Julián Álvarez
ST
Argentina26 years
Showing2026/27 seasonAll official competitions
Preferred Positions
Last 24 months · all competitions
ST
StrikerMain
8,357 min · 118 apps · 97 starts
Squad importance
Current squad importance over the club’s last 40 recorded competitive games in this spell, including previous seasons. Starts and minutes contribute 70%; performance contributes 30%. Absences reduce the score gradually, with less weight when a player is outside the matchday squad.Current role at Atletico Madrid · independent of the season filter
Rotation
Involvement55%
Performance56%
Through the match on 3 Nov 2026. Refreshed daily.
Profile
Career & playing style
Julián Álvarez is an Argentine forward whose movement connects scoring and creation. Short runs behind defenders take him towards goal, while dropping into the space between midfield and defence lets him combine with team-mates. His pressing adds another route to a chance: winning the ball close to the opposition’s goal.
Born in Calchín, Córdoba, on 31 January 2000, he played for Atlético Calchín before joining River Plate’s youth system in 2016. He made his senior River debut in October 2018 and came off the bench in the Copa Libertadores final against Boca Juniors that year, helping River win the trophy.
He became a central figure in River’s attack. His 18 goals made him the leading scorer in the 2021 Liga Profesional, which River won. In May 2022, he scored six times against Alianza Lima in the Copa Libertadores, becoming River’s first player to reach that figure in an official match.
Álvarez arrived at Manchester City in summer 2022 and won the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League in his first season. Across two seasons, he was used as both a central striker and an attacking midfielder, scoring 36 goals in all competitions before moving to Atlético Madrid in 2024.
His first World Cup brought another title in 2022 and four goals, including two against Croatia in the semi-final. His goal against Australia showed the practical value of his work without the ball: Rodrigo De Paul pressured goalkeeper Mathew Ryan, Álvarez joined the chase and took the ball to finish. In the final, his pass released Alexis Mac Allister during the counterattack that ended with Ángel Di María scoring.
At Atlético, he scored both goals in the 2–1 Champions League win over Bayer Leverkusen in January 2025. UEFA’s analysis traced his equaliser through a sequence in which Atlético stopped a counterattack and advanced to the other end, illustrating his threat when a game quickly changes direction. His ten goals in the 2025/26 Champions League then surpassed Diego Costa’s eight-goal Atlético record for a single campaign, set in 2013/14.
He also belonged to Argentina’s Copa América-winning squads in 2021 and 2024. In 2026, he was part of the team that reached a second successive World Cup final, finishing runners-up after Spain’s 1–0 victory.
