Gastón Nicolás Martirena Torres (born 5 January 2000) 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

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

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 ...

club Racing Club. He began his career with Liverpool Montevideo, winning an Apertura and a Clausura title in the

Uruguayan Primera División The Liga Profesional de Primera División (American Spanish , , local: , ''First Division''), named "Torneo Uruguayo Copa Coca-Cola" for sponsorship reasons, is the highest professional Association football, football league in Uruguay organized b ...

, as well as the

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 ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

. He then transferred to Racing Club, where he won the

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, also known as Copa Sudamericana (; ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL, the governing body of football in South America, since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club com ...

in 2024 and scored in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

Career

Liverpool Montevideo

Born in

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, Martirena began his career at Liverpool Montevideo. He made his debut on 24 March 2021 as a late substitute for

Jean Rosso Jean Pierre Rosso Génova (born 7 April 1997) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Liverpool Montevideo. Career statistics Honours Liverpool Montevideo * Supercopa Uruguaya: 2024 The year saw the ...

in a 4–1 home win over

Montevideo City Torque The Montevideo City Torque is an Uruguayan association football, football club based in Montevideo. The Torque currently plays in the Uruguayan Segunda División, the Second division of Uruguayan football league system, Uruguayan league system, h ...

in the

. On 1 August 2021 he scored his first goal in a 3–0 win away to the same team; he netted twice on 16 June 2023 in a 3–1 win away to Cerro Largo. He played in the 2023 Supercopa Uruguaya, in which his team defeated

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

; he took the free kick from which Gonzalo Nápoli scored the only goal.

Racing Club

In July 2023, Martirena transferred to Racing Club of the

as their third signing of the

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

. The club managed by

Fernando Gago Fernando Rubén Gago (; born 10 April 1986) is an Argentine football Manager (association football), manager and former player. He is the current head coach of Liga MX club Club Necaxa, Necaxa. During his 16-year club career, limited by multiple ...

paid US$2.6 million for 70% of his economic rights. He made his debut on 4 August as a substitute in a 4–2 loss away to

Atlético Nacional Atlético Nacional S. A., best known as Atlético Nacional, is a Colombian professional football club based in Medellín. The club is one of only three clubs to have played in every first division tournament in the country's history, the other ...

of Colombia in the last 16 of the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

, while his league bow came two weeks later as a starter in the 1–1 draw with Unión in the opening game, assisting the goal by Baltasar Rodríguez. On 20 September he scored his only goal of the season, the 2–1 winner at home to

Newell's Old Boys Club Atlético Newell's Old Boys () is an Argentine sports club based in Rosario, Santa Fe. The club was founded on 3 November 1903, and is named after Isaac Newell of the English county of Kent, one of the pioneers of Argentine football. A ...

in the seventh minute of added time. In August 2024, Brazilian club

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; ), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian multi sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea. It was founded and named after the Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Flamengo n ...

bid US$5 million for Martirena. The deal was not concluded as Racing demanded a higher amount of the fee to be paid instantly, and the club from

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

wanted 90% of his economic rights, which would have required negotiations with Liverpool. Martirena scored his first continental goal on 26 September 2024, concluding a 4–1 home win over

Athletico Paranaense Club Athletico Paranaense (abbreviated CAP, commonly known as Athletico Paranaense and up to 2019 known as Atlético Paranaense) is a Brazilian football team from the city of Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná, founded o ...

in the quarter-finals of the

. He was on target again in the next game of the competition, ensuring a 2–2 draw away to

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians () is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author, Sosthenes, and is addressed to the Christian church in C ...

in Brazil. In the

on 23 November against Cruzeiro of Brazil, he scored from a cross for the opening goal of a 3–1 win, giving the club from

Avellaneda Avellaneda (, ) is a port city in the provinces of Argentina, province of Buenos Aires Province, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the seat of the Avellaneda Partido, whose population was 342,677 as per the . Avellaneda is located within the Greater B ...

their first continental honour since the

1988 Supercopa Libertadores The 1988 Supercopa Libertadores was the inaugural year of the competition. The tournament was open to all the past winners of the Copa Libertadores. It commenced on 10 February and concluded on 18 June. A total of 13 football clubs entered the firs ...

Honours

Liverpool Montevideo *

Racing Club *

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana (), also known as Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club Association football, football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1988. It ...

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:Martirena, Gaston 2000 births Living people Footballers from Montevideo Uruguayan men's footballers Men's association football defenders Liverpool F.C. (Montevideo) players Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Uruguayan Primera División players Argentine Primera División players Uruguayan expatriate men's footballers Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Copa Sudamericana–winning players