he successfully applied for in January 2007. Higuaín has two elder brothers, Nicolas and Federico, the latter of whom also plays as a professional footballer, and one younger brother, Lautaro. Club career River Plate Higuaín started playing in the youth teams and made his debut with River Plate in a 2–1 defeat against Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP) on 29 May 2005. On 12 February 2006, he scored his first league goal in a 3–1 victory over Banfield. Higuaín ended the 2005–06 season with 5 goals in 12 appearances. Following his brace in the Superclásico derby against Boca Juniors on 8 October 2006, River Plate manager Daniel Passarella declared that Higuaín had an "enormous future" and was "destined for superstardom". By the end of that season, he scored 10 goals in 17 league matches. Real Madrid 2006–07 season In December 2006, Spanish club Real Madrid signed Higuaín for €12 million from River Plate. His debut came on 11 January 2007 against Real Betis in the second round of the Copa del Rey in Seville. His first league game came three days later, on 14 January 2007, against Real Zaragoza at home. Higuaín was involved in the creation of numerous scoring chances and in the assistance for the only goal, which earned Madrid the victory. His first goal with Real came on 24 February when the team faced Atlético Madrid in the Madrid derby, the equaliser (1–1) at the Vicente Calderón Stadium. During his first season at the Bernabéu, however, Higuaín raised some doubts over his performance due to his overall lack of goals. 2007–08 season During the 2007–08 season, Higuaín played inconsistently, although he finished strongly at the end of the season: He first scored a last minute goal to earn his team a victory in a 2–1 comeback against Osasuna, which allowed Real Madrid to be mathematically crowned Liga champions for the second consecutive year. Four days later, he scored the third goal of a 4–1 thrashing of Barcelona in El Clásico. The goal was scored just 57 seconds after he came off the bench. 2008–09 season In the 2008–09 season, Higuaín was offered the chance to be a starter due to a serious injury suffered by Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy. In August 2008, Higuaín scored the winner in Madrid's victory over Valencia in the Supercopa de España. Shortly afterwards, he scored all four goals in a 4–3 win