Mateo Nicolau Garí (18 August 1920 – 29 October 2005) was an Argentinian

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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

San Lorenzo San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to: Places Argentina * San Lorenzo, Santa Fe * San Lorenzo Department, Chaco * Villa San Lorenzo, town and municipality in Salta P ...

in Argentina,

Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club América, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City. Nicknamed ''Las Águilas'' (The Eagles), it competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, and most notably for

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

from 1948 to 1952.

Biography

Born in the Argentine city of

General Pico General Pico is a city located in the northeast of La Pampa Province, Argentina. It is located at above sea level and inside the region of the ''Pampa Húmeda Llana'' (Flat-Humid Pampas). It has a surface area of . The city was founded on Novem ...

La Pampa Province La Pampa () is a sparsely populated province of Argentina, located in the Pampas in the center of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise San Luis, Córdoba, Buenos Aires, Río Negro, Neuquén and Mendoza. History In ...

, on 18 August 1920, Nicolau began his career in his hometown club ''Central Silverino'' in 1935, aged only 15, and then played for a further two Argentinian clubs,

Atlético Tucumán Club Atlético Tucumán (mostly known as Atlético Tucumán) is an Argentine football club based in the city of San Miguel de Tucumán of Tucumán Province. Although several sports are practised at the club, Atlético is mostly known for its footba ...

(1937–1940) and then three seasons at San Lorenzo, from 1940 to 1943, scoring 9 goals in 48 matches. He then moved to Mexico, where he played two seasons for Club América (1943–45) and three seasons with Atlante (1945–48), winning the 1946–47 Mexican league title with the latter. In 1948, the 28-year-old Nicolau was signed by FC Barcelona, where he played for four seasons, until 1952. Together with the likes of

Mariano Gonzalvo Mariano Gonzalvo Falcón (22 March 1922 – 7 April 2007), also referred to as Gonzalvo III or – especially as of late – by the Catalan rendition of his given name, Marià Gonzalvo, was a Spanish footballer who spent most of his career at FC ...

László Kubala László Kubala (10 June 1927 – 17 May 2002) was a Hungarian professional association football, footballer. He played as a forward (association football), forward for Ferencvárosi TC, Ferencváros, ŠK Slovan Bratislava, Slovan Bratislava, F ...

, and César, he was a member of the great Barça team of the early 1950s that won two

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

titles ( 1948–49 and 1951–52), two

Latin Cup The Latin Cup was an international official football tournament for club sides from the Southwest European nations of France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. In 1949, the football federations came together and requested FIFA launch the competition ...

titles in

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2025 * January 2 – Luis ...

and

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

, two

Copa Eva Duarte The Copa Eva Duarte was a Spanish football tournament organized by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and contested by the winners of La Liga and the Copa del Generalísimo. History In September 1940, a match with this format had the n ...

titles in 1948 and 1952, and back-to-back

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

titles in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

and

, starting in the former final, in which he helped his side to a 3–0 win over

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

. He also started in the 1948 Eva Duarte final, helping his side to a 1–0 win over

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

, and in the following year, on 12 October 1949, he again started the final, and this time he even scored, but Barça still lost 7–4 in

extra-time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

. On 24 September 1950, Nicolau scored a brace in Barça's largest ever win over

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

(7–2). In total, he scored 24 goals in 75 official goals, including 16 goals in 63 La Liga matches. Punished by injuries, Nicolau returned to Mexican football, where he won the 1946–47 Mexican league title with

Zacatepec Zacatepec Fútbol Club is a Mexican professional football club based in Zacatepec, Morelos, that competes in Liga Premier, the third level division of Mexican football. Founded in 1948 as Club Social y Deportivo Zacatepec by workers of the Me ...

. Nicolau died in

León, Guanajuato León (), officially León de Los Aldama, is the most populous city and municipal seat of the municipality of León in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. In the 2020 census, INEGI reported 1,579,803 people living in the city of León and 1,721,21 ...

on 29 October 2005, at the age of 85.

Honours

; Atlante *

Mexican Primera División 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 Divi ...

**Champions (1): 1946–47 ;FC Barcelona *

**Champions (2): 1948–49, 1951–52 *

**Champions (2):

and

**Champions (2):

and

**Champions (1): 1948 and 1952 ;

**Champions (1): 1954–55

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicolau, Mateo 1920 births 2005 deaths Argentine men's footballers Footballers from La Pampa Province Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Men's association football forwards FC Barcelona players San Lorenzo de Almagro footballers Club América footballers Zacatepec F.C. players

Biography

See also

Honours

References

External links