Marcelo Alberto Barovero (born 18 February 1984) is an Argentine former professional

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 lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. He often goes by the nickname of "Trapito" (Spanish for "Little Rag").

Career

Early years

His first steps in the practice of football were at the club of his hometown, ''Porteña Asociación Cultural y Deportiva'', then he played at the youth academy of

Atlético Rafaela Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

until his professional debut.

Atlético Rafaela

Barovero started his professional career in 2003 playing for

Atlético de Rafaela Asociación Mutual Social y Deportiva Atlético de Rafaela, known simply as Atlético de Rafaela, is an Argentine sports club based in the city of Rafaela, in Santa Fe Province. The club is mostly known for its professional football team, that com ...

in the

Primera B Nacional Primera Nacional (usually called simply Nacional B, (English "National B Division"), and known as Primera B Nacional until the 2019–20 season) is the second division of the Argentine football league system. The competition is made up of 38 team ...

(Argentine second division). In his first season, the club won the championship and promotion to the Primera División. Barovero was used as the club's third choice goalkeeper in the first division, behind

Ángel David Comizzo Angel is a given name meaning "angel", "messenger". In the English-speaking world Angel is used for both boys and girls. From the medieval Latin masculine name ''Angelus'', which was derived from the name of the heavenly creature (itself derived ...

and Ezequiel Medrán. Rafaela was relegated at the end of the 2003–04 season, but Barovero stayed with the club and established himself as the first choice goalkeeper back in the B Nacional. He totalled 113 appearances for Atlético de Rafaela, before his move to

Huracán Huracán (; ; , "one legged"), often referred to as ''U Kʼux Kaj'', the "Heart of Sky", is a Kʼicheʼ Maya god of wind, storm, fire and one of the creator deities who participated in all three attempts at creating humanity. He also caused th ...

(of the first division) in 2007.

Huracán

In the 2007/2008 season, he played all the 38 matches that his team disputed. At the end of this season, he was bought by Vélez Sársfield.

Velez Sarsfield

In 2008, after one season as a starter in Huracán, Barovero was bought by Vélez Sársfield to compete with Germán Montoya for the position of first choice goalkeeper. During the 2009 Clausura he was part of the Vélez team that won the championship, being an unused substitute during the tournament. He eventually caught his break during the 2010 Apertura, during which he started in all but three games of his team's runner-up campaign. He finished the tournament with only 6 goals conceded in 16 games, and kept a

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usually seen as a result of ...

in 12 of the games. At the end of the tournament, he was awarded the Ubaldo Matildo Fillol Award for being the goalkeeper with the lowest goals-to-games ratio. The following semester, Barovero started in all 19 games of Vélez 2011 Clausura winning campaign, and all 12 of the team's

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

semifinalist campaign.

River Plate

After his successful spell in Velez, in the 2012 Argentine winter transfer window giant River Plate picked him up for a US$250,000 season-long loan. He soon became the undisputed starting goalkeeper during his first semester at the club, and upon completion of the loan, River made his move permanent for a reported fee of US$950,000. Since then he's been one of the stars of the Argentine side and was named Man of the Match in more than one occasion, but most notably on an intense fixture in the 2013 Copa Sudamericana against Buenos Aires rivals San Lorenzo to advance to the Round of Sixteen. He won multiple titles with the squad, most notably the 2015 Copa Libertadores. The fans consider him an idol of the team.

Later career

In 2016, Barovero moved abroad for the first time in his career and joined Mexican club

Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); often simply known as Club Necaxa, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Aguascalientes (city), Aguascalientes. It competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican ...

. He went on to play for

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populous municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of th ...

and

Atlético San Luis Club Atlético de San Luis is a Mexican professional football club based in San Luis Potosí. It competes in the Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Founded in 2013, replacing the defunct club of the city ( San Luis FC) after its re ...

before returning to Argentina to join Banfield. On 19 July 2024, Barovero announced his retirement from professional football.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Atlético Rafaela *

: 2002–03 Vélez Sársfield *

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; ), known officially as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Betano for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Argentina and the highest level of the Argentine football league system. Organ ...

: 2009 Clausura, 2011 Clausura River Plate *Argentine Primera División: 2014 Final *

Copa Campeonato The Copa Campeonato Primera División (familiarly known as Superfinal) was an official Argentine football cup competition organized by the Argentine Football Association. It was played in a single match format between the Torneo Inicial and Torne ...

: 2013–14 *

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, also known as Copa Sudamericana (; ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL, the governing body of football in South America, since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club com ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana (), also known as Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club Association football, football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1988. It ...

Suruga Bank Championship The J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship was an annual intercontinental football match held in Japan, contested by the reigning champions of the J.League Cup and the Copa Sudamericana. The tournament was previously officially called the ...

Necaxa *

Copa MX Copa MX, also known as Copa Corona MX for sponsorship reasons, was an association football competition in Mexico and the domestic cup tournament for clubs at the highest and second levels of Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Copa ...

: Clausura 2018 Monterrey *

Liga MX Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...

: Apertura 2019 *

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Individual * Ubaldo Fillol Award : 2010 Apertura, 2011 Clausura, 2013 Inicial, 2014 Primera División *

Best Player:

Golden Glove: 2017–18 *

Golden Glove:

*CONCACAF Champions League Team of the Tournament: 2019

References

External links

Profile
at Vélez Sársfield's official website * at Fútbol XXI
Statistics
at

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barovero, Marcelo 1984 births Living people Footballers from Córdoba Province, Argentina Argentine men's footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Argentine Primera División players Liga MX players C.F. Monterrey players Atlético de Rafaela footballers Club Atlético Huracán footballers Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers Club Atlético River Plate footballers Copa Libertadores–winning players Club Necaxa footballers Atlético San Luis footballers Club Atlético Banfield footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico CONCACAF Champions Cup–winning players 21st-century Argentine sportsmen