Ariel Cabral

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

Ariel Cabral

Personal information
Full name	Alejandro Ariel Cabral^[1]
Date of birth	(1987-09-11) September 11, 1987 (age 35)
Place of birth	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s)	Central midfielder / Left winger
Youth career
	Vélez Sársfield
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2007–2015	Vélez Sársfield	144	(5)
2010–2011	→ Legia Warsaw (loan)	22	(3)
2015–2021	Cruzeiro	101	(1)
2020–2021	→ Goiás (loan)	20	(0)
International career
2007	Argentina U-20	6	(0)
2011	Argentina	2	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 19 June 2021

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.^[2]

For the entire 2010–11 season, Vélez loaned Cabral to Legia Warsaw, for a fee of USD 150,000 and a buyout price of USD 2 million.^[3] 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.^[4]

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^[5] and 9 during the 2012 Copa Libertadores.^[6]

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.^[7] The midfielder fractured his tibia in 2013 and was left out of the squad for the entire Torneo Final and Copa Libertadores,^[8] 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 10 September 2020.

Club	Season	League		Cup		Continental		Other		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Vélez Sársfield	2007	12	0	—		2	0	—		14	0
	2008	9	0	—		—		—		9	0
	2009	12	0	—		2	0	—		14	0
	2010	9	1	—		4	0	—		13	1
	2011	0	0	—		6	0	—		6	0
	2012	26	1	—		10	0	—		36	1
	2013	19	2	—		4	1	—		23	3
	2014	33	0	1	0	9	0	—		43	0
	2015	24	1	—		—		—		24	1
	Total	144	5	1	0	37	1	—		182	6
Legia Warsaw (loan)	2010-11	22	3	—		—		—		22	3
Cruzeiro	2015	18	0	1	0	—		—		19	0
	2016	25	1	9	0	—		13^[a]	1	47	2
	2017	14	0	9	0	1	0	11^[a]	1	35	1
	2018	21	0	2	0	5	0	11^[a]	1	39	1
	2019	16	0	4	0	5	0	7^[a]	0	32	0
	2020	6	0	1	0	—		3^[a]	0	10	0
	Total	100	1	26	0	11	0	45	3	163	4
Career total		266	9	27	0	48	1	45	3	367	13

1. Appearance(s) in the Campeonato Mineiro.

International appearances and goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Final Score	Goal	Result	Competition
1.	June 1, 2011	Abuja, Nigeria	Nigeria	4–1	0	Lost	Friendly
2.	June 5, 2011	Warsaw, Poland	Poland	2–1	0	Lost	Friendly

Honours

Club

Vélez Sársfield

• Argentine Primera División (3): 2009 Clausura, 2012 Inicial, 2012–13 Superfinal
• Supercopa Argentina (1): 2013

Legia Warsaw

• Polish Cup: 2010–11

Cruzeiro

• Copa do Brasil: 2017, 2018

International

Argentina U-20

• FIFA U-20 World Cup: 2007

References

1. (PDF). FIFA. July 5, 2007. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 31, 2013.
2. "Clausura '09 statistics". Argentine Soccer. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
3. "Ya no estarán". Olé (in Spanish). 2010-06-28. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
4. Cabral, Mezenga i Ogbuke odchodzą z Legii 8.06.2011, legia.com
5. "Clausura '12 statistics". Argentine Soccer. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
6. "Libertadores '12 statistics". Argentine Soccer. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
7. "Inicial '12 statistics". Argentine Soccer. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
8. "Una mala para Vélez: grave lesión de Ariel Cabral". TN (in Spanish). 2013-01-20. Retrieved 2015-01-16.

External links

• Ariel Cabral at Soccerway
• Profile at Vélez Sarsfield's official website
• Argentine Primera statistics at Futbol XXI (in Spanish)^{[dead link]}
• Ariel Cabral at 90minut.pl (in Polish)
• Ariel Cabral at National-Football-Teams.com