Matías Palacios

Matías Damián Palacios (born 10 May 2002) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for UAE Pro League side Al Ain.

Club career San Lorenzo Palacios began his career with San Lorenzo. He made his professional football debut on 21 September 2018, featuring for the final twenty-nine minutes of a 3–2 victory over Patronato at the Estadio Pedro Bidegain. He made five further appearances for the club, which included his one and only start on 10 January 2021 against Banfield. He joined Basel's first team for their 2020–21 season under head coach Ciriaco Sforza. Palacios played his domestic league debut for his new club in the away game in the Kybunpark on 27 February as Basel were defeated 1–3 by St. Gallen. He scored his first goal for the club on 15 August 2021 in the Swiss Cup away game as Basel won 7–0 against amateur club FC Schönenwerd-Niedergösgen. He scored his first league goal for the club in the away game in the Swissporarena on 28 November as Basel won 3–1 against Luzern.

At the beginning of the next season Palacios left the club because he had only been used as a substitute. During his time with them, Palacios played a total of 62 games for Basel scoring a total of four goals. 31 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, three in the Swiss Cup, 12 in the Europa Conference League and 16 were friendly games. He scored one goal in the domestic league, two in the cup and the other was scored during the test games.

Al Ain Palacios moved on to play for Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates.

International career Palacios represented Argentina at U15, U17 and U20 level. Pablo Aimar selected Palacios for the 2019 South American U-17 Championship on 3 March. Diego Placente called him up for the U17s' trip to Russia for the 2019 Granatkin Memorial. He scored in game one against Armenia, prior to netting versus Turkey in the semi-finals on the way to Argentina winning the competition. He was also chosen as the tournament's best midfielder. In October 2019, Palacios was picked for the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Brazil.

Personal life His brother, Julián, is a fellow footballer; he also started off in San Lorenzo's youth academy. South American U-17 Championship: 2019 Granatkin Memorial: 2019

Argentina U20 L'Alcúdia International Football Tournament: 2018

Al Ain AFC Champions League: 2023-24