Gabriel Paletta

He scored his third league goal for Boca with a header in the 40th minute of the first-half, in a 6–2 home victory against Tigre on 22 June.

He was substituted off of the field in the 66th minute for Luis García.

One month later, Paletta scored his first goal for Boca Juniors in the 84th minute of a 2–2 home draw with Gimnasia de Jujuy on 23 September.

He participated in his first Superclásico, which resulted in a 2–0 win to River Plate at the Estadio Monumental, on 7 October.

Gabriel Alejandro Paletta (born 15 February 1986) is a former professional footballer who played as a centre-back.

Born in Argentina to parents of Italian descent, Paletta represented his birth nation at the under-20 level, participating in the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship in the Netherlands.

He started all seven matches as Argentina won the title.

Paletta came through the youth divisions of Banfield and reached the first team in 2005.

When Banfield qualified for the knockout stages of the Copa Libertadores, they altered their 25-man squad for the event to include Paletta and immediately threw him into action against the Colombian team Independiente Medellín.

Paletta played well and Banfield progressed, but Paletta was to play no further part in the tournament after being called up to the Argentina under-20 team to participate in the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship.

In February 2006, Paletta agreed to sign with Liverpool and eventually signed a four-year contract on 4 July 2006.

Paletta became the second Argentine to play for the Merseyside club, after Mauricio Pellegrino.

Paletta's first appearance for Liverpool came in a pre-season friendly against Wrexham in July.

He scored his first goal for Liverpool during a 2006–07 Football League Cup third round 4–3 win against Reading on 25 October 2006.

Paletta debuted for Liverpool in the 2006–07 Premier League season in a 4–0 away win against Wigan Athletic on 2 December; he was substituted onto the field for Sami Hyypiä in the 61st minute.

Paletta would go on to make just two more league appearances for Liverpool.

Paletta debuted in the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League in a group stage fixture in a 3–2 away defeat against Galatasaray on 5 December.

Paletta played a full 90 minutes of Liverpool's 2006–07 Football League Cup quarter-final match, a 6–3 home defeat against Arsenal on 9 January 2007.

By the time that Paletta had made just eight appearances for Liverpool in all competitions, it was reported on 9 July that Paletta would be loaned to Spanish club Levante in order to gain some valuable first-team experience as Levante had expressed their interest signing Paletta on loan deal for the whole of 2007–08 season.

Although Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez had agreed to loaning the defender, the loan deal was not reached.

Liverpool went on to reach the final of the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League, losing 2–1 to AC Milan on 23 May 2007.

On 26 August, it had been officially reported that Liverpool had agreed for Paletta to sign with Boca Juniors, having welcomed the arrival of Argentine Emiliano Insúa.

In August 2007, Paletta joined Boca Juniors where he was handed the number 29 shirt.

He debuted for Boca Juniors in the Torneo Apertura of the 2007–08 Primera División season on 29 August 2007.

Paletta played a full 90 minutes of Boca's 2007 FIFA Club World Cup 1–0 semi-final win against Étoile du Sahel on 12 December.

Four days later, he played a full 90 minutes of the final which resulted in a 4–2 win for European champions Milan on 16 December.

During the 2008 Torneo de Verano, Paletta scored with header from a Jesús Dátolo free-kick in the 3–2 Copa Revancha loss against River Plate.

Paletta's first appearance in the 2008 Copa Libertadores came in a 1–1 away draw against Venezuelan club Maracaibo on 20 February.

He received his first red card during the Torneo Clausura in a 1–1 home draw against Independiente on 9 March.

Paletta scored his first Copa Libertadores goal after nine minutes in Boca's last group stage fixture, a 3–0 home win against Maracaibo on 22 April.

The 3–0 win meant that Boca advanced to the 2008 Copa Libertadores knockout stages.

Paletta scored his second league goal for Boca in a 2–1 home victory against Racing Club on 17 May.

Paletta participated in the Copa Libertadores knockout stage fixtures until Boca were eliminated by Fluminense in the semi-finals.

Paletta played in both of Boca's 2008 Recopa Sudamericana matches, defeating Arsenal de Sarandí 5–3 on aggregate, winning 3–1 on 13 August and drawing 2–2 on 27 August.

On 11 November, it was reported that MRI scans confirmed that Paletta had torn the cruciate ligament in his right knee after a 1–0 away victory against Arsenal de Sarandí on 9 November, and was ruled out of play for six months.

Boca's club doctor, José Veiga, had seen that Paletta had a knee twist and ordered him to undergo some scans after the 1–0 victory against Arsenal.

Boca Juniors went on to claim the Torneo Apertura title of the 2008–09 Argentine Primera División season.

Paletta returned in a 2–1 home win against Arsenal de Sarandí on 17 May, playing a full 90 minutes of the match.

In 2014, Paletta was called up to the Italy national team and made his debut in a friendly against Spain.

He represented Italy at the FIFA World Cup later that year.