Gabriel Mercado

Gabriel Iván Mercado is an Argentine professional football player who was born on 18 March 1987 in Puerto Madryn, Argentina.

Mercado is a defender and plays mainly in the position of centre-back. He can also play from right back, left back and right midfield position.

Currently, he is playing for Spanish club Sevilla FC as well as the Argentina national team.

Background

Mercado began his football career by joining youth academy of local Argentine club, Racing Club de Avellaneda which competes in Primera División League.

After getting trained and nurtured playing with the youth team, he made his professional senior team debut on 21 February 2007 against San Lorenzo.

Racing Club lost the match but Mercado did good enough to retain his place in the team for the upcoming games.

He played 94 games for the club before moving to another Primera División club Estudiantes LP in July 2010.

In July 2012, he again changed his team and signed for Club Atlético River Plate. Playing with his new club, he became a key player in no time. Mercado featured in 140 matches for the club scoring 11 goals.

Debut

His consistent performance in the Primera División grabbed attention of eminent La Liga club Sevilla FC.

As a result, on 4 August 2016, he signed three-year deal with the club under the manager Jorge Sampaoli. Mercado made his Sevilla FC debut on 14 August 2016 in a Supercopa first leg against FC Barcelona.

In the match, Sevilla lost to Barcelona 0-2 and he was also given a yellow card. In the second leg, he was again included in the starting eleven and this time he helped his team to claim a victory over Barcelona by 3-0.

Mercado’s international debut had come way before his Sevilla debut. He played his first international game for Argentina after getting a call up to join legendary Diego Maradona's squad.

On 10 February 2010, he made his international debut in a friendly, in which Argentina defeated Jamaica by 2-1.

Rise to glory

Gabriel's international as well as domestic experience helped him to establish his place in the club's squad.

His first goal for Sevilla came on 20 September 2016 in a La Liga game against Real Betis. Hitting the ball in the goalpost in the 85th minute of the game, he scored sole goal of the match and led his club to 1-0 victory.

Mercado finished La Liga 2016-17 with 3 goals playing 29 games. In the same season, he was also part of the Sevilla FC squad for Champions League and had played 7 games including 5 starts.

In the next season, he featured in La Liga, Champions League and Copa del Rey. Due to some serious injuries, he could play only 19 games in La Liga, providing two significant assists against Getafe CF and Villarreal CF.

He had also captained his club in some of the La Liga and Champions League games in the absence of the regular captain.

Mercado was included in the Argentina squad for 2016 Copa América Centenario as a first-choice in his position. He started 5 times in the tournament including the final, in which Argentina had to suffer a 4-2 loss on penalties.

He has also played a significant role in the Argentina's successful campaign of 2017 Superclásico de las Américas. In that tournament, they had defeated Brazil in the final by 1-0.

On 9 June 2017, Argentina played an international friendly against Brazil. Mercado played as a central-back and scored a decisive goal to win the match by 1-0 against star-studded Brazil national football team.