- The 34-year-old defensive midfielder, who won the 2023 CONMEBOL Sudamericana with LDU Quito, has played more minutes than any other Estudiantes player in 2026.
- “He looks very settled, is in excellent shape and now has the necessary experience,” says Sebastián Battaglia, a four-time CONMEBOL Libertadores winner with Boca Juniors who coached him at Almagro in 2018.
Ezequiel Piovi has played more minutes for Estudiantes de La Plata than any other player this year (2,959), even surpassing goalkeeper Fernando Muslera (2,925). In the 2026 CONMEBOL Libertadores, the 34-year-old defensive midfielder has missed just one match: the 1-1 draw against Cusco FC in Peru on Matchday 4 of Group A, due to an accumulation of yellow cards. A 2023 CONMEBOL Sudamericana winner with Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito, Piovi is, in essence, the metronome that keeps the ‘Pincha’ midfield ticking. This Thursday, Estudiantes host Flamengo at the Estadio UNO Jorge Luis Hirschi in the first leg of the Semifinals, as they begin their pursuit of a sixth CONMEBOL Libertadores Final appearance.
Piovi, nicknamed “Keki”, was born in Morón, a city west of Buenos Aires, and came through the youth ranks at Vélez Sarsfield. However, he was released before making his first-team debut. While studying physiotherapy, working as a host and entertainer for the cumbia band ‘La Champions Liga’ and training with a group of unattached players, he accepted an opportunity to travel to Italy for a trial at Messina, having struggled to find opportunities in Argentina. It was there, in the fourth tier of Italian football, that he made his professional debut in 2013. However, he played just three matches before returning to Argentina following the arrival of a coach who wanted only Italian players in his squad.
Piovi considered retiring, but instead returned to training alongside other unattached players. Then came an opportunity at General Lamadrid in 2014, in the Primera C, Argentina’s fourth tier. Moves to Fénix in 2015, in the third-tier Primera B Metropolitana, and Almagro in 2016, in the second-tier Primera B Nacional, followed.
Sebastián Battaglia, who won the CONMEBOL Libertadores with Boca Juniors in 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2007, as well as the CONMEBOL Sudamericana in 2005 — making him the most decorated player in the club’s history — coached Piovi at Almagro during the closing stages of the 2017/18 Primera B Nacional season (Almagro lost the promotion play-off final). “At the time, he (Piovi) played as one of two holding midfielders. You could already see that he had a very promising future. He is a very positionally disciplined, intelligent player; he has a good range of passing, both short and long, and a powerful shot from outside the box. He strikes the ball very well and is also good at winning possession. He puts in the hard work in midfield, and you could already tell from the way he played that he had the potential to develop further,” Battaglia, himself a defensive midfielder during his playing career, recalls to CONMEBOL Libertadores.
Having managed Boca for 55 matches between 2021 and 2022, followed by brief spells at Huracán and San Miguel, Battaglia — now 45 and currently without a club — explains that he continued to follow Piovi’s progress after coaching him at Almagro: “He had a great spell at LDU Quito. And now he is at Estudiantes, with another opportunity to play in a CONMEBOL Libertadores semifinal, with everything that means and the importance it carries. He looks very settled and in excellent shape to take on these kinds of matches, and now has the necessary experience. He has been a great addition for Estudiantes, helping them build a strong midfield. Hopefully, he will get the chance to play in the final.” After Almagro, Piovi joined Arsenal on loan for the 2019/20 season, stepping up to Argentina’s top flight. And he excelled: precise passing, perfectly timed ball recoveries, one-touch play and defensive contributions. That was when LDU Quito spotted him. They took a chance on him. And they were right.
Piovi made 175 appearances for LDU Quito between 2020 and 2024. “Keki” remains a beloved figure at the club to this day. An idol and captain, he said his farewell with tears in his eyes during his final press conference as an LDU player. Alongside the 2023 CONMEBOL Sudamericana, he won the 2021 Ecuadorian Super Cup and back-to-back Serie A titles in 2023 and 2024. But Piovi felt the need to return to Argentina. And he embraced the challenge of joining a club that had been crowned South American champions four times. In 2025, his first year with the ‘Pincha’ — where he is under contract until 2028 —, he won the Clausura and the Trofeo de Campeones. “Estudiantes means family, education and a sense of belonging,” he said at the time. And last August, following a 4-0 victory over Gimnasia in the La Plata derby at UNO in the 2026 Clausura, he quoted a famous line from Alejandro Sabella, the coach who guided Estudiantes to the 2009 CONMEBOL Libertadores title: “The city is in order, as Sabella said.”
Before playing in the 2024 CONMEBOL Libertadores with LDU Quito, Piovi had been asked what ‘Eternal Glory’ meant to him. “They call the Sudamericana ‘The Great Conquest’, right? For us, winning it meant achieving glory. I can't even imagine what winning the CONMEBOL Libertadores would be like. That would surpass everything. That really would be ‘Eternal Glory’.” That year, LDU failed to progress beyond the group stage. Piovi knows that football offers second chances, opportunities for redemption. Just like life itself. And now, with Estudiantes de La Plata, he cannot wait to achieve ‘Eternal Glory’.
