Santiago Giménez

Biography

"Bebote" Giménez is a penalty-box striker who finishes exquisitely with either foot, and the son of Cruz Azul great Chaco Giménez. Born in Argentina, he arrived in Mexico as a small child when his father joined Mexican football, and grew up feeling he belonged there.

His game feeds on instinct: he reads a rebound before anyone else, drifts between centre-backs to steal a yard of space, and finishes just as naturally with his left foot, his right, or his head. He grew up breathing football from childhood, wandering through dressing rooms and training sessions where he absorbed, almost without noticing, the trade of the penalty box he would later make his own.

He followed his father’s path at Cruz Azul, where he broke out as a focal-point striker and won over a fan base that already knew the Giménez name. From there he leapt to Europe as a hungry, promising young forward.

At Feyenoord he became a relentless scorer: he passed Hirving Lozano as the top Mexican scorer in Eredivisie history and won trophies in the Netherlands, a stretch that tempered his character and sharpened his back-to-goal play and his finishing in tight spaces. That level earned him a move to AC Milan, where he has had to adapt to a more tactical league and tighter marking.

He could have played for Argentina, but he chose Mexico, the national team of the country where he became a footballer and a man — a decision he made with the calm of someone who never felt he was betraying anything, only honoring what life had given him.

A physical problem interrupted his scoring run in late 2025, and he arrives at the World Cup eager to find the net again, competing with Jiménez for the starting number-nine role. He knows that in a tournament Mexico is playing at home, every minute he is given can be decisive — even in as demanding a game as tonight’s round of 16 against England at the Azteca. His is a story of footballing inheritance carried with pride.