Matías Rojas (footballer, born 1995)

Matías Nicolás Rojas Romero (born 3 November 1995) is a Paraguayan professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Racing Club and the Paraguay national football team.[2]

Matías Rojas

Personal information
Full name	Matías Nicolás Rojas Romero
Date of birth	3 November 1995
Place of birth	Asunción, Paraguay[1]
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)[2]
Position(s)	Attacking midfielder[3]
Club information
Current team	Racing Club
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2014–2019	Cerro Porteño	31	(2)
2017–2018	→ Lanús (loan)	9	(0)
2018–2019	→ Defensa y Justicia (loan)	22	(10)
2019–	Racing Club	26	(4)
National team^‡
2019–	Paraguay	5	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 5 January 2021 ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 1 July 2019

Club career

Rojas' first club in his career was Cerro Porteño.[2][4] He made his debut for the Paraguayan Primera División club in March 2014 during a defeat to Nacional.[2] A year later, Rojas netted his first senior goal on 13 March 2015 as Cerro Porteño beat Deportivo Capiatá 3–2 at the Estadio Defensores del Chaco.[2] One further goal, against Sportivo Luqueño, followed as Rojas featured thirty-four times across 2015 and 2016.[2] On 10 January 2017, Rojas was loaned to Lanús of the Argentine Primera División.[2][5][6] He remained for seventeen months, making eighteen appearances and scoring once; in the Copa Argentina.[2]

Rojas arrived back to Cerro Porteño on 30 June 2018, but returned to Argentina on loan weeks later after agreeing to join fellow Argentine Primera División side Defensa y Justicia.[2][7][8] He scored on his first start, netting an equaliser in a 1–1 draw with Belgrano.[2] Rojas departed Cerro Porteño permanently in June 2019, staying in Argentina after signing terms with Racing Club of the Primera División.[1]

International career

On 2 March 2019, Rojas received a call-up to the Paraguay national team from Eduardo Berizzo ahead of that month's friendlies with Peru and Mexico.[9][10] He made his debut on 22 March in the game against Peru, as a 66th-minute substitute for Cecilio Domínguez.[11] Berizzo subsequently selected Rojas in his preliminary squad for the 2019 Copa América on 13 May, before making the official tournament squad on 29 May.[12][13]

Career statistics

Club

As of 1 July 2019.[2]

Club statistics

Club	Season	League			Cup		League Cup		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Cerro Porteño	2014	Paraguayan Primera División	1	0	—		—		0	0	0	0	1	0
	2015		19	2	—		—		0	0	0	0	19	2
	2016		11	0	—		—		4[lower-alpha 1]	0	0	0	15	0
	2017		0	0	—		—		0	0	0	0	0	0
	2018		0	0	0	0	—		0	0	0	0	0	0
	2019		0	0	0	0	—		0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total		31	2	0	0	—		4	0	0	0	35	2
Lanús (loan)	2016–17	Argentine Primera División	0	0	1	1	—		4[lower-alpha 2]	0	0	0	5	1
	2017–18		9	0	1	0	—		3[lower-alpha 2]	0	0	0	13	0
	Total		9	0	2	1	—		7	0	0	0	18	1
Defensa y Justicia (loan)	2018–19	Argentine Primera División	22	10	1	0	2	0	2[lower-alpha 1]	0	0	0	27	10
Career total			62	12	3	1	2	0	13	0	0	0	80	13

1. Appearance(s) in the Copa Sudamericana
2. Appearance(s) in the Copa Libertadores

International

As of 1 July 2019.[2]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Paraguay	2019	5	0
Total		5	0

Honours

Cerro Porteño[2]

• Paraguayan Primera División (2): 2015 Apertura, 2017 Clausura

References

1. "Matías Rojas, el primer refuerzo de la temporada". Racing Club. 11 June 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
2. "Paraguay - M. Rojas". Soccerway. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
3. "Matías Rojas". World Football. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
4. "Ficha Estadistica de MATIAS ROJAS". BDFA. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
5. "El paraguayo Matías Rojas, nuevo jugador de Lanús". TyC Sports. 6 January 2017. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
6. "Matías Rojas tuvo su primer entrenamiento en Lanús". El Gráfico. 11 January 2017. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
7. "Defensa y Justicia da la bienvenida a Rojas". ABC. 12 July 2018. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
8. "Matías Rojas continuará su carrera en Defensa y Justicia". D10. 12 July 2018. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
9. "23 albirrojos de clubes del exterior para amistosos vs. Perú y México". APF. 2 March 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
10. "Matías Rojas es convocado por Berizzo para la Selección de Paraguay". Marca. 3 March 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
11. "Peru v Paraguay game report". ESPN. 22 March 2019.
12. "Los 40 elegidos por el DT Eduardo Berizzo, para integrar la lista provisional". APF. 13 May 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
13. "La lista definitiva (23) de la Albirroja para la Copa América "Brasil 2019"". APF. 29 May 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2019.

External links

• Matías Rojas at Soccerway
• Matías Rojas at National-Football-Teams.com