, he scored seven goals in 18 appearances, along with nine goals in 12 Champions League matches until he was shelved four months by injury in early 2003. Chelsea Crespo was transferred to Premier League club Chelsea on 26 August 2003 for £16.8 million. He made only 31 appearances (including 19 league starts) in all competitions, and scored 12 goals. After José Mourinho took over as Chelsea manager for the 2004-05 season, Crespo became surplus to Chelsea's plans and was loaned to AC Milan, as requested by former coach Carlo Ancelotti. He scored a total of ten league goals, and netted twice in the 2005 Champions League final defeat to Liverpool. After Chelsea's failed attempts to land a big-name striker during the summer of 2005, Mourinho needed competition for striker Didier Drogba and decided to recall Crespo from Milan, convincing him that he had a future in England. Crespo made his first return appearance in a 2-1 FA Community Shield victory over Arsenal. He scored his first league goal of 2005 against Wigan Athletic in Chelsea's season opener in a 1-0 win. The 2005-06 league title was Crespo's first league title victory in European football. Internazionale Crespo in an Inter shirt. Though he scored 26 goals in all competitions and won the 2005-06 Premiership, Crespo requested a return to Italy in order to rejoin AC Milan, but Chelsea refused and announced that Crespo would remain a Chelsea player until the club accepted a suitable offer for him. On 7 August 2006, Crespo joined Inter on a two-year loan. He scored his 125th Serie A goal against Siena on 2 December 2006, and his 200th career European goal on 2 April 2007. On 13 May, Crespo scored a hat-trick to help Inter defeat Lazio 4-3 and win the Scudetto. Two days earlier, he had appeared in training without his customary long hair, which he had kept grown out for over five years.[5] He has scored at least one Champions League goal with each of the five European teams he has played for since moving from River Plate in 1996; he is the only player in Champions League history to accomplish this feat. Crespo was officially released from Chelsea on 3 July 2008, following the expiration of his contract.[6][7] and was signed by Inter on a one-year contract for free. In the 2008-09 season, under José Mourinho, his former manager in Chelsea, Crespo only made 13 Serie A appearances, including two starts. He was excluded from UEFA Champions League roster due to Internazionale runs out of 17 non-local trained quota. Genoa Following the expiration of his contract at Inter, Crespo was quickly snapped up by Genoa, taking Diego Milito's place who moved in the opposite direction. On 8 June 2009 it was reported that Crespo had a medical check to formalize his transfer. Crespo cited his ambition to make the Argentina World Cup squad as one of his key reasons for making the move to Genoa. [8] On 13 September Crespo scored his first goal of the 2009 season against Napoli.[9] International career Crespo has 64 caps and 35 goals with Argentina. He won his first cap in a friendly match against Bulgaria in February 1995, but then had to wait 16 months for his second cap and more than two years for his first goal. He was called up to the final roster for the 1998, 2002, and 2006 FIFA World Cups. In June 2005, Crespo scored twice in Argentina's 3-1 World Cup qualifying win over archrivals Brazil in Buenos Aires, which made him Argentina's career scoring leader in World Cup qualifiers. He finished the 2006 competition as the Silver Shoe Award winner. On 28 June 2007, he scored twice in Argentina's 4-1 victory over the United States in their 2007 Copa América Group C opener, tying Diego Maradona's team scoring record.[10] He finished with a total of three goals.