Pablo Cesar Barrientos (born 17 January 1985) 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 an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Club career

San Lorenzo

Barrientos was born in

Comodoro Rivadavia Comodoro Rivadavia (), often shortened to Comodoro ( ), is a city in the Patagonian Provinces of Argentina, province of Chubut Province, Chubut in southern Argentina, located on the San Jorge Gulf, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, at the foot of th ...

, Argentina. He began his professional career in 2003 with

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 ...

, as he officially was promoted from youth team football to the club's first team. He established himself at the Argentine club, and his performance saw him begin to earn call-ups to the Argentine U20 and U21 football teams. At the age of 21, he had made 72 league appearances with 7 league goals, also earning 15 caps and scoring 6 goals for his country. His form lead to many transfer rumours, and the player was linked to a host of European clubs. However, in July 2006, Barrientos transferred to

FC Moscow FC Moscow (Russian: Футбольный клуб Москва) was a Russian football (soccer), football club based in Moscow. History The creation of the team was first announced by the Moscow government on 1 March 2004. FC Moscow was formed on ...

, of Russia.

FC Moscow

Following his move to Russia, Barrientos did not hold down a guaranteed starting spot and after two seasons in the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

, he had made 33 league appearances and scored 6 goals. For the 2008–09 season, Barrientos was sent back on loan to

. He scored 9 goals in 21 league starts. Following his return to Moscow, he was again linked to several different clubs. In May 2009, it was confirmed that Barrientos signed for Sicilian club Calcio Catania in the

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

Calcio Catania

On 30 May 2009,

Calcio Catania Catania Football Club, commonly known as Catania, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in the city of Catania, Sicily, that plays in Serie C. Originally founded in 1908 as ''Associazione Sportiva pro Educazione Fisica'', the clu ...

officially signed Barrientos from

on a four-year contract until June 2013. He was plagued by injury and failed to make his debut for the Sicilian club until May 2010. After making two substitute appearances for Catania in the whole of the 2009–10 season, Barrientos did not play any matches in the first half of the

2010–11 Serie A The 2010–11 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 109th season of top-tier Italian football, the 79th in a round-robin tournament, and the 1st since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie B ...

season. Therefore, he was loaned to Estudiantes back in Argentina for six months. After the loan spell during which he scored five goals in seven league matches, Barrientos returned to

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

in July 2011 and became a key component to the team under new head coach,

Vincenzo Montella Vincenzo Montella (; born 18 June 1974) is an Italian association football, football manager and former striker (association football), striker. He is the current head coach of the Turkey national football team. Montella's nickname during his p ...

. During the

2012-13 Serie A 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

campaign, Barrientos was a key part of

Rolando Maran Rolando Maran (born 14 July 1963) is an Italian football manager. His playing career as a defender was spent mostly with Chievo. He then managed several Serie B clubs, and after losing the promotion play-off final with Varese in 2012, had his f ...

's first team, scoring 5 goals in 27 league appearances. He formed part of an all-Argentine attack force with

Gonzalo Bergessio Gonzalo Rubén Bergessio (; born 20 July 1984) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a striker. Club career Early career Born in Córdoba, Bergessio started his career in the lower leagues with Club Atlético Platense. In 2005, ...

, Alejandro Gómez, and

Lucas Castro Lucas Nahuel Castro (born 9 April 1989) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays for Gimnasia La Plata, as a winger. Club career Gimnasia La Plata Castro began his career within the youth ranks of Argentine club Gimnasia y Esgrima La ...

for the Sicilian club that has seen ''i rossazzurri'' push for the European places. Barrientos was part of a record-breaking Catania outfit that had picked up 56 points from 38

matches. This performance saw the club also break its record number of home victories in a single season, its record number of victories overall in a single top flight campaign, as well as its record points total in Serie A for the fifth consecutive season.

San Lorenzo

In July 2014 it was reported that Barrientos would return to San Lorenzo, the team in which he made his debut as a professional player. It was his third time playing for El Ciclón. Marcó 9 goles en 21 partidos. Con Edgardo "Patón" Bauza como técnico, logró coronarse campeón de la Copa Libertadores ante el nacional de Paraguay, con un gol de Néstor Ortigoza de penal. Además marcó un gol clave para la clasificación al mundial de clubes, venciendo al Auckland City por 2-1. Luego, en diciembre de ese año, el ciclón enfrentó al Real Madrid, cayendo por 2-0 con goles de Sergio Ramos y Gareth Bale. En 2015, Barrientos fue una pieza clave para el equipo Azulgrana. Marcando goles clave, como uno a Estudiantes de mitad de cancha en el torneo local. Además, contribuyó con un gol de tiro libre a la histórica victoria ante Boca Juniors, goleando 4-0 al equipo Xeneize. Consagrándose campeón de la Supercopa Argentina.

Toluca

On 29 July 2016, Barrientos signed for Deportivo Toluca.

Later career and retirement

In February 2020, after a spell with

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

, Barrientos announced his retirement from professional football. In October 2020, however, he returned to his former youth club

Jorge Newbery de Comodoro Rivadavia Club Atlético Jorge Newbery, familiarly known as Newbery is an Argentine Football club, located in the city of Comodoro Rivadavia, Chubut. History The Club Atlético Jorge Newbery was officially established on 19 April 1924 as "Nacional Foot-Bal ...

back in his hometown

. After a third degree sprain in January 2021, Barrientos announced that he would retire completely from playing football. A week later, the vice president of the club and brother of Pablo Barrientos, Leo Barrientos, confirmed that Pablo would be a part of the club's management.

International career

After receiving 15 U-20 caps for his country in which he scored 6 goals, Barrientos received a call-up to the Argentina squad against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

on 15 November 2008 by

Alfio Basile Alfio "Coco" Basile (born 1 November 1943) is an Argentine football manager and former player. He played for Racing Club de Avellaneda and Huracán before becoming a manager. He coached many teams during his career, being most notable Racing Cl ...

Personal life

Pablo's brother, Hugo is a fellow footballer playing in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Career statistics

Honours

;San Lorenzo *

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 ...

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 ...

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 con ...

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 ...

;Nacional * Torneo Clausura:

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 ...

Uruguayan Primera División The Liga Profesional de Primera División (American Spanish , , local: , ''First Division''), named "Torneo Uruguayo Copa Coca-Cola" for sponsorship reasons, is the highest professional Association football, football league in Uruguay organized b ...

References

External links

* at Fútbol XXI {{DEFAULTSORT:Barrientos, Pablo 1985 births Living people Footballers from Comodoro Rivadavia Argentine men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Argentina men's under-20 international footballers Argentine Primera División players Russian Premier League players Liga MX players Serie A players Uruguayan Primera División players Club Atlético Huracán footballers San Lorenzo de Almagro footballers Copa Libertadores–winning players Estudiantes de La Plata footballers FC Moscow players Catania FC players Deportivo Toluca F.C. players Club Nacional de Football players Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Uruguay Expatriate men's footballers in Uruguay 21st-century Argentine sportsmen