Lucas Barrios

Lucas Ramón Barrios Cáceres (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈlukas raˈmom ˈbarjos ˈkaseɾes]; born 13 November 1984) is a Paraguayan football manager and former player who played as a forward. He is the current manager of Sportivo Luqueño.

During his playing days, Barrios was known for his effectiveness in the target area. This earned him his nickname La Pantera, which means The Panther. Even though he was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Barrios's mother is Paraguayan, which made him eligible to receive Paraguayan nationality at birth. He received his Paraguay nationality in March 2010 and made his international debut on 25 May of that year.

In 2008, Barrios was named top scorer of the year in the world by the IFFHS with 37 goals.

Club career

Early career

Barrios began playing junior football for Argentine clubs Mitre, Juventud de Liniers, Barracas Central (where he was present from 1999 until February 2002) and Pacífico, before joining Huracán, where he was eventually forced to leave the club due to his small stature and low physical physique. Barrios then joined the youth teams of Argentinos Juniors after age 15, where he trained for one entire year without playing a youth fixture. Argentinos Juniors' coaches 'El Bichi' Borghi, Marcelo Barticcioto and 'El Checho' Batista ultimately took Barrios out of the club's youth team and promoted him to the club's first-team, where he debuted, before being loaned to Tigre in 2004.