Claudio Spinelli

The penalty that took the 2024 Copa AUF Uruguay final to extra time came from Claudio Spinelli's boot. He scored twice against Nacional that night, and Defensor Sporting went on to win the shoot-out.

Spinelli made two first-team appearances for Tigre before Genoa paid around €3.6m for him in the summer of 2018. Instead came the loans: Crotone, Argentinos Juniors, Gimnasia y Esgrima in La Plata — where he trained under Diego Maradona — and Koper in Slovenia, 27 of them, with three goals.

In 2021 he signed for Oleksandriya in Ukraine. He was still there when Russia invaded in February 2022. Spinelli has said he walked roughly 20km to the Polish border, leaving with the help of a stranger who gave him a lift and of the Polish authorities on the other side. He had played 17 matches and scored twice for the club.

What followed was Lanús, Deportivo Maldonado, Bnei Sakhnin in Israel, then the season at Defensor Sporting that produced seven goals in 17 appearances and the cup. Independiente del Valle signed him in January 2025 and he became their leading scorer in 2026, with 28 goals in just over 50 matches across all competitions.

Vasco da Gama bought him in February 2026 on a contract running to December 2028. Through 28 August he has 32 appearances and seven goals for the club, spread across the Copa Sudamericana, the Copa do Brasil, the Carioca and the Brasileirão.