Matías Palacios

Matías Palacios
Personal information
Full name Matías Damián Palacios
Date of birth (2002-05-10) 10 May 2002 (age 22)
Place of birth General Pico, Argentina
Height 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)[1]
Position(s) Central midfielder[2]
Team information
Current team
 Al Ain
Number 20
Youth career
San Lorenzo
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2018–2021 San Lorenzo 5 (0)
2021–2022 Basel 31 (1)
2021–2022 Basel U21 5 (3)
2022– Al Ain 33 (2)
International career‡
2017 Argentina U15
2018–2019 Argentina U17 17 (5)
2018 Argentina U20 3 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 26 May 2024
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 14:31, 21 March 2021 (UTC)

Matías Damián Palacios (born 10 May 2002) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for UAE Pro League side Al Ain.[1] He acquired Emirati citizenship in 2024.

Club career

San Lorenzo

Palacios began his career with San Lorenzo.[1][3] He made his professional football debut on 21 September 2018, featuring for the final twenty-nine minutes of a 3–2 victory over Patronato at the Estadio Pedro Bidegain.[1] Aged 16, it meant Palacios became the club's youngest ever player in Primera División history.[4] He made five further appearances for the club, which included his one and only start on 10 January 2021 against Banfield.[1]

Basel

On 15 February 2021, Palacios signed with Swiss Super League club Basel; penning a contract until 2025.[2][5] He joined Basel's first team for their 2020–21 season under head coach Ciriaco Sforza. Palacios played his domestic league debut for his new club in the away game in the Kybunpark on 27 February as Basel were defeated 1–3 by St. Gallen.[6] He scored his first goal for the club on 15 August 2021 in the Swiss Cup away game as Basel won 7–0 against amateur club FC Schönenwerd-Niedergösgen.[7] He scored his first league goal for the club in the away game in the Swissporarena on 28 November as Basel won 3–1 against Luzern.[8]

At the beginning of the next season Palacios left the club because he had only been used as a substitute. During his time with them, Palacios played a total of 62 games for Basel scoring a total of four goals. 31 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, three in the Swiss Cup, 12 in the Europa Conference League and 16 were friendly games. He scored one goal in the domestic league, two in the cup and the other was scored during the test games.[9]

Al Ain

Palacios moved on to play for Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates.

International career

Palacios represented Argentina at U15, U17 and U20 level.[4] For the U15s, Palacios won the 2017 South American Championship prior to winning the 2016 COTIF Tournament with the U20s.[10] Pablo Aimar selected Palacios for the 2019 South American U-17 Championship on 3 March.[11] Diego Placente called him up for the U17s' trip to Russia for the 2019 Granatkin Memorial.[12] He scored in game one against Armenia, prior to netting versus Turkey in the semi-finals on the way to Argentina winning the competition.[13][14] He was also chosen as the tournament's best midfielder.[15] In October 2019, Palacios was picked for the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Brazil.[16]

Personal life

His brother, Julián, is a fellow footballer; he also started off in San Lorenzo's youth academy.[4]

Career statistics

As of 26 May 2024.[1]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[a] League cup[b] Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
San Lorenzo 2018–19 Argentine Primera División 1 0 1 0 0 0 — — 2 0
2019–20 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — 0 0
2020–21 4 0 0 0 0 0 — — 4 0
Total 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0
Basel 2020–21 Swiss Super League 9 0 0 0 — 0 0 — 9 0
2021–22 22 1 3 2 — 12[c] 0 — 37 3
Total 31 1 3 2 — 12 0 0 0 45 3
Al Ain 2022–23 UAE Pro League 21 0 5 1 5 1 — 1[d] 0 32 2
2023–24 12 2 1 1 5 1 9[e] 0 0 0 27 4
Total 33 2 6 2 10 2 9 0 1 0 59 6
Career total 69 3 10 4 10 2 21 0 1 0 111 9
  1. ^ Includes Swiss Cup, UAE President's Cup
  2. ^ Includes UAE League Cup
  3. ^ Appearances in UEFA Europa Conference League
  4. ^ Appearance in UAE Super Cup
  5. ^ Appearances in AFC Champions League

Honours

Argentina U15[10]

Argentina U17[17][18]

Argentina U20[10]

Al Ain

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Matías Palacios at Soccerway
  2. ^ a b "Der FCB verpflichtet Matías Palacios". Basel. 15 February 2021. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  3. ^ "Ficha Estadistica de MATIAS PALACIOS". BDFA. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  4. ^ a b c "Matías Palacios, el pibe de 16 años que debutó ante Patronato". Marca. 21 September 2018. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  5. ^ "FC Basel verpflichtet jungen Argentinier" [FC Basel signs young Argentinian]. herisau 24 (in German). 15 February 2021. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  6. ^ Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv” (27 February 2021). "FC St. Gallen - FC Basel 3:1 (1:0)". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
  7. ^ FC Basel 1893 (15 August 2021). "FCB mühelos in der zweiten Runde". FCB easily in the second round. FC Basel 1893 AG. Retrieved 15 August 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ FC Basel 1893 (28 November 2021). "Souveräner 3:1-Sieg beim FC Luzern". Confident 3-1 victory at FC Luzern. FC Basel 1893 AG. Retrieved 28 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv” (2022). "Matías Palacios - FCB statistic". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  10. ^ a b c "Matías Palacios, la joya de 16 años que debutó en San Lorenzo". TyC Sports. 21 September 2018. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  11. ^ "Los 23 citados para el Sudamericano". AFA. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  12. ^ "Argentina debutará el miércoles en el torneo de Rusia". AFA. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  13. ^ "Мемориал Валентина Гранаткина: Совет Пласенте сработал. Но не сразу". Granatkin Memorial. 5 June 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  14. ^ "Мемориал Валентина Гранаткина: Мемориал Валентина Гранаткина 2019: Заявка команды - Аргентина". Granatkin Memorial. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  15. ^ "Гранаткина-2019. Итоги". Granatkin Memorial. 14 June 2019. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  16. ^ "FU17WC_2019_Squadlists.pdf" (PDF). FIFA Data. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  17. ^ "Matías Godoy, campeón sudamericano Sub 17". Diario Castellanos. 16 April 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  18. ^ "Мемориал Валентина Гранаткина: Аргентина 1 : 0 Россия". Granatkin Memorial. 14 June 2019. Retrieved 14 June 2019.