Nicolás Tagliafico

Nicolás Alejandro Tagliafico (born 31 August 1992) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a left back for Eredivisie club Ajax and the Argentina national team.

Nicolás Tagliafico
Tagliafico with Argentina at the 2018 FIFA World Cup
Personal information
Full name Nicolás Alejandro Tagliafico[1]
Date of birth (1992-08-31) 31 August 1992[1]
Place of birth Rafael Calzada, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)[2]
Position(s) Left back
Club information
Current team
 Ajax
Number 31
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2010–2015 Banfield 90 (2)
2012–2013 → Real Murcia (loan) 27 (0)
2015–2018 Independiente 85 (2)
2018– Ajax 112 (8)
National team‡
2007 Argentina U15 2 (0)
2009 Argentina U17 5 (0)
2011 Argentina U20 12 (1)
2017– Argentina 39 (0)
Honours
Men's football
Representing  Argentina
Copa América
Winner2021 Brazil
2019 Brazil
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23:22, 30 April 2022 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 29 March 2022

Club career

Banfield

Tagliafico made his professional debut for Club Atlético Banfield on a 2−1 away victory against Tigre for the fifth fixture of the 2011 Clausura, coming on as a substitute on the 72nd minute.[3] Due to Marcelo Bustamante's ban, he was a starter the following game, a 2−2 draw with Huracán.[3] In 2012, Tagliafico signed a one-year loan deal with Spanish club Real Murcia.

Independiente

In 2015, he made the move to Independiente for an undisclosed transfer fee and made his professional debut for the club during a 3−2 away win at Newell's Old Boys. Tagliafico would end up captaining the team that won the 2017 Copa Sudamericana.

Ajax

On 5 January 2018, Tagliafico made the move to Ajax for a fee of £4 million and made his professional debut for the club during a 2−0 home win against Feyenoord on 21 January 2018 in the Klassieker. Since then he has played over 100 league games for the club and scored 7 league goals and became a starter for the team in 2019.

International career

Tagliafico has played in all the youth categories of the Argentine national team: under-15, under-17 and under-20. Tagliafico impressed for the Argentina national under-20 football team at the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia; however, he missed Argentina's final kick in the quarter-final penalty shoot-out against Portugal, meaning Argentina exited that competition 5–4 on penalties (Cartagena, 13 August 2011).

In May 2018, he was named in Argentina's final 23 man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.[4] He also played the 2019 Copa América, and took with Argentina the third place, through a 2–1 victory over Chile in the third-place match.[5]

In June 2021, he was included in Lionel Scaloni's final Argentina 28-man squad for the 2021 Copa América.[6]

He is the only foreign player to became champion at club level (Independiente, Sudamericana 2017) and at international level (Argentina, Copa América 2021) at the Maracaná stadium.

Style of play

He is noted for his "lung-busting stamina, excellent technique and continuous enterprise". As a result of his skills, as well as his playing position and club, and nationality, and striking visual resemblance Tagliafico has been compared to the Internazionale and Argentina full-back Javier Zanetti, formerly also of Banfield.[7]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 30 April 2022[8]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup[lower-alpha 1] Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Banfield 2010–11 Argentine Primera División 9000000090
2011–12 Argentine Primera División 331000000331
2013–14 Primera B Nacional 34021–00361
2014 Argentine Primera División 14100–00141
Total 902210000923
Real Murcia (loan) 2012–13 Segunda División 27010––280
Independiente 2015 Argentine Primera División 311206[lower-alpha 2]000391
2016 Argentine Primera División 161204[lower-alpha 2]03[lower-alpha 3]0251
2016–17 Argentine Primera División 2901011[lower-alpha 2]02[lower-alpha 3]0430
2017–18 Argentine Primera División 9000000090
Total 85250210501162
Ajax 2017–18 Eredivisie 1510000–151
2018–19 Eredivisie 2922115[lower-alpha 4]3–466
2019–20 Eredivisie 2433011[lower-alpha 5]200385
2020–21 Eredivisie 2514011[lower-alpha 6]0–401
2021–22 Eredivisie 191413[lower-alpha 4]01[lower-alpha 7]0272
Total 11281324051016615
Career total 314122136156040220
  1. Includes Copa Argentina, Copa del Rey and KNVB Cup
  2. Appearance(s) in Copa Sudamericana
  3. Appearance(s) in Torneos de Verano
  4. Appearance(s) in UEFA Champions League
  5. Ten appearances and two goals in UEFA Champions League, one appearance in UEFA Europa League
  6. Six appearances and two goals in UEFA Champions League, five appearances in UEFA Europa League
  7. Appearance in Johan Cruyff Shield

International
As of match played 29 March 2022[9]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Argentina 201710
2018110
2019130
202030
202180
202230
Total390

Honours

Independiente[10]

Ajax[10]

Argentina[10]

Individual

References
  1. "FIFA World Cup Russia 2018: List of Players: Argentina" (PDF). FIFA. 15 July 2018. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2019.
  2. "Nico Tagliafico". Ajax.
  3. "Closing '11 statistics". Argentine Soccer. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
  4. "Argentina: Paulo Dybala completes star quartet as big name misses out". independent.co.uk. The Independent. 21 May 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  5. "Argentina venció 2-1 a Chile y se quedó con el tercer puesto" [Argentina beat Chile 2-1 and took third place]. copaamerica.com (in Spanish). CONMEBOL. 6 July 2019. Archived from the original on 8 July 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  6. "Argentina National Team Squad 2021". Diario AS. 15 June 2021.
  7. "Nicolás Tagliafico: the New Javier Zanetti?". Mediolana. 14 August 2011. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
  8. "N. Tagliafico". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  9. "Nicolás Tagliafico". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  10. "Nicolás Tagliafico - Career Honours". Soccerway.
  11. "Neres' stoppage-time goal seals Dutch Cup win". Ajax website. 18 April 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
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