Nicolás Tagliafico

Nicolás Alejandro Tagliafico (born 31 August 1992) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Ligue 1 club Lyon and the Argentina national team. He was a member of the Argentina team that won the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Nicolás Tagliafico

Tagliafico with Lyon in 2022
Personal information
Full name	Nicolás Alejandro Tagliafico[1]
Date of birth	(1992-08-31) 31 August 1992 (age 32)[1]
Place of birth	Rafael Calzada, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)[1]
Position(s)	Left-back
Team information
Current team	Lyon
Number	3
Youth career
2007–2010	Banfield
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2010–2015	Banfield	90	(2)
2012–2013	→ Real Murcia (loan)	27	(0)
2015–2018	Independiente	85	(2)
2018–2022	Ajax	115	(9)
2022–	Lyon	83	(7)
International career‡
2007	Argentina U15	2	(0)
2009	Argentina U17	5	(0)
2011	Argentina U20	12	(1)
2017–	Argentina	69	(1)
Medal record Men's football Representing  Argentina FIFA World Cup Winner 2022 Qatar Copa América Winner 2021 Brazil Winner 2024 United States 2019 Brazil CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions Winner 2022 England
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 25 May 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 25 March 2025

Early life

Of Italian origins, his grandparents are from the city of Genoa on the paternal side and Calabrian on the maternal side; he also has Italian citizenship.^[2]

Club career

Banfield

Tagliafico made his professional debut for Banfield on a 2−1 away victory against Tigre for the fifth fixture of the 2011 Clausura, coming on as a substitute on the 72nd minute.^[3] Due to Marcelo Bustamante's ban, he was a starter the following game, a 2−2 draw with Huracán.^[3] In 2012, Tagliafico signed a one-year loan deal with Spanish club Real Murcia.

Independiente

In 2015, he made the move to Independiente for an undisclosed transfer fee and made his professional debut for the club during a 3−2 away win at Newell's Old Boys. Tagliafico would end up captaining the team that won the 2017 Copa Sudamericana.

Ajax

On 5 January 2018, Tagliafico made the move to Ajax for a fee of £4 million and made his professional debut for the club during a 2−0 home win against Feyenoord on 21 January 2018 in the Klassieker. Since then he has played over 100 league games for the club and scored 7 league goals and became a starter for the team in 2019.

Lyon

On 23 July 2022, he joined Ligue 1 club Lyon on a three-year deal until June 2025, for €4.2 million.^[4]

International career

Tagliafico with Argentina at the 2018 FIFA World Cup

Tagliafico has played in all the youth categories of the Argentina national team: under-15, under-17 and under-20. Tagliafico impressed for the Argentina national under-20 football team at the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia; however, he missed Argentina's final kick in the quarter-final penalty shoot-out against Portugal, meaning Argentina exited that competition 5–4 on penalties (Cartagena, 13 August 2011).

In May 2018, he was named in Argentina's final 23 man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.^[5] He also played the 2019 Copa América, and took with Argentina the third place, through a 2–1 victory over Chile in the third-place match.^[6]

In June 2021, he was included in Lionel Scaloni's final Argentina 28-man squad for the 2021 Copa América.^[7]

He is the only foreign player to became champion at club level (Independiente, Sudamericana 2017) and at international level (Argentina, Copa América 2021) at the Maracaná stadium.

In November 2022, he was named in Argentina's final 26-man squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar by Scaloni. Tagliafico was part of the starting line-up in the final against France, where Argentina won the World Cup by a score of 4–2 on penalties.^[8]

In June 2024, Tagliafico was included in Lionel Scaloni's final 26-man Argentina squad for the 2024 Copa América.^[9]

Style of play

He is noted for his "lung-busting stamina, excellent technique and continuous enterprise". As a result of his skills, as well as his playing position and club, and nationality, and striking visual resemblance Tagliafico has been compared to the Inter Milan and Argentina full-back Javier Zanetti, formerly also of Banfield.^[10]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 17 May 2025^[11]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup[a]		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Banfield	2010–11	Argentine Primera División	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	0
	2011–12		33	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	33	1
	2013–14	Primera B Nacional	34	0	2	1	–		0	0	36	1
	2014	Argentine Primera División	14	1	0	0	–		0	0	14	1
	Total		90	2	2	1	0	0	0	0	92	3
Real Murcia (loan)	2012–13	Segunda División	27	0	1	0	–		–		28	0
Independiente	2015	Argentine Primera División	31	1	2	0	6[b]	0	0	0	39	1
	2016		16	1	2	0	4[b]	0	3[c]	0	25	1
	2016–17		29	0	1	0	11[b]	0	2[c]	0	43	0
	2017–18		9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	0
	Total		85	2	5	0	21	0	5	0	116	2
Ajax	2017–18	Eredivisie	15	1	0	0	0	0	–		15	1
	2018–19		29	2	2	1	15[d]	3	–		46	6
	2019–20		24	3	3	0	11[e]	2	0	0	38	5
	2020–21		25	1	4	0	11[f]	0	–		40	1
	2021–22		22	2	4	1	3[d]	0	1[g]	0	30	3
	Total		115	9	13	2	40	5	1	0	169	16
Lyon	2022–23	Ligue 1	34	1	4	0	–		–		38	1
	2023–24		25	3	6	0	–		–		31	3
	2024–25		24	3	0	0	9[h]	2	–		33	5
	Total		83	7	10	0	9	2	–		102	9
Career total			400	20	31	3	70	7	6	0	507	30

1. Includes Copa Argentina, Copa del Rey, KNVB Cup, Coupe de France
2. Appearances in Copa Sudamericana
3. Appearances in Torneos de Verano
4. Appearances in UEFA Champions League
5. Ten appearances and two goals in UEFA Champions League, one appearance in UEFA Europa League
6. Six appearances in UEFA Champions League, five appearances in UEFA Europa League
7. Appearance in Johan Cruyff Shield
8. Appearances in UEFA Europa League

International

As of match played 5 June 2025^[12]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Argentina	2017	1	0
	2018	11	0
	2019	13	0
	2020	3	0
	2021	8	0
	2022	12	0
	2023	7	1
	2024	12	0
	2025	3	0
Total		70	1

As of match played 5 June 2025

Scores and results list Argentina's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Tagliafico goal.

List of international goals scored by Nicolás Tagliafico

No.	Date	Venue	Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	12 September 2023	Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia	51	Bolivia	2–0	3–0	2026 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Banfield

• Primera B Nacional: 2013–14

Independiente^[13]

• Copa Sudamericana: 2017

Ajax^[13]

• Eredivisie: 2018–19, 2020–21, 2021–22
• KNVB Cup: 2018–19, 2020–21^[14]

Lyon

• Coupe de France runner-up: 2023–24^[15]

Argentina^[13]

• FIFA World Cup: 2022^[16]
• Copa América: 2021,^[17] 2024^[18]
• CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions: 2022^[19]

Individual

• South American Team of the Year: 2017
• Eredivisie Player of the Month: November 2018^[20]