Claudio Marcelo Morel Rodríguez (born 2 February 1978) is a Paraguayan former footballer who played as a defender.
He holds the player record for the most Copa Sudamericana wins with three, which he won with San Lorenzo in 2002, and Boca Juniors in 2004 and 2005.
He also played as a left-back for the Paraguay national team. He is the son of ex-Paraguayan footballer Eugenio Morel.
Morel Rodríguez started his career in Argentina with San Lorenzo in the Primera División. In the 2000–01 season he won the Clausura with San Lorenzo, and in 2001 he helped them win the Copa Mercosur, beating Brazilian club Flamengo in the final.
He scored his first goal for the club on 5 October 2002 in a 2–1 win over Newell's Old Boys at the Estadio Pedro Bidegain.[1] He won the 2002 Copa Sudamericana with the club, beating Atlético Nacional of Colombia 4–0 in the final in November 2002.[2]
He scored one more goal for San Lorenzo also in the 2002–03 season, and also against Newell's Old Boys, in a 2–1 defeat on 2 May 2003 at the Estadio Newell's Old Boys.[3]
He moved to Boca Juniors in 2004 and made his Boca debut in a 0–0 draw against Lanús on 15 August 2004.[4] His first trophy with Boca came in 2004 when the club won the Copa Sudamericana, by beating Bolivian club Bolivar 2–1 over two legs in the final. In 2005, he won the Recopa Sudamericana and the Copa Sudamericana as well as winning both the 2005 Apertura and the 2006 Clausura in the 2005–2006 season. He won the Recopa Sudamericana 2006 with Boca, beating São Paulo 4–3 on aggregate.
On 10 February 2007, Morel scored his first goal with Boca Juniors in a 4–0 victory over Banfield,[5] later that year in December he played in the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan and helped Boca to the runners-up spot, losing to Italian club A.C. Milan 4–2 in the final.
He was runner-up behind fellow Paraguayan Salvador Cabañas in the 2007 South American Footballer of the Year award. He was also selected in the "Ideal Eleven of South America in 2007[6]". In August 2008 he helped Boca win the 2008 Recopa Sudamericana, beating fellow Argentine club Arsenal 5–3 on aggregate. In December 2008 he was chosen as the Paraguayan footballer of the year by the press.[7]
On 20 June 2010, prior to Paraguay's group match against Slovakia at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Boca Juniors announced they would not renew Morel Rodríguez' contract.[8]
In 2015, he and Sol de América colleague Aureliano Torres both joined 12 de Octubre of the División Intermedia.[9]
He made his international debut in 1999.
Morel Rodríguez also represented Paraguay U23 at the 2000 CONMEBOL Men Pre-Olympic Tournament, making three appearances.[10][11][12]
He played in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers, and has played in the qualifying games for the 2010 World Cup.
After a spell at Sarmiento de Leones, Morel began playing for Argentine amateur club San Eliseo in San Vicente.[13] In the beginning of 2019 it was reported, that Morel had been appointed manager of the club.[14][15]
In August 2020, there were rumors about Morel would be appointed manager of Ciclón de Tarija.[16] However, the rumors was never officially confirmed.
In February 2021, Morel returned to Boca Juniors as a youth coach.[17]
| Equipo | Temporada | Liga local | Copa local(1) | Competición internacional(2) |
Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PJ | Goles | PJ | Goles | PJ | Goles | PJ | Goles | ||
| San Lorenzo | |||||||||
| 1998–1999 | 8 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1999–2000 | 27 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | 27 | 0 | ||
| 2000–2001 | 10 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | 10 | 0 | ||
| 2001–2002 | 29 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | 29 | 0 | ||
| 2002–2003 | 32 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | 40 | 2 | ||
| 2003–2004 | 29 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | 29 | 0 | ||
| Total | 135 | 2 | -- | -- | 50 | 1 | 185 | 3 | |
| Boca Juniors | |||||||||
| Apertura 2004 | 14 | 0 | -- | -- | 2 | 0 | 16 | 0 | |
| Clausura 2005 | 11 | 0 | -- | -- | 6 | 0 | 16 | 0 | |
| Apertura 2005 | 9 | 0 | -- | -- | 2 | 0 | 11 | 0 | |
| Clausura 2006 | 10 | 0 | -- | -- | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | |
| Apertura 2006 | 16 | 0 | -- | -- | 4 | 0 | 20 | 0 | |
| Torneo Clausura 2007 | 13 | 1 | -- | -- | 14 | 0 | 27 | 1 | |
| Torneo Apertura 2007 | 15 | 0 | -- | -- | 4 | 0 | 19 | 0 | |
| Clausura 2008 | 13 | 0 | -- | -- | 9 | 0 | 22 | 0 | |
| Torneo Apertura 2008 | 16 | 0 | -- | -- | 2 | 0 | 18 | 0 | |
| Torneo Clausura 2009 | 8 | 0 | -- | -- | 5 | 0 | 13 | 0 | |
| Torneo Apertura 2009 | 11 | 0 | -- | -- | 2 | 0 | 13 | 0 | |
| Torneo Clausura 2010 | 13 | 0 | -- | -- | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | |
| Total | 149 | 1 | -- | -- | 50 | 0 | 199 | 1 | |
| Deportivo de La Coruña | 2010/2011 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0 |
| 2011/2012 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 0 | -- | -- | 19 | 0 | |
| Total | 33 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 0 | |
| Total de su carrera | 317 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 100 | 1 | 419 | 4 | |
Estadísticas actualizadas a la fecha: 29 de mayo de 2012.[18]
Paraguay squads | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||
