Mariano Díaz Mejía (; born 1 August 1993), known as Mariano, is a 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 le ...

who plays as a

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. He is currently a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. Shortly after making his debut for

Badalona Badalona (, , , ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality to the immediate north east of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. It is located on the left bank of the Besòs River and on the Mediterranean Sea, in the Barcelona metropolitan area. By popu ...

in 2011, Mariano joined Real Madrid, where he played in the C-team and then the reserves, where he was top scorer in the

2015–16 Segunda División B The 2015–16 Segunda División B season was the 39th since its establishment. The first matches of the season were to be played in August 2015, and the season ended in June 2016 with the promotion play-off finals. Overview before the season 80 te ...

. He then began playing with the first team, and was part of their squad that won

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

, the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

and the

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...

in 2016–17. He was subsequently signed by

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

club

Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a men and women's French professional football club based in Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The men play in France's highest football division, Ligue 1. Founded in 1950, th ...

but returned to Madrid one year later. Mariano was born in Spain to a Spanish father and a mother from the Dominican Republic. He played and scored in a friendly match for the Dominican Republic national team in 2013. He then retired from the Dominican Republic team in the hopes of representing

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Club career

Early career

Born in Premià de Mar,

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

, Mariano began his youth career with local side

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

, and appeared for lowly

CE Premià Club Esportiu Premià is a Spanish football team based in Premià de Mar, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1915, it plays in Segona Catalana, holding home matches at '' Estadio Municipal de Premià'', with a capacity of 1,500 ...

and Fundació Sánchez Llibre. In 2009, he joined

CF Badalona Club de Fútbol Badalona () is a Spanish football team based in Badalona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1903 it plays in Tercera Federación – Group 5, temporarily holding home games at Estadi Municipal de Badalona, with ...

, and made his senior debut on 21 August 2011, replacing

Iñaki Goikoetxea Iñaki Goikoetxea Beristain (born 6 May 1982 in Deba, Gipuzkoa) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a striker, and is a current manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a ...

for the final 21 minutes of a 1–0 loss at

CD Teruel Club Deportivo Teruel is a Spanish football team based in Teruel, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded in 1954, the club plays in the Segunda División RFEF – Group 3, and holds home games at ''Estadio Pinilla'', with a capacity of ...

in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

; he made two more appearances off the bench. On the 31st, he made his first start, playing the entirety of a 3–1 loss at

RB Linense Rb or RB may stand for: Arts and entertainment * Rebecca Black, an American pop singer * Richard Blackwood, a British rapper * Rhythm and blues, a music genre combining blues, gospel and jazz influences * '' Rock Band'', a music video game series ...

in the season's

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

, scoring his team's consolation.

Real Madrid

Youth and Castilla

Shortly after, Mariano signed with

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

, returning to youth football. In August 2012 he was promoted to the Madrilenian side's C-team also in the third level. He became a regular in his second season there, scoring 15 goals in 26 matches, including a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

on 22 December 2013 in a 5–2 home win over

Sestao River Club Sestao River Club is a Spanish football team based in Sestao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1996 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at ''Estadio Las Llanas'', with a capacity of 8,905 ...

. The following 18 January, Mariano made his professional debut at the

Estadio Alfredo Di Stéfano A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

, appearing with the reserves in a 1–2 loss against

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, P ...

in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

; he came on for the final five minutes in place of Raúl de Tomás. In 2014–15, with Castilla now in the third tier, Mariano was indefinitely promoted to the team. He made ten appearances, six from the bench, and scored five times. On 29 March, he entered late in De Tomás' place again and scored twice to cap a 5–1 home win over UD Las Palmas B, while one week later, he was given a start at lowly

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and struck both goals in a seven-minute span. On 24 October 2015, Mariano scored all of his team's goals in a 3–1 home win over

Socuéllamos Socuéllamos is a town and municipality of Spain located in the province of Ciudad Real, Castilla–La Mancha. It is famous for its wines. The abandoned town of Torre de Vejezate is located within Socuéllamos municipal term. History Juan Osór ...

, and repeated this on 8 November in a 3–2 win against Fuenlabrada. The following 17 April, he scored his third treble of the season, scoring all of the goals – two penalties – in a home win over

Gernika Club Gernika Club is a Spanish football team based in Gernika, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1922 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at '' Estadio Urbieta'', with a capacity of 3,000 seats ...

which put Castilla top. He scored his 25th goal of the season in a 6–1 win over

La Roda CF La Roda Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football club based in La Roda, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. Founded in 1999 it plays in Segunda División B – Group 4, holding home games at ''Estadio Municipal de Deportes'', which h ...

on the last day of the season, making him the season's top scorer and winning the group at the expense of Barakaldo.

2016–17: Entrance in the first squad

Mariano was definitively promoted to the main squad by manager

Zinedine Zidane Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the most ...

on 20 August 2016, after a back injury to striker Karim Benzema. One week later, Mariano made his senior debut during a 2–1 win over

Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta de Vigo or simply Celta, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues ...

