Mariano Díaz Mejía

Mariano
Mariano with Real Madrid in 2018
Personal information
Full name Mariano Díaz Mejía
Date of birth (1993-08-01) 1 August 1993
Place of birth Premià de Mar, Spain
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current team
 Real Madrid
Number 7
Youth career
2002–2006 Espanyol
2006–2008 Premià
2008–2009 Sánchez Llibre
2009–2011 Badalona
2011–2012 Real Madrid
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2011 Badalona 3 (0)
2012–2014 Real Madrid C 46 (18)
2014–2016 Real Madrid B 44 (32)
2016–2017 Real Madrid 8 (1)
2017–2018 Lyon 37 (18)
2018– Real Madrid 3 (1)
National team‡
2013 Dominican Republic 1 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:29, 6 October 2018 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 4 January 2016

Mariano Díaz Mejía (Spanish pronunciation: [maˈɾjano ˈði.az meˈxi.a];[lower-alpha 1] born 1 August 1993), simply known as Mariano, is a footballer who plays for Spanish club Real Madrid as a striker.

Shortly after making his senior debut for Badalona in 2011, Mariano joined Real Madrid, where he played in the C-team and then the reserves, where he was top scorer in the 2015–16 Segunda División B. He then began playing with the first team, and was part of their squad that won La Liga, the UEFA Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup in 2016–17. He was subsequently signed by Ligue 1 club Olympique Lyonnais but returned to Madrid one year later.

Mariano was born in Spain to a mother from the Dominican Republic. He played and scored in a friendly match for the Dominican Republic national team in 2013. He then retired from the Dominican Republic team in the hopes of representing Spain.[2]

Club career

Early career

Born in Premià de Mar, Barcelona, Catalonia, Mariano began his youth career with local side RCD Espanyol, and appeared for lowly CE Premià and Fundació Sánchez Llibre. In 2009, he joined CF Badalona, and made his senior debut on 21 August 2011, replacing Iñaki Goikoetxea for the final 21 minutes of a 1–0 loss at CD Teruel in the Segunda División B season; he made two more appearances off the bench. On the 31st, he made his first start, playing the entirety of a 3–1 loss at RB Linense for the season's Copa del Rey, scoring his team's consolation.[3]

Real Madrid

Youth

Shortly after, Mariano signed with Real Madrid, returning to youth football.[4] In August 2012 he was promoted to the Madrilenian side's C-team also in the third level. He became a regular in his second season there, scoring 15 goals in 26 matches, including a hat-trick on 22 December 2013 in a 5–2 home win over Sestao River Club.[5] The following 18 January, Mariano made his professional debut at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stéfano, appearing with the reserves in a 1–2 loss against Sporting de Gijón for the Segunda División championship; he came on for the final five minutes in place of Raúl de Tomás.[6]

2014–16: Castilla

In 2014–15, with Castilla now in the third tier, Mariano was indefinitely promoted to the team. He made ten appearances, six from the bench, and scored five times. On 29 March, he entered late in De Tomás' place again and scored twice to cap a 5–1 home win over UD Las Palmas B,[7] while one week later, he was given a start at lowly UB Conquense and struck both goals in a seven-minute span.[8]

On 24 October 2015, Mariano scored all of his team's goals in a 3–1 home win over UD Socuéllamos,[9] and repeated this on 8 November in a 3–2 win against CF Fuenlabrada.[10] The following 17 April, he scored his third treble of the season, scoring all of the goals – two penalties – in a home win over SD Gernika Club which put Castilla top.[11] He scored his 25th goal of the season in a 6–1 win over La Roda CF on the last day of the season, making him the season's top scorer and winning the group at the expense of Barakaldo CF.[12]

2016–17: Entrance in the first squad

Mariano was definitively promoted to the main squad by manager Zinedine Zidane on 20 August 2016, after a back injury to striker Karim Benzema.[13] One week later, Mariano made his senior debut during a 2–1 win over Celta de Vigo, replacing Álvaro Morata in the 77th minute.[14] On 26 October, again from the bench, he scored his first goal for the Merengues to conclude a 7–1 win at Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa in the Copa del Rey.[15] In the second leg, he added a hat-trick for a 13–2 aggregate win, including a 23rd-second goal that was his team's fastest goal in the competition.[16]

