Nicolás Tagliafico

Nicolás Tagliafico
Tagliafico with Lyon in 2022
Personal information
Full name Nicolás Alejandro Tagliafico[1]
Date of birth (1992-08-31) 31 August 1992 (age 32)[1]
Place of birth Rafael Calzada, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)[1]
Position(s) Left-back
Team information
Current team
Lyon
Number 3
Youth career
2007–2010 Banfield
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2010–2015 Banfield 90 (2)
2012–2013Real Murcia (loan) 27 (0)
2015–2018 Independiente 85 (2)
2018–2022 Ajax 115 (9)
2022– Lyon 67 (6)
International career
2007 Argentina U15 2 (0)
2009 Argentina U17 5 (0)
2011 Argentina U20 12 (1)
2017– Argentina 67 (1)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Argentina
FIFA World Cup
Winner 2022 Qatar
Copa América
Winner 2021 Brazil
Winner 2024 United States
Third place 2019 Brazil
CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions
Winner 2022 England
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 23:15, 15 December 2024 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19 November 2024

Nicolás Alejandro Tagliafico (born 31 August 1992) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a left-back for the Ligue 1 club Lyon and the Argentina national team. He was a member of the Argentina team that won the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Early life

Of Italian origins, his grandparents are from the city of Genoa on the paternal side and Calabrian on the maternal side; he also has Italian citizenship.[2]

Club career

Banfield

Tagliafico made his professional debut for Banfield on a 2−1 away victory against Tigre for the fifth fixture of the 2011 Clausura, coming on as a substitute on the 72nd minute.[3] Due to Marcelo Bustamante's ban, he was a starter the following game, a 2−2 draw with Huracán.[3] In 2012, Tagliafico signed a one-year loan deal with Spanish club Real Murcia.

Independiente

In 2015, he made the move to Independiente for an undisclosed transfer fee and made his professional debut for the club during a 3−2 away win at Newell's Old Boys. Tagliafico would end up captaining the team that won the 2017 Copa Sudamericana.

Ajax

On 5 January 2018, Tagliafico made the move to Ajax for a fee of £4 million and made his professional debut for the club during a 2−0 home win against Feyenoord on 21 January 2018 in the Klassieker. Since then he has played over 100 league games for the club and scored 7 league goals and became a starter for the team in 2019.

Lyon

On 23 July 2022, he joined Ligue 1 club Lyon on a three-year deal until June 2025, for €4.2 million[4]

International career

Tagliafico with Argentina at the 2018 FIFA World Cup

Tagliafico has played in all the youth categories of the Argentina national team: under-15, under-17 and under-20. Tagliafico impressed for the Argentina national under-20 football team at the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia; however, he missed Argentina's final kick in the quarter-final penalty shoot-out against Portugal, meaning Argentina exited that competition 5–4 on penalties (Cartagena, 13 August 2011).

In May 2018, he was named in Argentina's final 23 man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.[5] He also played the 2019 Copa América, and took with Argentina the third place, through a 2–1 victory over Chile in the third-place match.[6]

In June 2021, he was included in Lionel Scaloni's final Argentina 28-man squad for the 2021 Copa América.[7]

He is the only foreign player to became champion at club level (Independiente, Sudamericana 2017) and at international level (Argentina, Copa América 2021) at the Maracaná stadium.

In November 2022, he was named in Argentina's final 26-man squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar by Scaloni. Tagliafico was part of the starting line-up in the final against France, where Argentina won the World Cup by a score of 4–2 on penalties.[8]

In June 2024, Tagliafico was included in Lionel Scaloni's final 26-man Argentina squad for the 2024 Copa América.[9]