, replacing Álvaro Morata in the 77th minute. On 26 October, again from the bench, he scored his first goal for the ''Merengues'' to conclude a 7–1 win at Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa in the

. In the second leg, he added a hat-trick for a 13–2 aggregate win, including a 23rd-second goal that was his team's fastest goal in the competition. Mariano scored his first top-flight goal on 10 December, equalising in a 3–2 comeback victory at home to Deportivo de La Coruña. Later that month, he was part of the squad that won the

2016 FIFA Club World Cup The 2016 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2016 presented by Alibaba YunOS Auto for sponsorship reasons) was the 13th edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised international club football tournament ...

in Japan, but did not appear in either of Real Madrid's matches. Mariano made eight appearances when Madrid won the

2016–17 La Liga The 2016–17 La Liga season, also known as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, was the 86th since its establishment. The season began on 19 August 2016 and concluded on 21 May 2017. Real Madrid secured the title following their away vic ...

. He was a back-up when Madrid won the

2016–17 UEFA Champions League The 2016–17 UEFA Champions League was the 62nd season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 25th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final was pla ...

Lyon

On 30 June 2017, Mariano signed for

. The fee was reported as €8 million plus 35% interest on the capital gain of a potential future transfer. He made his debut on 5 August in the first match of the

2017–18 Ligue 1 The 2017–18 Ligue 1 season, also known as Ligue 1 Conforama for sponsorship reasons, was the 80th season since its establishment. The season started on 4 August 2017 and ended on 19 May 2018. Monaco were the defending champions. On 15 April, Pa ...

season against

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, scoring twice in a 4–0 home win. He totalled 18 goals for the league season, forming a prolific attacking trio alongside Memphis Depay and

Nabil Fekir Nabil Fekir (born 18 July 1993) is a French professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for La Liga club Real Betis and the France national team. An academy graduate of Lyon, he was promoted to the senior squad in July 2013. F ...

(19 and 18 goals respectively).

Return to Real Madrid

On 29 August 2018, Real Madrid announced they had signed Mariano on a five-year contract. As the Spanish club already owned 35% of his playing rights, the fee was reduced to €23 million. He was given the number 7 shirt, previously worn by

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...

. His second debut was on 19 September, coming on as a 73rd-minute substitute against

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

in the first fixture of the

2018–19 UEFA Champions League The 2018–19 UEFA Champions League was the 64th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 27th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. For the first tim ...

group stage, and he scored the last goal of a 3–0 victory with a curved shot from outside the penalty area. On 1 March 2020, having just came off the bench for his first league appearance of the season, he scored with his first touch of the ball in the 90th minute of a 2–0 El Clásico victory. He made five appearances during the league season, as Real Madrid won the

2019–20 La Liga The 2019–20 La Liga season, also known as LaLiga Banco Santander, Santander for sponsorship reasons, was the 89th since its establishment. The season began on 16 August 2019 and was originally scheduled to conclude on 24 May 2020. FC Barcelona ...

. In July 2020, Mariano tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On 3 June 2023, Real Madrid announced that Mariano would leave the club at the expiration of his contract on 30 June 2023.

Sevilla

On 1 September 2023, Díaz officially signed for

club Sevilla on a free transfer.

International career

Mariano is eligible for the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

through his mother, a native of San Juan de la Maguana. He made his international debut on 24 March 2013 in a

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

against neighbours

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

, and scored the last goal of a 3–1 victory. He later retired from the national team to focus on his career at Real Madrid and also avoid being

cap-tied Cap-tied is an adjective, used primarily in association football, to describe a player who has represented a senior national football team in more than three games (including at least one competitive game) and as a result is unable to represent a ...

with the Dominican Republic, in view of a possible call up for the Spain national team. In December 2017, Spain manager

Julen Lopetegui Julen Lopetegui Agote (; born 28 August 1966) is a Spanish former professional footballer, currently manager of Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers. A goalkeeper, he played 149 La Liga matches over nine seasons, representing Real Madrid ...

said he was monitoring Mariano for a call-up.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list the Dominican Republic's goal tally first.''

Honours

Real Madrid *

: 2016–17, 2019–20, 2021–22 *

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

: 2016–17, 2021–22 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

Notes

References

External links

Profile
on Real Madrid official website * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Mariano 1993 births Living people People from Premià de Mar Footballers from the Province of Barcelona Spanish men's footballers Dominican Republic men's footballers Dominican Republic men's international footballers Spanish people of Dominican Republic descent Sportspeople of Dominican Republic descent Dominican Republic people of Spanish descent Men's association football forwards CF Badalona players Real Madrid C footballers Real Madrid Castilla footballers Real Madrid CF players Olympique Lyonnais players Sevilla FC players UEFA Champions League winning players Segunda División B players Segunda División players La Liga players Ligue 1 players Dominican Republic expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Spanish expatriate sportspeople in France Dominican Republic expatriate sportspeople in France