Alejandro Ariel Cabral (born September 11, 1987) is an Argentine

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

Club career

Vélez Sársfield

Cabral started his playing career in 2007 with Vélez Sársfield, during

Ricardo La Volpe Ricardo Antonio La Volpe Guarchoni (; born 6 February 1952) is an Argentine former professional footballer and manager. He is a World Cup-winning goalkeeper who played for most of his career in Argentina and Mexico. As a coach, La Volpe was in ...

's coaching era. Despite playing in the youth system as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, 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. For the entire 2010–11 season, Vélez loaned Cabral to

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a ...

, for a fee of USD 150,000 and a buyout price of USD 2 million. Cabral showed considerable promise early on (scoring against

Arsenal FC Arsenal Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, London, England. Arsenal plays in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The club has won 13 league titles (inclu ...

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 The 2010–11 Polish Cup was the fifty-seventh season of the annual Polish football knockout tournament. It began on 21 July 2010 with the first matches of the Extra Preliminary Round and ended in 2011 with the Final. The winners qualified for th ...

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. 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 and 9 during the

2012 Copa Libertadores The 2012 Copa Libertadores de América (officially the 2012 Copa Santander Libertadores for sponsorship reasons) was the 53rd edition of the Copa Libertadores de América, South America's premier international club football tournament organized ...

. 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. The midfielder fractured his

tibia The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...

in 2013 and was left out of the squad for the entire Torneo Final and

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

, causing Vélez to obtain the loan of

Fernando Gago Fernando Rubén Gago (; born 10 April 1986) is an Argentine professional former player and football manager of Racing Club. During his 16-year club career, limited by multiple serious injuries, Gago played as a defensive midfielder and deep-l ...

as his replacement. He returned to Vélez first team in 2014 and was a starter in the

2013 Supercopa Argentina The 2013 Supercopa Argentina Final was the 2nd edition of the Supercopa Argentina, an annual football match contested by the winners of the Primera División and Copa Argentina competitions. Vélez Sarsfield beat Arsenal 1–0 in San Luis San Lu ...

victory against

Arsenal de Sarandí An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. Cabral scored his last goal for Vélez in a 2–0 victory against

Crucero del Norte Club Mutual Crucero del Norte (simply known as Crucero del Norte) is an Argentine sports club based in Garupá, Misiones Province. The club was founded in 2003 by a long-distance bus company which gave its name to the institution. Although th ...

for the second fixture of the

2015 Argentine Primera División The 2015 Argentine Primera División or Torneo de Primera División 2015 "Julio H. Grondona" was the 125th season of top-flight professional football in Argentina. The season began on February 13 and ended on December 6. Thirty teams competed i ...

and played his last game against

Unión de Santa Fe Club Atlético Unión (; mostly known as Unión de Santa Fe ) is a sports club from Santa Fe, Argentina, Santa Fe, the capital city of the Santa Fe Province, in Argentina. The club was founded on April 15, 1907 and plays in the Argentine Primera ...

, 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 Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. 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 Lucas Daniel Romero (born 18 April 1994) is an Argentine footballer who is a midfielder for Club Atlético Independiente. Early life Romero was born and raised in a humble neighborhood in Loma Hermosa, Greater Buenos Aires. He started playing yo ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

wonderkid

Giorgian De Arrascaeta Giorgian Daniel de Arrascaeta Benedetti (; born 1 June 1994) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Flamengo and the Uruguay national team. De Arrascaeta played for ...

International career

Cabral played for the

Argentina national under-20 football team The Argentina national under-20 football team is the representative of Argentina in FIFA-sponsored tournaments that pertain to that age level. Argentina is the most successful nation in the FIFA U-20 World Cup, winning the competition a record ...

that won the

2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 16th edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup (formerly called the FIFA World Youth Championship), hosted by Canada from 30 June to 22 July 2007. Argentina defeated the Czech Republic in the title game by the score ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

. He played the last minutes of the final game against

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...

. Called by

Sergio Batista Sergio Daniel "Checho" Batista (; born 9 November 1962) is an Argentine football manager and former international player. As a footballer he played as a midfield for Argentinos Juniors, River Plate, Nueva Chicago, Tosu Futures and All Boy ...

, the midfielder made his debut for the

Argentina national football team The Argentina national football team represents Argentina in men's international football and is administered by the Argentine Football Association, the governing body for football in Argentina. Nicknamed ''La Albiceleste'' ('The White and ...

on 1 June 2011 in a 1–4 defeat to

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...

, soon followed by another appearance in a 1–2 defeat to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

Career statistics

Club

International appearances and goals

Honours

Club

;Vélez Sársfield *

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; en, "First Division"), known officialy as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Binance for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in Argentina, organised by the Argentine Football Association (AFA). T ...

(3): 2009 Clausura, 2012 Inicial, 2012–13 Superfinal *

Supercopa Argentina The Supercopa Argentina (English: Argentine Super Cup) is an official National association football cup of Argentina organized by the Argentine Football Association (AFA). The annual football match was played for the first time in 2012, being cont ...

(1):

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

;Legia Warsaw *

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in football ( pl, Puchar Polski w piłce nożnej ) is an elimination tournament for Polish football clubs, held continuously from 1950, and is the second most important national title in Polish football after the Ekstraklasa titl ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

;Cruzeiro *

Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil ( en, Brazil Cup) is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça d ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

International

;Argentina U-20 *

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

References

External links

*
Profile
at Vélez Sarsfield's official website
Argentine Primera statistics
at Futbol XXI * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cabral, Ariel 1987 births Living people Footballers from Buenos Aires Argentine footballers Argentina international footballers Argentina under-20 international footballers Association football midfielders Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers Legia Warsaw players Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players Goiás Esporte Clube players Argentine Primera División players Ekstraklasa players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Argentine expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Brazil Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Expatriate footballers in Poland Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Poland