Pablo Barrios (footballer)

Pablo Barrios
Personal information
Full name Pablo Barrios Rivas[1]
Date of birth (2003-06-15) 15 June 2003[1]
Place of birth Madrid, Spain
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Position Midfielder
Team information
Current team
Atlético Madrid
Number 8
Youth career
2008–2011 Moratalaz
2011–2017 Real Madrid
2017–2022 Atlético Madrid
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2022 Atlético Madrid B 12 (1)
2022– Atlético Madrid 92 (2)
International career
2022 Spain U19 3 (0)
2023–2024 Spain U21 8 (0)
2024 Spain U23 6 (0)
2024– Spain 4 (0)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Spain
Olympic Games
2024 Paris
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 23:05, 13 December 2025 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals as of 19:00, 15 November 2025 (UTC)

Pablo Barrios Rivas (born 15 June 2003) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for La Liga club Atlético Madrid and the Spain national team.

Club career

Barrios began his youth career in Real Madrid before moving to their city rivals, Atlético Madrid, in 2017.[2] He became a central part of the club's under-19 team in the 2021–22 season, which reached the semi-finals in the UEFA Youth League for the first time in the club's history.[3]

On 3 March 2022, Barrios signed his first professional contract with Atleti, keeping him until 2025.[4] In the 2022–23 season, he advanced to playing for the reserve team, but was soon called up to the first team, making his professional La Liga debut on 29 October as a second half substitute to Geoffrey Kondogbia in a 3–2 away loss against Cádiz CF.[5]

Barrios scored his first goal for Atleti on 22 December 2022, netting his team's second in a 3–1 away victory against CD Arenteiro, for the season's Copa del Rey.[6] His first professional goal came on 4 January 2023, as he scored the second of Atlético's 2–0 victory at Oviedo in the same tournament.[7]

On 25 January 2023, Barrios renewed his contract until 2028, and was officially promoted to the main squad, being assigned the number 24 jersey.[8] After the departure of fellow Atleti youth product Saúl in the 2024–25 season, he was given his number 8 jersey, and further consolidated his position as a starter in Diego Simeone's squad.[9]

International career

Barrios is a youth international for Spain, having debuted for the under-19 team in 2022.[10] He was also a member of the Spain under-23 squad that won a gold medal in football at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.[11] Due to injuries of Martín Zubimendi and Álex Baena, Barrios received his first senior international call-up in November 2024 for a 2024–25 UEFA Nations League A match against Switzerland,[12] debuting on 18 November in the same match.[13]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 17 December 2025[14][15]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Copa del Rey Europe Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Atlético Madrid B 2022–23 Segunda Federación 12 1 12 1
Atlético Madrid 2022–23 La Liga 21 0 4 2 1[a] 0 26 2
2023–24 La Liga 24 0 4 0 7[a] 1 0 0 35 1
2024–25 La Liga 31 1 4 0 6[a] 0 3[b] 2 44 3
2025–26 La Liga 16 1 1 0 6[a] 0 0 0 23 1
Total 92 2 13 2 20 1 3 2 128 7
Career total 104 3 13 2 20 1 3 2 140 8
  1. ^ a b c d Appearance(s) in UEFA Champions League
  2. ^ Appearances in FIFA Club World Cup

International

As of match played 15 November 2025[16]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Spain 2024 1 0
2025 3 0
Total 4 0

Honours

References

  1. ^ a b c "Squad List: FIFA Club World Cup 2025: Atlético De Madrid (ESP)" (PDF). FIFA. 14 June 2025. p. 4. Retrieved 15 June 2025.
  2. ^ "El Barça quiere a Pablo Barrios, la joya de la cantera del Atlético". OkDiario (in Spanish). 11 June 2022.
  3. ^ Feehely, Alan (3 March 2022). "Who is Atletico Madrid's latest starlet Pablo Barrios?". Football España.
  4. ^ "Pablo Barrios, contrato hasta 2025 y convocado por Simeone ante el Levante". Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 3 March 2022.
  5. ^ Anduro, Joaquín (29 October 2022). "¿Quién es Pablo Barrios? El Real Madrid echó al último debutante del Atlético de Madrid de Simeone". ElDesmarque (in Spanish). Madrid.
  6. ^ Díaz, Francisco Javier (22 December 2022). "Gol histórico de Pablo Barrios". Diario AS (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  7. ^ Delgado, Víctor (4 January 2023). "Así hemos contado la victoria del Atlético de Madrid sobre el Real Oviedo". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  8. ^ "Pablo Barrios ya es del primer equipo: llevará el dorsal '24'" [Pablo Barrios already is a first team member: will wear the number '24' jersey]. Diario AS (in Spanish). PRISA. 25 January 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  9. ^ "Villarreal 2-2 Atlético". ESPN. 19 August 2024. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
  10. ^ Picos, Sergio (2 March 2022). "Pablo Barrios, el héroe del Atlético con pasado blanco". Diario AS (in Spanish).
  11. ^ a b Ronay, Barney (9 August 2024). "Camello's extra-time double clinches football gold for Spain against France". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
  12. ^ "Pablo Barrios encuentra su oportunidad con 'La Roja'". Cadena SER (in Spanish). 16 November 2024.
  13. ^ "Pablo Barrios debuta con España en una noche inolvidable". OneFootball (in Spanish). 18 November 2024. Retrieved 14 September 2025 – via atleticosport.es.
  14. ^ "Pablo Barrios". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
  15. ^ "Pablo Barrios | Club matches". WorldFootball.net. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
  16. ^ "Pablo Barrios". EU-Football.info. Retrieved 18 November 2024.