Gabriel Matías Fernández Leites (born 13 May 1994), commonly known as "Toro Fernández", is a Uruguayan 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 lea ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

Liga MX Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...

club

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul S.A. de C.V., commonly referred to as Cruz Azul, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football league system, Mexican footba ...

Career

Fernández had youth stints with Club Atlético Pablan, Bella Vista and

Defensor Sporting Defensor Sporting Club is a sports club based in Montevideo, Uruguay. Founded in 1913, Defensor has several sports sections, with football and basketball being the most important and the ones in which the club has achieved significant achievement ...

, featuring for the latter at the

2012 U-20 Copa Libertadores The 2012 U-20 Copa Libertadores (known as the 2012 Copa Movistar Libertadores Sub-20 for sponsorship reasons) was the second edition of this U-20 club competition. Players born on or after 1 January 1992 were eligible to compete. The tournament w ...

in Peru; where they finished as runners-up to Argentina's River Plate. On 8 January 2013, Fernández completed a loan move to fellow Primera División team Cerro Largo. He made his bow on 23 February against

Montevideo Wanderers Montevideo Wanderers Fútbol Club, usually known simply as Wanderers, is a Uruguayan professional football club based in Montevideo. The club are currently members of the Primera División and play at the Estadio Viera. Beside football, the cl ...

, which preceded his first goals arriving in March versus Progreso and Racing Club. Fernández returned to his parent club for 2013–14, making four appearances before leaving to join Racing Club. Braces followed in season one over

Atenas Atenas () is a district of the Atenas canton, in the Alajuela province of Costa Rica. Its urban area is referred as Atenas city. Toponymy Its name means Athens ''(Αθήνα)'', the capital of Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Repu ...

and

Sud América Institución Atlética Sud América, usually known as Sud América or just IASA, is a football club from Montevideo. They currently play in the Uruguayan Segunda Division. History Sud América was formed from the team formerly known as the "Mo ...

. After spending three further seasons with Racing Club, participating in forty-nine matches and netting fifteen goals, Fernández switched teams in January 2018 by agreeing to sign for

Peñarol Club Atlético Peñarol (), more commonly referred to as Peñarol, is a Uruguayan professional football club based in Montevideo. The club currently competes in the Uruguayan Primera División, the highest tier in Uruguayan football. The nam ...

. He scored his first goal on 24 February during a win over

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, a club he later notched his first career hat-trick against in the following August on the way to Peñarol's fiftieth league title. On 26 January 2019, Fernández secured a transfer to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

side

Celta CELTA is an initial teacher training qualification for teaching English as a second or foreign language (ESL and EFL). It is provided by Cambridge Assessment English through authorised Cambridge English Teaching Qualification centres and can be ...

; effective from the following July, pending the outcome of his court case. The deal was confirmed on 4 July by Celta. His debut arrived in a home defeat to

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

on 17 August. He got his opening goal for them on 24 August, scoring with a backheel flick to earn Celta a 1–0 win over

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

in La Liga. On 11 September 2020, Fernández was loaned to

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

side

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

for the 2020–21 season. In 2023, Fernández joined Universidad Nacional (the Pumas) for the 2023 Apertura tournament.

Personal life

On 29 December 2018, Fernández was involved in a

traffic collision A traffic collision, also known as a motor vehicle collision, or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other moving or stationary obstruction, such as a tree, pole or building. Tr ...

in Montevideo which left Romina Fernández, 18, in a

vegetative state A vegetative state (VS) or post-coma unresponsiveness (PCU) is a disorder of consciousness in which patients with severe brain damage are in a state of partial arousal rather than true awareness. After four weeks in a vegetative state, the patie ...

, he had allegedly been speeding at 60 km/h in a 45

speed limit Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed, express ...

zone. After testifying in court in May, the judge prohibited him from leaving the country without permission; with a work-dependent

curfew A curfew is an order that imposes certain regulations during specified hours. Typically, curfews order all people affected by them to remain indoors during the evening and nighttime hours. Such an order is most often issued by public authorit ...

also being set. Celta, who Fernández signed a pre-contract agreement with in the subsequent January, added a clause to the transfer that would see it cancelled if he was found guilty. In June 2019, his passport was returned and a settlement was reached with Romina's family which allowed Fernández to travel to officialise his transfer to Celta.

Career statistics

Honours

Peñarol * Primera División:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Supercopa Uruguaya The Supercopa Uruguaya (''Uruguayan Supercup'') is an annual one-match football official competition in Uruguay organised by the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) which is played between the Primera División champions and the Torneo Intermedio ...

Cruz Azul *

CONCACAF Champions Cup The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, a ...

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernández, Gabriel 1994 births Living people Footballers from Montevideo Uruguayan men's footballers Men's association football forwards Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Uruguayan Primera División players La Liga players Segunda División players Liga MX players Defensor Sporting players Cerro Largo F.C. players Racing Club de Montevideo players Peñarol players RC Celta de Vigo players Real Zaragoza players FC Juárez footballers Club Universidad Nacional footballers Cruz Azul footballers Association football controversies Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico 21st-century Argentine sportsmen CONCACAF Champions Cup–winning players