Iván de la Peña

After the shocking death of new team captain Daniel Jarque, in August 2009, de la Peña was named as his replacement. His physical problems continued to bother him tremendously, to a point which he said that if this became a major issue he would retire, which happened on 22 May 2011 at the age of 35, immediately after a home match against Sevilla.

From 2007 to 2009, after extending his contract, de la Peña was severely hindered with injury problems. However, on 21 February 2009, he managed to net twice in a 2–1 derby win at Barça, with one side ranking first in the league and the other last; Espanyol eventually finished in 10th position.

Despite this, he did not make his debut for the senior team until 9 February 2005, at the age of 28 years and 9 months in a 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier against San Marino (Almería, 5–0). He subsequently played for Spain on five occasions during the year, with his last coming against the same opponent.

In 2002, de la Peña moved to Barcelona neighbours RCD Espanyol, where he gained the continuity and stability to produce some of the best football in his career. In 2004–05 he helped the Catalans finish fifth in La Liga, enabling them to qualify for the UEFA Cup. In the 2006 domestic cup final, de la Peña masterminded a 4–1 victory against Real Zaragoza, setting up two goals: Raúl Tamudo scored after two minutes when he headed in a rebound following a de la Peña free-kick. The pair combined again to carve open the Zaragoza defence to lay on a goal for Luis García; as a result, Espanyol again for the qualified for the UEFA Cup and eventually reached the competition final, losing to Sevilla FC on penalties.

De la Peña fell out of favour at Barça once again after the arrival of another Dutch coach, Louis van Gaal, and he was consequently transferred to S.S. Lazio, along with Fernando Couto. However, he failed to establish himself in Serie A and was loaned to Olympique de Marseille during the 1999–00 season. This move was not successful either and he returned to Barcelona, on loan, for 2000–01; after only appearing nine times (one start, against Racing de Santander) throughout the season, under Lorenzo Serra Ferrer, he returned to Italy, being released in the following summer.

With the arrival of Bobby Robson in 1996, de la Peña was given a second chance to establish himself in the team. He subsequently developed a partnership with Ronaldo and was a prominent member of the team that won the Copa del Rey/UEFA Cup Winners' Cup/UEFA Supercup treble in 1997. He was also voted the best young player by El País in both 1996 and 1997.

Born in Santander, Cantabria, de la Peña was recruited by FC Barcelona as a youth player in 1991 and made his debut for the B-team two years later. He went on to play 37 games for them, and first-team manager Johan Cruyff gave him his official main squad debut on 3 September 1995 as he came on as a substitute – and scored – in a 2–0 away win against Real Valladolid; at 19 he was initially regarded as the natural successor to Pep Guardiola. However, he gradually fell out of favour with Cruyff and found himself dropped, although he achieved a career-best seven league goals in that rookie season.

Iván de la Peña López (Spanish pronunciation: [iˈβan delaˈpeɲa] ; born 6 May 1976) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. During his career, he earned the nicknames Pequeño Buddha (Little Buddha) and Lo Pelat (The Shaven One) due to his shaven head and slight frame.