Morocco

Mehdi Benatia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 12/2014

Personal information
Full name:
Mehdi Amine El Mouttaqi Benatia

Date of birth:
17 April 1987

Place of birth:
Courcouronnes, France

Height:
1.89 m

Playing position:
Centre back

Club information
Current team:
Bayern Munich

Number:
5

YOUTH CAREER

Clairefontaine
2000-2002

Guingamp
2002-2003

Marseille
2003-2005

 

SENIOR CAREER 

Marseille
2005-2008
0x apps / 0x goal

→ Tours (loan)
2006-2007
29x apps / 0x goal

→ Lorient (loan)
2007-2008
0x apps / 0x goal

Clermont
2008-2010
56x apps / 2x goals

Udinese
2010-2013
80x apps / 6x goals

Roma
2013-2014
33x apps / 5x goals

Bayern Munich
2014-
7x apps / 1x goal

 

NATIONAL TEAM‡

France U-18
2005
1x apps / 0x goal

Morocco U-20
2006-2007
4x apps / 0x goal

Morocco
2008-
31x apps / 1x goal

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:24, 13 December 2014 (UTC).
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 7 September 2013

Mehdi Amine El Mouttaqi Benatia, born 17 April 1987, is a Moroccan footballer who plays for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the Morocco national team as a centre back.

EARLY LIFE

Benatia was born in Courcouronnes, France, to a Moroccan father and an Algerian mother.

 

CLUB CAREER

Marseille

Benatia joined Marseille in 2003, and signed his first professional contract with them two years later.

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.

Roma

On 13 July 2013, Benatia signed for Roma on a five-year contract in a €13.5 million transfer, with Nico López and Valerio Verre going the other way on co-ownership as part of the same deal.

On 26 September, Benatia scored his first goal for the club in a 2:0 victory against Sampdoria. 

After further goals against Bologna, Catania and Chievo Verona in the second half of the season, he ended the season with five goals from 33 games.

Bayern Munich

On 27 August 2014, Bayern Munich announced that they had signed Benatia on a five-year deal for a fee of €26 million.

Bayern Munich beat Manchester City, Chelsea, Barcelona, and Real Madrid, who were also interested in signing him.

On 17 September 2014, he 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.

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.