BIOGRAPHY
protagonists in a fateful love triangle.
At the time, Icardi and Lopez – who
has played for River Plate, Barcelona
and is currently with Vasco Da Gama in
Brazil – were team-mates at Serie A side
Sampdoria. Lopez was then married to
Nara, with whom he had three children
during their six-year marriage.
The two Argentinians in the Sampdoria
dressing room became good friends, with
Lopez, who is now 34, helping out his
eight-year younger compatriot. They
saw a lot of one another, with Icardi
often hanging out at Lopez’s house.
Sometime during the summer of
2013, Icardi and Nara started an affair
and by November 2013 the whole Italo-
Argentinian football world knew about it.
First, Nara announced, via Twitter,
that her marriage to Lopez was over.
A few days later, again via Twitter, Icardi
declared his love for her with a tweet that
read: “Te Amo, nunca me sera sencillo
decir lo Q siento” (Wanda, I love you, it’s
not easy for me to describe what I feel
for you).
During that summer, Icardi was bought
by Inter, not so much to resolve dressing-
room tensions but more because he was
one of the best strikers in Italian football.
The move, however, meant that whenInter travelled to Genoa in April 2014
all eyes were on what sort of reception
Icardi would receive. As the two teams
exchanged pre-match handshakes,
Lopez refused to acknowledge Icardi.
In the five years since then, Icardi’s
career has soared and soared. He has
scored more than 100 goals for Inter,
becoming the club’s most iconic and
inspirational player, and on whom they
have put a €110million “buy out” price
tag. At the same time, Lopez has moved
from Sampdoria to Catania, Chievo,
Torino, Udinese and finally, last summer,
ending up in Brazil.
Intriguingly, Icardi’s rise has not
boosted his international career and
since 2013 he has been largely shut
out of the Argentina team. This could, of
course, be down to the fierce competitionNOV 12, 2012
Scores his first goal
in Serie A as
Sampdoria beat
Genoa 3-1 in the
Derby della Lanterna.JAN 27, 2013
Scores four goals in
a 6-0 thrashing of
Pescara to lift
Sampdoria clear
of the Serie A
relegation zone.AUG 25, 2013
Makes his Inter
debut as a
second-half sub
in a 2-0 win at
home to Genoa.SEP 14, 2013
Scores his first
league goal for the
Nerazzurri, in a 1-1
draw with Juventus.OCT 15, 2013
Makes his
international
debut as a sub
for Argentina in
a 3-2 World Cup
qualifying loss
away to Uruguay.APR 13, 2014
Gets two goals
against former
club Sampdoria as
Inter win 4-0 away
from home.“Icardi is a traitor...in my days,
if a guy dared to even look at
a team-mate’s wife, we would
have been queuing up in the
dressing room to beat him up”
Diego MaradonaPresentation...with the family
after receiving an award to
honour his 100th Inter goal