Ricardo Gastón Díaz (born 13 March 1988) is an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

right winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Club career

Díaz made his debut for Vélez Sársfield on February 9, 2008. He featured rarely during the 2008–09 season, being a substitute for

Fabián Cubero Fabián Alberto Cubero (born 21 December 1978) is an Argentine former professional footballer. A versatile player, Cubero started as a defensive midfielder but spent most of his career playing as a right back. During his professional career tha ...

in the position of right back. However, he finished the second half of the season ( 2009 Clausura) as a starter as the team's right winger, also playing in the final game against

Huracán Huracán (; ; , "one legged"), often referred to as ''U Kʼux Kaj'', the "Heart of Sky", is a Kʼicheʼ Maya god of wind, storm, fire and one of the creator deities who participated in all three attempts at creating humanity. He also caused th ...

, when Vélez obtained the national championship. Díaz played a total of 9 games during the team's championship winning campaign. The night subsequent to the championship final, Díaz had a car accident while

driving under the influence of alcohol Drunk driving (or drink-driving in British English) is the act of driving under the influence of alcohol. A small increase in the blood alcohol content increases the relative risk of a motor vehicle crash. In the United States, alcohol is in ...

. Díaz featured more regularly during the

2009–10 Argentine Primera División season The 2009–10 Primera División season was the 119th season of top-flight professional football in Argentina. A total of 20 teams competed in the season, which started on 21 August 2009 and ended on 23 May 2010. Changes from 2008–09 The majo ...

and the

2010 Copa Libertadores The 2010 Copa Libertadores de América (officially the 2010 Copa Santander Libertadores for sponsorship reasons) was the 51st edition of the Copa Libertadores de América The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de Améric ...

. He usually played as right back, with Fabián Cubero starting on the right wing. In 2014 Díaz joined Racing Club. In the first fixture of the 2014 Transición he made three assists in the team's victory against

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.

(two to Gabriel Hauche and one to

Diego Milito Diego Alberto Milito (born 12 June 1979) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was nicknamed ''El Principe'' ("The Prince" in Spanish) because of his physical resemblance with former Uruguayan footballer En ...

), thus becoming the man of the match. He then assisted Luciano Lollo in the 2–0 victory against

San Lorenzo de Almagro Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro is an Argentine professional sports club based in the Boedo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its football team, which plays in the Primera División, the first tier of the Argentine foot ...

. In the ninth fixture, Racing faced

Belgrano Belgrano may refer to: People * Joaquín Belgrano (1773–1848), an Argentine patriot * José Denis Belgrano (1844–1917), Spanish painter * Joseph Belgrano (1762–1823), Argentine military officer and politician, brother of Manuel * Manuel Be ...

and Díaz made his fifth assist in the tournament after sending a precise head to scorer Gustavo Bou. Against

Estudiantes de La Plata ( lit. "La Plata Students"), simply referred to as Estudiantes de La Plata, is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Plata. The club's football team currently competes in the Primera División, where it has spent most of its histo ...

, he assisted Diego Milito to score on a 4–0 victory. The winger scored his first goal against

Rosario Central Club Atlético Rosario Central (), more commonly referred to as Rosario Central, or simply Central, is a sports club based in Rosario, Argentina, that plays in the Argentine Primera División. The club was officially founded on 24 December 1889, ...

, to help on a 3–0 win for the 18th fixture. On the last fixture game against Godoy Cruz, Díaz assisted teammate

Ricardo Centurión Adrián Ricardo Centurión (born 19 January 1993) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a left-winger for Primera División club Oriente Petrolero. Club career Racing Club and loan with Genoa Centurión joined Racing's youth set ...

to score the goal that would give Racing the national title after 13 years. In that tournament he played in all 19 games, and made one goal and seven assists, making him the player with the most assists in the championship. Días returned to Vélez Sarsfield for the

2017–18 Argentine Primera División The 2017–18 Argentine Primera División - Superliga Argentina (officially the Superliga Quilmes Clásica for sponsorship reasons) was the 128 season of top-flight professional football in Argentina. The season began on 25 August 2017 and ended ...

, on a free transfer. Ahead of the 2019/20 season, Días joined

Club Atlético Colón Club Atlético Colón de Santa Fe (), commonly referred to as Colón de Santa Fe , is a sports club from Santa Fe, Argentina. The football team plays in the second Division of the Argentine football league system, the Primera Nacional. It was ...

. He left the club again at the end of the season.

International career

Díaz was on the preliminary squad for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. However, he was not part of the final selection. In January 2010, he was called by

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

's coach

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional association football, football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two ...

for an Argentine league-based squad to play a friendly match against

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

. Díaz was an unused substitute during the game. In November of that year, he was called by

Sergio Batista Sergio Daniel "Checho" Batista (; born 9 November 1962) is an Argentine football manager and former international player for Argentina. As a footballer he played as a midfielder for Argentinos Juniors, River Plate, Nueva Chicago, Tosu Future ...

, Maradona's replacement as Argentina's head coach, for another squad of local league players to train twice weekly with the national representative. He debuted with the national team entering the field in a 4–1 victory over

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, on March 16, 2011.

Honours

;Vélez Sársfield *

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; ), known officially as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Betano for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Argentina and the highest level of the Argentine football league system. Organ ...

(2): 2009 Clausura, 2011 Clausura ;Racing Club *

(1): 2014 Transición

References

External links

Profile
at Vélez Sársfield official website * at Fútbol XXI * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Gaston 1988 births Living people Footballers from Buenos Aires Argentine men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football wingers Argentine Primera División players Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers Club Atlético Lanús footballers Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata footballers Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Club Atlético Colón footballers Argentina men's international footballers 21st-century Argentine sportsmen