Ariel Cabral

Alejandro Ariel Cabral (born September 11, 1987) is an Argentine footballer who currently plays for Cruzeiro.

Ariel Cabral
Personal information
Full name Alejandro Ariel Cabral
Date of birth (1987-09-11) September 11, 1987
Place of birth Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position(s) Central midfielder / Left winger
Club information
Current team
 Cruzeiro
Number 5
Youth career
Vélez Sársfield
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2015 Vélez Sársfield 144 (5)
2010–2011 → Legia Warszawa (loan) 22 (3)
2015– Cruzeiro 94 (1)
National team
2007 Argentina U-20 6 (0)
2011 Argentina 2 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 5 December 2019

Club career

Vélez Sársfield

Cabral started his playing career in 2007 with Vélez Sársfield, during Ricardo La Volpe's coaching era. Despite playing in the youth system as an attacking midfielder, he has mostly played in the first team as a centre midfielder. Cabral was part of Vélez' 2009 Torneo Clausura winning team, playing 5 games.[1]

For the entire 2010–11 season, Vélez loaned Cabral to Legia Warszawa, for a fee of USD 150,000 and a buyout price of USD 2 million.[2] Cabral showed considerable promise early on (scoring against Arsenal FC in a pre-season friendly and being called up to the senior national team). The Argentine midfielder played 40 minutes (including the extra time) in the final of the 2010–11 Polish Cup and scored on the penalty shootout. Winning the Polish Cup, Legia secured its right to play in the 2011–12 Europa League qualifying games. At the end of the season the club decided not to make use of the buyout clause and Cabral returned to Vélez Sársfield.[3]

Upon his return, Cabral was relegated from Vélez's first team by Víctor Zapata. However, initially due to the latter's injuries, he started seeing more action during the first half of 2012, playing 15 games during the 2012 Clausura[4] and 9 during the 2012 Copa Libertadores.[5]

After Zapata's departure from the team in June 2012, Cabral established himself as a regular starter, playing all 19 games (and scoring twice) of Vélez's 2012 Inicial championship-winning campaign.[6] The midfielder fractured his tibia in 2013 and was left out of the squad for the entire Torneo Final and Copa Libertadores,[7] causing Vélez to obtain the loan of Fernando Gago as his replacement. He returned to Vélez first team in 2014 and was a starter in the 2013 Supercopa Argentina victory against Arsenal de Sarandí.

Cabral scored his last goal for Vélez in a 2–0 victory against Crucero del Norte for the second fixture of the 2015 Argentine Primera División and played his last game against Unión de Santa Fe, in a 1–2 defeat for the seventh fixture of that championship. His contract with the club ended in June 2015.

Cruzeiro

In 2015, Ariel Cabral was traded to then Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A Champions Cruzeiro as a replacement to Lucas Silva, sold to Real Madrid. Ariel quickly became one of the main players of the team's midfield, praised by fans for his cerebral style of play, being extremely competent both defensively and offensively, creating plays with magnificent passes even though his main task is defensive.

In Cruzeiro, Cabral was part of what became known as "La Banda", along with former Vélez Sarsfield star Lucas Romero and Uruguay wonderkid Giorgian De Arrascaeta.

International career

Cabral played for the Argentina national under-20 football team that won the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada. He played the last minutes of the final game against Czech Republic.

Called by Sergio Batista, the midfielder made his debut for the Argentina national football team on 1 June 2011 in a 1–4 defeat to Nigeria, soon followed by another appearance in a 1–2 defeat to Poland.

Career statistics

Club
As of 5 December 2019.
Club Season League Cup Continental State League Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Vélez Sársfield 2007 120—20—140
2008 90———90
2009 120—20—140
2010 91—40—131
2011 00—60—60
2012 261—100—361
2013 192—41—233
2014 3301090—430
2015 241———241
Total 144510371—1826
Legia Warszawa (loan) 2010-11 223———223
Cruzeiro 2015 18010——190
2016 25190—131472
2017 1409010111351
2018 2102050111391
2019 160405070320
Total 9412501104231534
Career total 260926048142335713

International appearances and goals

Honours

Club
Vélez Sársfield
Legia Warszawa
Cruzeiro

International
Argentina U-20
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References
  1. "Clausura '09 statistics". Argentine Soccer. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
  2. "Ya no estarán". Olé (in Spanish). 2010-06-28. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  3. Cabral, Mezenga i Ogbuke odchodzą z Legii 8.06.2011, legia.com
  4. "Clausura '12 statistics". Argentine Soccer. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
  5. "Libertadores '12 statistics". Argentine Soccer. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
  6. "Inicial '12 statistics". Argentine Soccer. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
  7. "Una mala para Vélez: grave lesión de Ariel Cabral". TN (in Spanish). 2013-01-20. Retrieved 2015-01-16.
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