Mateo Musacchio

Full name: Mateo Musacchio

Date of birth: 26 August 1990

Place of birth: Rosario, Argentina

Height: 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)

Position: Center-Back

Number: 22

National team: Argentina

Nationality: Argentina

Foot: Right

Agent: Fairplay Sports Group

Joined: 01 July 2017

Contract until: 30.06.2021

Mateo Pablo Musacchio is an Argentine footballer who plays as a central defender for Italian club A.C. Milan.

He spent most of his professional career with Villarreal after signing as a 19-year-old, going on to appear in 249 competitive matches and score seven goals during seven La Liga seasons. In 2017, he joined Milan.

Mateo Musacchio’s paternal grandparents were of Albanian origin, being Arbëreshë from Portocannone in lower Molise region, Italy. The surname Musacchio originated from the Muzaka region in south-central Albania, and was widely used in the Albanian community in Italy.

On 30 May 2017, eight days after passing his medical, Mateo Musacchio moved to Italian club A.C. Milan after signing a four-year contract. He contributed with 15 Serie A appearances in his first season, with the subsequent qualification to the UEFA Europa League after a sixth-place finish.

Until today Mateo has played 33 matches for AC Milan, on which he scored 1 goal and provided 1 assist. In the season 2018/2019 he is regular defender alongside Alessio Romagnoli.

Season 2019/2020

As the 2019/20 season started Mateo was regular partner of AC Milan’s captain Alessio Romagnoli in the center of the defense. Musacchio enjoyed the confidence from AC Milan’s coach Marco Giampaolo and played most of the games during his time in Milan. However in the second half of the season Musacchio got ankle injury and underwent surgery. Because of this he missed bigger part of the second half of the season. During the 19/20 Mateo played on 18 Serie A games for AC Milan. As we understand he will miss the start of the new 20/21 season. It is expected that Musacchio will return to the fields on 23rd October.

Mateo Musacchio was first called by the Argentina national team in May 2011, as manager Sergio Batista only selected players under 25 for friendlies with Nigeria and Poland. He made his debut against the former on 2 June, in a 1–4 loss.

In 2017, Gianni De Biasi asked Mateo Musacchio if he would be interested in playing for Albania of which he was the manager, but the player declined as he wished to represent his country of birth.

Until today Mateo Msuacchio has accumulated 6 appearances for Argentina.

River Plate
A product of Club Atlético River Plate’s youth system, Mateo Musacchio was born in Rosario, Santa Fe, and he made his first-team debut as a 16-year-old during the 2006–07 season, making four appearances. He was part of the squad that won the Clausura in the following year, but did not feature in any games.

Villarreal
In August 2009, Musacchio moved to Villarreal CF in Spain, initially being assigned to the B-team in the second division. He made his official debut on 5 September in a 1–3 loss at Córdoba CF as the reserves overachieved in their first season ever in that tier, eventually finishing seventh.

On 13 February 2010, shortly after ceasing to be a non-EU player, Musacchio made his La Liga debut by playing the last 15 minutes in a 2–1 home win against Athletic Bilbao. From that moment onwards he was permanently promoted to Villarreal’s first team, successively surpassing more experienced Iván Marcano and Gonzalo Rodríguez – the latter his compatriot – in the defensive pecking order.

During his spell at the Estadio El Madrigal, Mateo Musacchio dealt with several injury problems.