Mariano scored his first top-flight goal on 10 December, equalising in a 3–2 comeback victory at home to Deportivo de La Coruña.[17] Later that month, he was part of the squad that won the 2016 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, but did not appear in either of Real Madrid's matches.[18][19]

Mariano made eight appearances when Madrid won the 2016–17 La Liga.[20][21] He was a back-up when Madrid won the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League.[22]

Lyon

On 30 June 2017, Mariano signed for Olympique Lyonnais.[23][24] The fee was reported as €8 million plus 35% interest on the capital gain of a potential future transfer.[25][26] He made his debut on 5 August in the first match of the 2017–18 Ligue 1 season against Strasbourg, scoring twice in a 4–0 home win.[27] He totalled 18 goals for the league season, forming a prolific attacking trio alongside Memphis Depay and Nabil Fekir (19 and 18 goals respectively).[28]

Return to Real Madrid

On 29 August 2018, Real Madrid announced they had signed Mariano on a five-year contract. As Real Madrid owned 35% of his playing rights, the fee was reduced to €23 million.[29][30] He was issued shirt number 7, previously worn by Cristiano Ronaldo.[31][32] After his second spell at Madrid started, Mariano made his debut for the club on 19 September 2018, coming on as a 73rd-minute substitute against Roma in the first fixture of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League group stage, and scored the last goal of a 3–0 victory with a curved shot from outside the penalty area.[33]

International career

Mariano is eligible for Dominican Republic through his mother, a native of San Juan de la Maguana.[34] He made his international debut on 24 March 2013 in a friendly against neighbours Haiti, and scored the last goal of a 3–1 victory.[35] He later retired from the national team to focus on his career at Real Madrid and also avoid being cap-tied with the Dominican Republic, in view of a possible call up for the Spain national team.[2][36] In December 2017, then-Spain manager Julen Lopetegui said he was monitoring Mariano for a call-up.[37]

Career statistics

Club

As of 6 October 2018[38]
Club Season League Cup League Cup Europe Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Badalona 2011–12 3011——41
Real Madrid C 2012–13 203———203
2013–14 2615———2615
Total 4618———4618
Real Madrid B 2013–14 10———10
2014–15 105———105
2015–16 3327———3327
Total 4432———4432
Real Madrid 2016–17 8154—10145
Lyon 2017–18 34182100924521
2018–19 3000000030
Total 37182100924821
Real Madrid 2018–19 3000—2151
Madrid total 11154—31196
Career total 14169860012316178

International goals

Scores and results list the Dominican Republic's goal tally first.
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.24 March 2013Estadio Panamericano, San Cristóbal Haiti
3–0
3–1
Friendly

Honours

Club

Real Madrid

Notes

  1. ↑ In isolation, Díaz is pronounced [ˈdi.as].