Style of play

He is noted for his "lung-busting stamina, excellent technique and continuous enterprise". As a result of his skills, as well as his playing position and club, and nationality, and striking visual resemblance Tagliafico has been compared to the Internazionale and Argentina full-back Javier Zanetti, formerly also of Banfield.[10]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 15 December 2024[11]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[a] Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Banfield 2010–11 Argentine Primera División 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0
2011–12 33 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 33 1
2013–14 Primera B Nacional 34 0 2 1 0 0 36 1
2014 Argentine Primera División 14 1 0 0 0 0 14 1
Total 90 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 92 3
Real Murcia (loan) 2012–13 Segunda División 27 0 1 0 28 0
Independiente 2015 Argentine Primera División 31 1 2 0 6[b] 0 0 0 39 1
2016 16 1 2 0 4[b] 0 3[c] 0 25 1
2016–17 29 0 1 0 11[b] 0 2[c] 0 43 0
2017–18 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0
Total 85 2 5 0 21 0 5 0 116 2
Ajax 2017–18 Eredivisie 15 1 0 0 0 0 15 1
2018–19 29 2 2 1 15[d] 3 46 6
2019–20 24 3 3 0 11[e] 2 0 0 38 5
2020–21 25 1 4 0 11[f] 0 40 1
2021–22 22 2 4 1 3[d] 0 1[g] 0 30 3
Total 115 9 13 2 40 5 1 0 169 16
Lyon 2022–23 Ligue 1 34 1 4 0 38 1
2023–24 25 3 6 0 31 3
2024–25 8 2 0 0 5[h] 0 13 2
Total 67 6 10 0 5 0 82 6
Career total 384 19 31 3 66 5 6 0 487 27
  1. ^ Includes Copa Argentina, Copa del Rey, KNVB Cup, Coupe de France
  2. ^ a b c Appearances in Copa Sudamericana
  3. ^ a b Appearances in Torneos de Verano
  4. ^ a b Appearances in UEFA Champions League
  5. ^ Ten appearances and two goals in UEFA Champions League, one appearance in UEFA Europa League
  6. ^ Six appearances in UEFA Champions League, five appearances in UEFA Europa League
  7. ^ Appearance in Johan Cruyff Shield
  8. ^ Appearances in UEFA Europa League

International

As of match played 19 November 2024[12]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Argentina 2017 1 0
2018 11 0
2019 13 0
2020 3 0
2021 8 0
2022 12 0
2023 7 1
2024 12 0
Total 67 1
As of match played 19 November 2024
Scores and results list Argentina's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Tagliafico goal.
List of international goals scored by Nicolás Tagliafico
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition
1 12 September 2023 Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia 51  Bolivia 2–0 3–0 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Independiente[13]

Ajax[13]

Lyon

Argentina[13]

Individual

References

  1. ^ a b c "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ – Squad List: Argentina (ARG)" (PDF). FIFA. 18 December 2022. p. 1. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 December 2022.
  2. ^ Ajax, Tagliafico towards Juventus: "Ronaldo defends himself as a team", La Gazzetta dello Sport
  3. ^ a b "Closing '11 statistics". Argentine Soccer. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
  4. ^ "OL.fr - Olympique Lyonnais".
  5. ^ "Argentina: Paulo Dybala completes star quartet as big name misses out". independent.co.uk. The Independent. 21 May 2018. Archived from the original on 20 June 2022. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  6. ^ "Argentina venció 2-1 a Chile y se quedó con el tercer puesto" [Argentina beat Chile 2-1 and took third place]. copaamerica.com (in Spanish). CONMEBOL. 6 July 2019. Archived from the original on 8 July 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  7. ^ "Argentina National Team Squad 2021". Diario AS. 15 June 2021.
  8. ^ "Argentina 3–3 France (Argentina wins 4–2 on penalties)". FIFA. 18 December 2022.
  9. ^ "Lionel Scaloni dio a conocer la lista de la Selección argentina para la Copa América 2024". Todo Noticias. 15 June 2024. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
  10. ^ "Nicolás Tagliafico: the New Javier Zanetti?". Mediolana. 14 August 2011. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
  11. ^ "N. Tagliafico". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  12. ^ "Nicolás Tagliafico". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  13. ^ a b c "Nicolás Tagliafico - Career Honours". Soccerway.
  14. ^ "Neres' stoppage-time goal seals Dutch Cup win". Ajax website. 18 April 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  15. ^ "PSG beat Lyon 2-1 to win French Cup final in Mbappe's farewell appearance". Reuters. 25 May 2024. Retrieved 25 May 2024.
  16. ^ Murray, Scott (18 December 2022). "Argentina beat France on penalties after thrilling World Cup final – live reaction". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  17. ^ Graham, Bryan Armen (11 July 2021). "Argentina 1-0 Brazil: Copa América final – live!". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  18. ^ "Argentina defeats Colombia to Become The Champion of CONMEBOL Copa América 2024™". Copa América. 15 July 2024. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  19. ^ "Italy 0–3 Argentina: Messi and Di Maria shine in impressive Finalissima win". BBC Sport. 1 June 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  20. ^ "Nicolás Tagliafico uitgeroepen tot Speler van de Maand november | Eredivisie". eredivisie.nl. 6 December 2018.