Arturo Erasmo Vidal Pardo is a Chilean professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Chilean Primera División club Colo-Colo and the Chile national team. His displays during his time at Juventus led him to be nicknamed Il Guerriero, Rey Arturo and La Piranha by the Italian press due to his hard-tackling and aggressive, tenacious style of play.
Vidal with Chile at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup
Vidal playing for Juventus in 2012
Vidal training with Bayern Munich in 2017
Vidal (left) playing for Barcelona in 2019
In the sport of association football, a midfielder is an outfield position which plays primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundaries, with mobility and passing ability, they are often referred to as deep-lying midfielders, play-makers, box-to-box midfielders, or holding midfielders. There are also attacking midfielders with limited defensive assignments.
Former Spain midfielder Xavi was voted to the FIFPro World XI six years in a row.
A hardworking box-to-box midfielder, Steven Gerrard has been lauded for his effectiveness both offensively and defensively; and his ability to make late runs from behind into the penalty area.
A wide midfielder, David Beckham was lauded for his range of passing, vision, crossing ability and bending free-kicks, which enabled him to create chances for teammates or score goals.
Spain holding midfielder Sergio Busquets (16, red) moves to block a shot from Italian striker Mario Balotelli.