References

  1. ↑ http://www.olweb.fr/en/player/mariano-diaz-2413.html
  2. 1 2 Andreu, Héctor (24 August 2016). "Mariano puede jugar con España" [Mariano can play with Spain] (in Spanish). Fichajes.net. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
  3. ↑ "El Badalona se convierte en la tercera víctima de la todopoderosa Balona" [Badalona become the third victim of the almighty Balona] (in Spanish). La Línea Digital. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  4. ↑ Martín, Iván (27 October 2015). "Mariano, el hombre gol de Zidane" [Mariano, Zidane's goal man] (in Spanish). Marca. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  5. ↑ Vázquez, Javi (22 December 2013). "Goleada ante el Sestao River para terminar el año" [Thrashing of Sestao River to finish the year] (in Spanish). Real Madrid. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  6. ↑ Los rojiblancos meten máxima presión al Deportivo (Rojiblancos puts maximum pressure on Deportivo); Marca, 18 January 2014 (in Spanish)
  7. ↑ Jiménez, Bárbara (29 March 2015). "5–1: Castilla claim big win at the Di Stéfano". Real Madrid. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  8. ↑ "Un doblete de Mariano lanza al Castilla frente al colista" [Mariano's brace is the springboard for Castilla against the bottom team] (in Spanish). Diario AS. 5 April 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  9. ↑ "Hat-trick del dominicano Mariano con el Castilla" [Hat-trick for the Dominican Mariano with Castilla] (in Spanish). Marca. 24 October 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  10. ↑ Martín, Iván (8 November 2013). "El Castilla baila al ritmo de Mariano" [Castilla dance to Mariano's rhythm] (in Spanish). Marca. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  11. ↑ Forjanes, Carlos (18 April 2016). "Mariano hat-trick fires Real Madrid Castilla top". Diario AS. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  12. ↑ Vargas, Diego (15 May 2016). "Goleada de campeonato del Castilla a La Roda" [Castilla's championship thrashing of La Roda] (in Spanish). Defensa Central. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  13. ↑ "Mariano se queda en la primera plantilla del Madrid" [Mariano stays in Real Madrid's first team] (in Spanish). Marca. 20 August 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  14. ↑ "Real Madrid 2–1 Celta Vigo". bbc.co. 27 August 2016. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
  15. ↑ "Asensio, Morata star as Real Madrid score seven in Copa del Rey rout". ESPN. 26 October 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
  16. ↑ "Mariano scores Real Madrid's fastest ever Copa del Rey goal". Diario AS. 30 November 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  17. ↑ "Mariano Díaz marcó un gol en la victoria del Real Madrid sobre Deportivo" [Mariano Díaz scored a goal in Real Madrid's victory over Deportivo] (in Spanish). Diario Libre. 10 December 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  18. ↑ "Real overcome America to reach final". FIFA. 15 December 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  19. ↑ "Madrid see off spirited Kashima in electric extra time final". FIFA. 18 December 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  20. ↑ "El Real Madrid, campeón de LaLiga Santander 2016/17". laliga.es. 21 May 2017.
  21. ↑ "Real Madrid win La Liga title with victory at Malaga". bbc.com. 21 May 2017.
  22. ↑ "Majestic Real Madrid win Champions League in Cardiff". uefa.com. 3 June 2017.
  23. ↑ "Official Announcement: Mariano". realmadrid.com. 30 June 2017.
  24. ↑ "Mercato : A la découverte de la nouvelle recrue Mariano Diaz" [Transfer market: Meet new recruit Mariano Díaz] (in French). Olympique Lyonnais. 30 June 2017.
  25. ↑ "Mariano presented at Lyon, leaves Real Madrid for €8 million". Diario AS. 30 June 2017. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  26. ↑ "Lyon deny Real Madrid buy-back clause for Mariano Diaz".
  27. ↑ "OL-STRASBOURG: WITH FEKIR AND MARIANO STEPPING UP, OL ARE ALREADY ON THE ATTACK! (4–0)". Olympique Lyonnais. 5 August 2017. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  28. ↑ "Ligue 1 : le classement des buteurs de la saison 2017-2018" [Ligue 1: top scorers of the 2017-2018 season] (in French). Europe 1. 19 May 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  29. ↑ "Official Announcement: Mariano". Real Madrid. 29 August 2018. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
  30. ↑ "OL agree transfer of Mariano Diaz to Real Madrid". Olympique Lyonnais. 29 August 2018. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
  31. ↑ Team, The42. "Real Madrid's new signing handed number 7 shirt after €33m move from Lyon". The42. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  32. ↑ "Real Madrid give Ronaldo's No. 7 shirt to Mariano". ESPN.com. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  33. ↑ "MATCH SUMMARY: Real Madrid 3-0 Roma". UEFA. 19 September 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  34. ↑ "Mariano Díaz: el dominicano promovido al Real Madrid" [Mariano Díaz: the Dominican promoted to Real Madrid] (in Spanish). Metro RD. 18 February 2016. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
  35. ↑ "Mariano, from Madrid to the Caribbean". Marca. 27 March 2013. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
  36. ↑ "Mariano Díaz puede jugar con la Selección española" [Mariano Díaz can play with the Spanish national team] (in Spanish). 24 August 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
  37. ↑ Gabilondo, Aritz (31 December 2017). "Lopetegui: "A Mariano ya fuimos a verle; le seguimos de cerca"" [Lopetegui "We already went to see Mariano; we are following him closely] (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  38. ↑ "Mariano Diaz Mejia – Football Stats". Soccerway. Retrieved 1 December 2016
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