Juan Pablo Ángel

Juan Pablo Ángel Arango (born 24 October 1975) is a Colombian former footballer who last played as a striker for Atlético Nacional in Categoría Primera A.

He began his career at Nacional, whom he helped to win the championship in 1994, and then moved to River Plate of Argentina, where he was the league's top scorer in 2000.

The following year he moved to Europe, joining Aston Villa of the Premier League for a club record £9.5 million.

Ángel began to make a name for himself when he scored the winning goal against local rival Independiente Medellín to help Nacional capture the 1994 Colombian title.

During his time with his hometown club Ángel would appear in 147 league matches scoring 45 goals.

Ángel was also a full international for Colombia, and made 33 appearances from his debut in 1995, scoring 9 goals.

Ángel is the father of footballer Tomás Ángel, who currently plays as a forward for Atlético Nacional.

Ángel started playing professional football at Atlético Nacional in his home city of Medellín.

Ángel was sold to River Plate in Argentina in January 1998 as a replacement of the departed Hernán Crespo.

River Plate spectators would often adorn angel wings to show their appreciation.

During his time with the club, Ángel managed 62 goals in 132 games, including 16 goals in 25 Copa Libertadores matches.

Ángel signed for Premier League side Aston Villa on 12 January 2001, becoming the club's record signing at £9.5 million.

Angel made his debut away to Manchester United in a 0–2 loss on 20 January 2001.

In his time at Villa, he was reportedly Villa's highest earner.

After an indifferent start to his Aston Villa career, and family difficulties, Ángel settled down and started to reproduce the form that had persuaded chairman Doug Ellis to spend the large transfer fee.

In 2007, he moved to the United States, where he played for three clubs in Major League Soccer before returning to Atlético Nacional in 2013.

On 17 April 2007, the New York Red Bulls announced the signing of Ángel as their second designated player, pending the approval of his work visa.

After his visa was approved, Ángel made his Red Bull debut 8 May 2007 in a US Open Cup qualifying match.

Ángel came on as a substitute and scored from a free kick in extra time during the Red Bulls' 3–1 loss to Los Angeles Galaxy.

Ángel also recorded an assist and played an important role in a third goal to round off a performance that earned him that week's MLS Player of the Week award.

His form showed no signs of letting up in the following game, as he weighed in with two goals and another assist as the Red Bulls overcame Chicago Fire to win 3–0, taking them to joint top of the Eastern Conference.

Ángel was voted MLS Player of the Month for May 2007.

He became the first Red Bull player to score in six straight games.

On 18 August 2007, Ángel added two more goals to his tally.

His team defeated Los Angeles Galaxy 5–4.

Ángel scored the first goal early on from a free kick before striking a late winner to seal the game for the Red Bulls.

Ángel also scored the first goal of the 2007 MLS All-Star Game on 19 July 2007 against Celtic, and later was named MVP of the Match for his performance.

On 29 September 2007, Ángel scored a penalty to tie the Red Bulls' game against Real Salt Lake and in doing so scored his 17th goal of the season in all competitions, setting a new franchise record.

Ángel concluded his initial campaign in New York scoring 19 goals and 5 assists in 24 league matches (20 goals in 27 matches in all official competitions).

His regular season goal total was one short of Luciano Emilio who led the league with 20 but who had also played more games.

Ángel had a slow start to the 2008 season due to an arthritic nerve-related injury in his lower back that caused him to have pain in his hamstring but he finally scored his first of the season in his fourth appearance – a 2–1 winner against LA Galaxy on 10 May.

On 5 June he fought through a still painful injury to score the only goal in New York's home win against Chivas USA.

However, in doing so he also picked up another slight hamstring strain and after the final whistle he was seen limping off the pitch.

As a result of this injury Ángel missed the Red Bulls' next 4 league games.

Even through this injury-plagued season, his three goals were enough for coach Steve Nicol to name him to the 2008 MLS All-Star Game vs West Ham United in which he fed the pass that earned the game winning penalty kick and also scored a goal that was disallowed due to a controversial offside.

Ángel concluded his second season in New York scoring 14 goals in 23 league matches (16 goals in 28 matches in official competitions).

He quickly became a fans favourite and is the 3rd most recent Villa player to have scored more than 20 goals in one season (behind Christian Benteke in the 2012–13 season and Tammy Abraham in the 2018–19 season), finishing as the club's top scorer in the 2003–04 season with 16 goals in the FA Premier League, (23 goals including cup competitions) but could not maintain that form as Villa struggled and he only managed seven goals in 2004–05.

That season he also missed two penalties in one game against Fulham.

During his time with the club, Ángel managed 62 goals in 205 games across all competitions.

Only two players have scored more goals for Villa in the Premier League era, those being Dwight Yorke (97 goals in 288 games) and Gabriel Agbonlahor (74 goals in 284 games).