Nahuel Molina Lucero (born 6 April 1998) is an Argentine 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

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

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 ...

club

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

and the Argentina national team. He was a member of the Argentina team that won the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

Club career

Molina is a youth export from

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

. On 18 February 2016, he made his first team debut in a league game against

San Martín de San Juan Club Atlético San Martín, mostly known as San Martín de San Juan, is an Argentine football club from the city of San Juan. The team currently plays in the Argentine Primera B Nacional, the second division of the Argentine football league system ...

. He played the full game.

Defensa y Justicia

In January 2018, Molina was loaned out to

Defensa y Justicia Club Social y Deportivo Defensa y Justicia, commonly known as Defensa y Justicia, is an Argentine football club from Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires, established in 1935.

for the rest of 2018. The next season he was loaned to Rosario Central where he found the continuity he needed to stand out and ended up returning to

at the start of 2019.

Udinese Calcio

On 15 September 2020, Molina joined

Udinese Calcio Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Football in Italy, Italian association football, football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a ...

on a free transfer until 2025.

Atlético Madrid

On 28 July 2022, Molina joined

on a five-year deal, for a reported fee of €10 million and €5 million in variables.

International career

Molina made his debut for the Argentina national team on 3 June 2021 in a

World Cup qualifier The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. He substituted

Juan Foyth Juan Marcos Foyth (born 12 January 1998) is an Argentine professional football player who plays as right-back or centre-back for Spanish club Villarreal and the Argentina national team. Having begun his professional career at his hometown club ...

in the 81st minute. Molina scored his first goal for Argentina on 9 December 2022, in their

2022 World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022; it is the first Wo ...

quarter-final match against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. He previously assisted to

Alexis Mac Allister Alexis Mac Allister (born 24 December 1998) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for club Brighton & Hove Albion and the Argentina national team. Born to a footballing family, Mac Allister started his sen ...

during their group stage match vs

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. He started six matches for Argentina as first choice right back scoring one goal and providing one assist throughout the tournament en route to become champions.

Career statistics

Club

International

''Scores and results list Argentina's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Molina goal.''

Honours

Argentina *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

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 ...

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions The CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions, previously known officially as the European/South American Nations Cup and commonly as the Artemio Franchi Cup, is an official intercontinental football match organised by CONMEBOL and UEFA and contested by ...

References

External links

Profile
at the Atlético Madrid website 1997 births Living people Argentine footballers Argentina international footballers Association football defenders Boca Juniors footballers Defensa y Justicia footballers Rosario Central footballers Udinese Calcio players Atlético Madrid footballers Argentine Primera División players Serie A players Argentine expatriate footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain 2021 Copa América players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Copa América-winning players FIFA World Cup-winning players {{Argentina-footy-defender-1990s-stub