Alberto Tarantini

This article is about the player Alberto Tarantini. It is not to be confused with a player commonly known as Tarantini (Ricardo José Vaz Alves Monteiro).

Alberto Tarantini

Personal information
Full name	Alberto César Tarantini
Date of birth	(1955-12-03) 3 December 1955
Place of birth	Ezeiza, Argentina
Height
Position(s)	Left back
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1973–1977	Boca Juniors	179	(0)
1978–1979	Birmingham City	23	(1)
1979	Talleres de Córdoba	13	(1)
1980–1983	River Plate
1983–1984	SC Bastia	29	(1)
1984–1988	Toulouse	130	(8)
1988–1989	FC St. Gallen
International career
1974–1982	Argentina	61	(1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Alberto Tarantini (born 3 December 1955) is an Argentine former football player and a 1978 FIFA World Cup champion. He played as a defensive left back early in his career, and later as a wing back.

Noted for his technical ability as well as stamina, Tarantini was best known for his fiery temper.

He rose through the Boca Juniors youth divisions in the early 1970s, and was noted for his afro hairdo and his large front teeth, which earned him the nickname conejo ("rabbit").

Tarantini was part of the under-23 team that won the 1975 Toulon Tournament, together with Jorge Valdano, Américo Gallego, and others, with César Menotti as coach. He became the left-back of the Argentina national football team after Jorge Carrascosa left the team (the book El DT del Proceso by Gasparini and Ponsico claims that the wolf Carrascosa declined to play for the dictatorship). He was also, at 22, the youngest player of that team.

A few months before the 1978 FIFA World Cup, he had a contractual dispute with Boca that left him clubless, as Boca management pressured all Argentine clubs into denying him a new contract. After some good performances during the World Cup (he scored a goal in the 6–0 victory against Peru) he was signed by Birmingham City for £295,000. His spell in England was overshadowed by poor discipline, with Tarantini flattening Manchester United defender Brian Greenhoff, and famously ending his 23-game spell in Birmingham by wading into the crowd to punch a heckler.

After his return to Argentina he played for Talleres de Córdoba, River Plate (where he had good performances as a full-back), and European teams SC Bastia, Toulouse and FC St. Gallen.

In 1982 Tarantini was voted into the Top Ten of the South America Player of the Year awards.

Tarantini also played in the 1982 FIFA World Cup for Argentina, and retired from the national team immediately thereafter.

Tarantini's love of nightlife was noted by gossip columnists; for many years he was the husband of fashion model Patricia Pata Villanueva.

Titles

Season	Club	Titles
Nacional 1976	Boca Juniors	Primera Division Argentina
Metropolitano 1976	Boca Juniors	Primera Division Argentina
1977	Boca Juniors	Copa Libertadores
Metropolitano 1980	River Plate	Primera Division Argentina
Nacional 1981	River Plate	Primera Division Argentina

Year	National	Titles
1978	Argentina	FIFA World Cup

References

• Top Ten South America Player of the Year 1982

External links

• Alberto Tarantini at National-Football-Teams.com
• Tarantini at Sporting Heroes
• (Spanish) Futbol Factory profile at the Wayback Machine (archived October 20, 2007)