Full name Bogdan Ionut Lobont Playing position Years Team Role Football goalkeeper Weight 78 kg Children Azarita Letizia Lobont | Place of birth Hunedoara, Romania Number 1 Name Bogdan Lobont Height 1.85 m Salary 600,000 EUR (2012) | |
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Date of birth (1978-01-18) 18 January 1978 (age 38) Current team A.S. Roma (#1 / Goalkeeper) Similar People Miralem Pjanic, Mattia Destro, Gervinho, Aurelio Andreazzoli, Rudi Garcia | ||
Bogdan Lobonţ romanian goalkeeper
Bogdan Ionuț Lobonț ([boɡˈdan ˈlobont͡s]; born 18 January 1978) is a Romanian professional goalkeeper playing for Italian club Roma and the Romania national team. Lobonț has been popularly nicknamed "Pisica" ("The Cat") in Romania due to his quick reflexes, compared to that of a cat.
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Early career
Lobonț began his career with hometown club Corvinul Hunedoara. He remained with the team until 1997, when he moved to Rapid București. He enjoyed success there and was transferred to Dutch club Ajax in 2000. Injury and inexperience, however, kept him out of the starting XI, and he was loaned to Dinamo București for the 2001–02 season.
Upon his return to Ajax, he became the team's primary goalkeeper. Although he struggled with occasional injuries, he played well when healthy in both the Eredivisie and the UEFA Champions League.
In January 2006, Lobonț was sold from Ajax to Italian Serie A club Fiorentina, which needed a goalkeeper after the injury to starting goalkeeper Sébastien Frey. Although he played particularly well, Frey's return meant that he would spend most of the time as a substitute. Because he had also lost his place on the Romania national team, Lobonț made a surprise move back to Dinamo București in January 2007 and helped the club win Liga I.
Roma
On 31 August 2009, Italian Serie A club Roma signed Lobonț on a free loan from Dinamo, with an option for the club to buy him at the end of the season. He made his first appearance for the Giallorossi on 4 October, coming off the bench after 23 minutes in a game against Napoli. Because of starter Maarten Stekelenburg's injury, he was the temporary first goalkeeper in four matches in 2011–12. On 4 March 2012, he came on against Lazio because of Stekelenburg's red card. On 1 July 2013, Lobonț signed a new three-year contract with Roma which will keep him at the club until 2016.
International career
Lobonț has played an important part of the Romania national team, earning over 80 caps, his first won in 1998. He was part of his country's UEFA Euro 2000 and Euro 2008 squads.
He turned in a particularly strong performance in Romania's group stage game in Euro 2008 against world champions Italy, saving numerous well-placed shots and keeping his team's tournament hopes alive with a 1–1 draw.