Pablo Marí Villar (born 31 August 1993) is a Spanish 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

centre-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 club

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

, on loan from club

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. Marí graduated from

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

youth academy In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

and played for various clubs throughout his career, in Spain, the Netherlands, Brazil, England and Italy. He won the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

and Série A in 2019 with

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football t ...

, and was included in the Série A Team of the Year that year.

Career

Mallorca

Born in

Almussafes Almussafes (Spanish: ''Almusafes'') is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Ribera Baixa in the Valencian Community, Spain. History Almussafes was originally a Muslim hamlet, consisting of several farmhouses and a tower. There was a customs off ...

Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid with ...

, Marí was a product of

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...

's youth system. He made his debut as a senior with the reserves at the age of just 17, going on to spend several seasons in the third division. Marí made his first appearance with the first team on 7 December 2011, playing 30 minutes in a 2–2 draw against

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. (), known simply as Granada, is a Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that plays in the Segunda División, after being relegated from La Liga in the 2021� ...

after coming off the bench for fellow youth graduate Pedro Bigas. On 5 May 2012 he played his second

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 ...

game, again acting as a substitute in a 1–0 home win over

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. (, ca-valencia, Llevant Unió Esportiva ) is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 9 September 1909, Levante ...

. Marí continued to be almost exclusively associated with the B-side until the end of his spell in the

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...

Gimnàstic

On 2 September 2013, Marí signed a contract with

Gimnàstic de Tarragona Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2. ...

also in the third level. He made his debut for the

Catalans Catalans (Catalan language, Catalan, French language, French and Occitan language, Occitan: ''catalans''; es, catalanes, Italian language, Italian: ''catalani'', sc, cadelanos) are a Romance languages, Romance ethnic group native to Cataloni ...

on 12 October, starting and conceding a

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

in a 2–2 draw at

CD Olímpic de Xàtiva Club Deportivo Olímpic de Xàtiva is a Spanish football team based in Xàtiva, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1932 it currently plays in Regional Preferente, holding home games at Campo de Futbol La Murta. History Football in Xàtiv ...

. Marí scored his first goal for ''Nàstic'' on 1 December 2013, the winner in a 2–1 home victory against

Levante UD B Levante may refer to: People * Levante (singer), Italian pop singer-songwriter * LeVante Bellamy (born 1996), American football player Places * Levante, Spain, the eastern Iberian coastal region of Spain * Riviera di Levante, an Italian name f ...

. On 25 June 2015, after achieving promotion to

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 signed a new three-year deal with the club. Marí scored his first professional goal on 30 August 2015, netting his team's first in a 2–1 away defeat of

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1912, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez Lóp ...

Manchester City

On 15 August 2016, Marí was transferred to

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

. A day later, he was loaned to

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, it plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 Segunda División play-offs. Girona holds its home matches at ...

in a

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 ...

-long deal. In the following two campaigns, still owned by City, Marí played with

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eerste Divi ...

(Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

, where he was

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

) and

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. They currently p ...

(Spanish second tier).

Flamengo

On 11 July 2019, Marí signed with

on a contract through 2022, for an approximate fee of €1.3 million (or R$5.5 million). He became the third Spanish player for the Brazilian club, after goalkeeper Talladas in the late 1930s and forward José Ufarte in the 1960s. He made his debut as a starter on 28 July in a Série A match against

Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood ('' bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of ...

at the

Maracanã Stadium Maracanã Stadium ( pt, Estádio do Maracanã, standard Brazilian Portuguese: , local pronunciation: ), officially named Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho (), is an association football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The stadium is part o ...

, a 3–2 win; he quickly established himself in the first team, with manager

Jorge Jesus Jorge Fernando Pinheiro de Jesus (; born 24 July 1954) is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Süper Lig club Fenerbahçe. He started his career with Sporting CP, going on to play for 12 ...

pairing him with

Rodrigo Caio Rodrigo Caio Coquette Russo (born 17 August 1993), known as Rodrigo Caio, is a footballer who plays as a central defender for Flamengo and the Brazil national team. Club career São Paulo Born in Dracena, São Paulo, Rodrigo Caio is a product ...

. Marí scored his first goal for ''Mengão'' on 25 August 2019, with a volley inside the box in a 3–0 away victory over

Ceará Sporting Club Ceará Sporting Club, or Ceará, as they are usually called, is a Brazilian football team from the city of Fortaleza, capital city of the Brazilian state of Ceará, founded on June 2, 1914, by Luís Esteves and Pedro Freire. Ceará is one of ...

