Exequiel Palacios

Exequiel Alejandro Palacios (born 5 October 1998) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen and the Argentina national team.

River Plate
Palacios is a youth exponent from Club Atlético River Plate. He made his league debut on 8 November 2015 against Newell's Old Boys.

On 9 December 2018 Palacios won 2018 Copa Libertadores with River Plate. He played 11 matches including the finals against rivals Boca Juniors.

Palacios was part of 2018 South American Team of the Year.

Palacios made his final appearance for his boyhood club in the final of the Copa Argentina on 13 December 2019, playing 79 minutes of a 3–0 victory over Central Córdoba.

Bayer Leverkusen
On 16 December 2019, Bayer Leverkusen announced that Palacios would join the club on 1 January 2020, signing a five-and-a-half-year deal.

On 14 April 2024, Bayer Leverkusen won 2023–24 Bundesliga and Palacios was a member of the team.

International career
Palacios made his international debut for Argentina on 8 September 2018 in a 3–0 international friendly against the Guatemala national football team.

On 12 November 2020, Palacios fractured a bone in his spine during a 1–1 draw with Paraguay in a World Cup qualifier and was expected be out for three months. Palacios sustained the injury in an aerial duel with Angel Romero in the first half of the contest at La Bombonera and was replaced by Giovani Lo Celso, who took the corner from which Nicolas Gonzalez headed home Argentina's equaliser.

On 10 July 2021, Palacios played as a second-half substitute in Argentina's 1–0 victory over Brazil in the Copa América final. During the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Palacios featured in a 2–0 win over Mexico in the group stage phase, a 2–1 victory over Australia in the round of 16, and a 3–0 win over Croatia in their semi-finals.

Honours
River Plate
 * Copa Argentina: 2016–17, 2018–19
 * Copa Libertadores: 2018
 * Recopa Sudamericana: 2019

Bayer Leverkusen
 * Bundesliga: 2023–24
 * DFB-Pokal: 2023–24; runner-up: 2019–20
 * UEFA Europa League runner-up: 2023–24

Argentina
 * FIFA World Cup: 2022
 * Copa América: 2021, 2024
 * CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions: 2022