Matías Rafael Lacava González (born 24 October 2002) is a Venezuelan professional footballer who plays as a winger for Portuguese club

Vizela Vizela () is a municipality in the Braga District in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 23,736, in an area of 24.70 km². The present mayor is Vitor Hugo Salgado, elected as an independent. The municipal holiday is March 19. History In A ...

, on loan from

Academia Puerto Cabello Academia Puerto Cabello is a Venezuelan football club based in the city of Puerto Cabello, Carabobo state and playing in the Venezuelan Primera División The Primera División (; en, First Division), or Liga Venezolana (; en, Venezuelan Leag ...

Club career

Early career

Born in Chacao,

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

, Lacava joined

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

La Masia La Masia de Can Planes, usually shortened to La Masia (; en, "The Farmhouse"), is a term used for FC Barcelona's youth academy. The academy includes more than 300 young players. It has been an instrumental factor in Barcelona's European success ...

in 2013, aged ten, from hometown side Fratelsa Sport FC. He left the club in 2015 after having "contractual problems", and moved to

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

. In the 2018 summer, Lacava left Lazio and returned to his home country with

. On 16 January 2019, under the authorization of

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

, he signed a youth contract with

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

, but returned to Puerto Cabello in July.

Academia Puerto Cabello

Lacava made his first team debut for Academia Puerto Cabello on 28 July 2019, coming on as a half-time substitute for

Joaquín Suárez Joaquín Luis Miguel Suárez de Rondelo (August 18, 1781 in Canelones – December 26, 1868 in Montevideo) was a Uruguayan political figure. Head of State of Uruguay In December 1828, Suárez served as the first head of state of the territ ...

in a 2–1 home loss against

Aragua Aragua State ( es, Estado Aragua, ) is one of the 23 States of Venezuela, states of Venezuela. It is located in the north-central region of Venezuela. It has plains and jungle (terrain), jungles and Caribbean beaches. The most popular are Cata a ...

. He scored his first professional goals six days later, netting a brace in a 3–2 away win against

Metropolitanos The Metropolitanos of Havana was a baseball team in the Cuban National Series. The Metros, also known as the ''Guerreros'' (Warriors), had historically been a poor team, though they were ostensibly the heir to the Habana (baseball club), Habana te ...

; it was his first start as a senior.

Loan to Santos

On 3 August 2021, Lacava joined

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian"), and also known as Brasileirão Assaí due to sponsorship with Assaí Atacadista, is a Br ...

side Santos on loan until December 2022, and was initially assigned to the under-23 team. He made his first team debut on 13 November, replacing

Marcos Guilherme Marcos Guilherme de Almeida Santos Matos (born 5 August 1995), known as Marcos Guilherme, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Japanese club V-Varen Nagasaki. Club career Atlético Paranaense Born in Itararé, São P ...

in a 0–0 away draw against

Atlético Goianiense Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico * Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy * Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic ...

. On 31 January 2022, Santos announced that Lacava's loan was terminated on a "mutual agreement".

Loan to Tondela

On 31 January 2022, just hours after leaving Santos, Lacava returned to Portugal after agreeing to a six-month loan deal with

Tondela Tondela () is a municipality in the central Portuguese subregion of Dão-Lafões. The population in 2011 was 28,946, in an area of 371.22 km². History Local writer and intellectual Amadeu Ferraz de Carvalho (1876–1951) wrote of the mun ...

. On 27 June 2023, Vizela announced that the loan would be extended for another season, until June 2024.

International career

Lacava represented

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

at under-17 and under-23 levels in the 2019 South American U-17 Championship and the

2020 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament The 2020 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament was the 13th edition of the CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament, the quadrennial, international, age-restricted football tournament organised by the Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (CONMEBOL) to deter ...

, respectively. On 31 May 2021, he was called up to the full side by manager

José Peseiro José Vítor dos Santos Peseiro (born 4 April 1960) is a Portuguese football manager and former player who played as a forward. He is the manager of the Nigeria national team. After an unassuming career as a player, he went on to coach sever ...

for two 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification matches against

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and

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

Personal life

Lacava is the son of

Carabobo , anthem = '' Himno del Estado Carabobo'' , image_map = Carabobo in Venezuela.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location within Venezuela , pushpin_map = , pushpin_map_ ...

state governor

Rafael Lacava Rafael may refer to: * Rafael (given name) or Raphael, a name of Hebrew origin * Rafael, California * Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Israeli manufacturer of weapons and military technology * Hurricane Rafael, a 2012 hurricane Fiction * ''R ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lacava, Matias 2002 births Living people Sportspeople from Miranda (state) Venezuelan men's footballers Men's association football wingers Venezuelan Primera División players Academia Puerto Cabello players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Santos FC players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players C.D. Tondela players F.C. Vizela players Venezuela men's youth international footballers Venezuelan expatriate men's footballers Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Italy Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil