Ezequiel Iván "Pocho" Lavezzi (Latin American Spanish: [eseˈkjel iˈβan laˈβesi]; born 3 May 1985) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a forward.

During his career, his most important attributes were his pace, hardworking style of play, technique, creativity, and dribbling ability; although he was usually deployed as a winger, he was also used as a second striker or as an attacking midfielder on occasion.

[2][3] He began his career at Estudiantes (BA), and after one season was signed by Genoa, who loaned him to San Lorenzo, where he eventually moved on a permanent basis.

[16] Lavezzi was named "Man of the Match" as he volleyed in a lobbed pass from strike partner Edinson Cavani to send Napoli to a 2–0 victory over Udinese on 26 October.

[20] The following Sunday, on 26 February, Lavezzi scored the only goal of the game as Napoli defeated Internazionale and climbed up to fifth place in the Serie A standings.

[22] Lavezzi netted a penalty and provided an assist as Napoli tore apart Cagliari 6–3 on 9 March to warm up for their Round of 16 second leg tie against Chelsea.

[23] Lavezzi scored his ninth and final Serie A goal of the season in a 3–1 loss to Atalanta on 11 April after receiving the ball from Goran Pandev and pushing it past goalkeeper Andrea Consigli.

[31] On 11 December, Lavezzi scored PSG's fourth goal, after a Zlatan Ibrahimović hat-trick, as the capital club handed Valenciennes FC their first home defeat of the season.

[32] On 12 February 2013, Lavezzi scored the opening goal against Valencia CF in the Champions League Round of 16, helping PSG secure a 1–2 first leg away victory.

[33] Lavezzi secured the tie, equalizing the game at 1–1 and giving the French side a 3–2 aggregate win, advancing to the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time since 1995.

[39] Due to picking up an injury in June 2016 on international duty for Argentina in the Copa América, Lavezzi was restricted to just 10 appearances in his debut season for Hebei China Fortune.

[46] Lavezzi's club form was not enough to see him included in Diego Maradona's 2010 FIFA World Cup squad, a surprise exclusion along with Newcastle United defender Fabricio Coloccini.

[50] In the final tournament on home soil, Lavezzi made three appearances in the group stage,[51] but was suspended for the quarter-final match,[52] in which the hosts were knocked out by the eventual champions Uruguay on penalties.

[56] In the final against Germany he set up a goal for Higuaín, but it was correctly ruled off-side; Lavezzi was replaced by Sergio Agüero at half-time, and Argentina were defeated 1–0 in extra time.

[57] Lavezzi was a member of the Argentina squad that reached the final of the 2015 Copa América, only to be defeated by hosts Chile on penalties.

[61] In the semi-finals of the tournament, a 4–0 victory against the hosts United States, Lavezzi opened the scoring in the third minute of play and later set up Gonzalo Higuaín's first goal, but broke his left elbow after he tumbled over the advertisement boarding while chasing the ball.

[63] Lavezzi is known for his pace, acceleration, energy, sturdy physique, movement, and hardworking style of play, as well as his technique, creativity, quick feet, dribbling ability, and sharpness around the box; he is also a good shooter.

[68] In spite of his skill and abilities as a footballer, he has been accused of being overly temperamental on the pitch at times, and has been criticised for arguing with officials.