. His second in the league came on 7 September, this time with a header against

Avaí FC Avaí Futebol Clube () is a Brazilian football team from Florianópolis in Santa Catarina, founded on 1 September 1923. Their home stadium is Estádio Aderbal Ramos da Silva, also known as Ressacada, with a capacity of 17,800. They play in b ...

in a 3–0 win at

Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha Arena BRB Mané Garrincha, formerly Estádio Nacional de Brasília Mané Garrincha, also known as ''Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha'', ''Estádio Nacional de Brasília'', ''Arena Mané Garrincha'' or simply ''Mané Garrincha'', is a football ...

. In November, he became the first Spaniard to win the

, the major South American club competition. Marí made headlines for wearing the number 24 in the Copa Libertadores, as the number is subject to a homophobic taboo in Brazil.

Arsenal

On 29 January 2020, Marí joined English

club

on loan until the end of the season, with an option for Arsenal to make the deal permanent in the summer. Arsenal's technical director Edu said: "Pablo is an experienced player who will provide us with additional defensive quality. We have been monitoring Pablo’s career for a while and we are very pleased to have reached agreement with Flamengo for him to join us initially until the end of our season." Marí made two appearances for Arsenal, a 2–0

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

win at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

and a 1–0 Premier League win at home to

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancien ...

, before the season was suspended due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. On 17 June 2020, Marí was injured playing in a 3–0 defeat at Manchester City, in the first game of the league restart. Arsenal confirmed post-match he would miss the remainder of the

with a "significant" ankle injury. Despite this injury, Arsenal announced on 24 June that Marí would join the club permanently for an undisclosed fee on 1 July, upon the opening of the summer transfer window. On 3 December 2020, Marí scored his first goal for Arsenal in a 4–1 home win over

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid Wien (), commonly known as Rapid Vienna, is an Austrian football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the first title in the season 1911–12, ...

in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

Loans to Udinese and Monza

On 20 January 2022, Marí joined

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

club

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a fo ...

on loan until the end of the 2021–22 season. On 11 August, he was loaned to newly-promoted Serie A side

. Marì made his debut for Monza on 14 August, as a starter in a 2–1 Serie A defeat to

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

Personal life

Marí and his wife Veronica Chacon have a son, Pablo Jr. (b. 2018). On 27 October 2022, Marí was stabbed and injured at a

Carrefour Carrefour () is a French multinational retail and wholesaling corporation headquartered in Massy, France. The eighth-largest retailer in the world by revenue, it operates a chain of hypermarkets, groceries stores and convenience stores, which ...

supermarket in

Assago Assago ( lmo, Assagh or ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Milan, in the northern Italian region of Lombardy. It contains the headquarters of Nestlé's Italian branch and the Mediolanum Forum Mediolanum Forum (originally ...

Metropolitan City of Milan The Metropolitan City of Milan ( it, città metropolitana di Milano; lmo, label=Milanese, cittaa metropolitana de Milan ) is a metropolitan city (not to be confused with the metropolitan area) in the Lombardy region, Italy. It is the second mos ...

. He was taken to hospital conscious and not in a serious condition. Monza's CEO

Adriano Galliani Adriano Galliani (born 30 July 1944) is an Italian entrepreneur and football executive who is the CEO of club Monza. He is known for being former vice-chairman and CEO of AC Milan from 1986 to 2017, a period in the club's history known as t ...

stated: "His life is not in danger, he should recover quickly". A man was killed during the attack and four others were injured. The perpetrator was a man with mental health problems.

Career statistics

Honours

Flamengo *

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 ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Individual *

Team of the Tournament:

* Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Team of the Year: 2019

References

External links

Profile
at the Arsenal F.C. website
Profile
at the A.C. Monza website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mari, Pablo 1993 births Living people People from Ribera Baixa Sportspeople from the Province of Valencia Footballers from the Valencian Community Spanish footballers Association football central defenders RCD Mallorca B players RCD Mallorca players Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers Manchester City F.C. players Girona FC players NAC Breda players Deportivo de La Coruña players CR Flamengo footballers Arsenal F.C. players Udinese Calcio players A.C. Monza players Segunda División B players La Liga players Segunda División players Eredivisie players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Premier League players Serie A players Spanish expatriate footballers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Brazil Expatriate footballers in Italy Stabbing survivors