Carlos Tevez

BACKGROUND

Carlos Alberto Martinez was born on 5th February 1984 in Ciudadela, Buenos Aires Province. He was the first-born son of mother Adriana and father Raimundo. Carlos was raised in Ejercito de los Andes, better known as Fuerte Apache.

The area is notorious, renowned for its violence, drugs & poverty and because of its high crime rate is considered one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods in greater Buenos Aires. It was growing up on the streets here that Carlos gained the nickname 'Apache'.

When Carlos was 10 months old he accidently poured a kettle of boiling water over himself. This caused third degree burns putting Tevez in hospital for 2 months. The burn has left a scar on the right side of his face, neck and chest. Carlos declined to have plastic surgery when he was growing up as it would of kept him out of the playground for 4 months. The Argentina striker later refused an offer from Boca Juniors to have the scars cosmetically improved, saying that the scars were a part of who he was in the past and who he is today.

Growing up in a slum had it's own problems and the daily struggle for food and survival was the greatest of them all. His father was a bricklayer and found work hard to come by, whilst his mother stayed at home to bring up Carlos and his four siblings. Tevez, the eldest of five children, learned how to hussle on the street, regulary playing street football in return for food and drink.

Carlos Tevez scar from boiling water as a child