Pablo Zabaleta

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Personal information
Pablo Zabaleta

Full name	Pablo Javier Zabaleta
Date of birth	January 16, 1985 (1985-01-16) (age 23)
Place of birth	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 8+¹⁄₂ in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	RCD Espanyol
Number	8
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2002–2005 2005–	San Lorenzo RCD Espanyol	66 (8) 78 (3)
National team²
2005-	Argentina	5 (0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 7 June 2008. ² National team caps and goals correct as of 23 May 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

Pablo Javier Zabaleta (born 16 January 1985 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine football footballer that plays RCD Espanyol in La Liga.

Although Pablo was born in the city of Buenos Aires, he was raised in Arrecifes, near the capital. He began his career at San Lorenzo in 2002 after progressing through their youth ranks. Zabaleta was signed at the age of 12 from local club Obras Sanitarias. The Argentinian started playing as a defensive midfielder but eventually moved to the right side, acting as both right back and right midfielder. He was transferred to Espanyol in the Spanish La Liga competition in 2005 for €3 million after being Argentina Under-20's captain in the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship won by his team. He holds a Spanish passport and has been called for Argentina's major squad.

In January 2007 he suffered a shoulder injury that kept him off the pitch for almost 3 months. In May that same year, he was able to play in the starting team in the UEFA Cup 2006/07 final where Espanyol lost to penalties against Sevilla FC.

[edit] National Team

At the age of 14 he was called up by Hugo Tocalli to the Argentina U-15's National Team. Pablo took part in many youth tournaments including the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2003 and 2005, winning the later one in the Netherlands. He has been called up to youth national teams over 75 times and has played 2 friendly matches with the Argentina national football team.