River Plate Born in
O'Brien,
Buenos Aires Province, Cavenaghi played for Rivadavia de Chacabuco and Bravado in the regional leagues between the ages of nine and twelve. Cavenaghi made his professional debut for
River Plate in the 2000–01 season in which he scored one goal in five appearances. In his first full season he scored 17 goals in 23 appearances, including a hat-trick against
Estudiantes.
Spartak Moscow In July 2004, Cavenaghi moved abroad for the first time, joining
Spartak Moscow for a fee of US$12 million, then a record for a Russian team. He failed to adapt to Russian football, and was frozen out of the team following the arrival of manager
Vladimir Fedotov in April 2006, whom he publicly criticised for his tactics. He was put up for sale that December.
Girondins de Bordeaux On 22 January 2007, Cavenaghi was sold to French club
Bordeaux. He signed a four-and-a-half-year deal for a €7 million fee. Through an
Italian passport earned by his ancestry, he could work freely in the European Union. On 3 February he played his first
Ligue 1 match against
Nice. In his first season, Bordeaux won the
Coupe de la Ligue with a 1–0 win over
Lyon in the
final, with Cavenaghi an unused substitute. During the 2007–08 season he scored 22 goals in 35 appearances for Bordeaux. In the
2008 Trophée des Champions, Cavenaghi came on as a 70th-minute substitute for
Alou Diarra in a goalless draw against Lyon at the
Stade Chaban-Delmas. Though both he and
David Bellion had their attempts saved by
Grégory Coupet in the
penalty shootout, Bordeaux were victorious. In the
2008–09 Ligue 1 season Cavenaghi helped Bordeaux to its first league title in ten years, scoring 13 goals in 29 league matches. The team also won the Coupe de la Ligue in the same season, with Cavenaghi scoring in a 4–2 home win over
Guingamp in the last 16. The
Girondins won their third honour of the calendar year on 25 July 2009 as they
retained the Trophée des Champions with a 2–0 win over Guingamp in
Montreal, Cavaneghi scoring the opening goal for
Laurent Blanc's team. Cavenaghi signed for Spanish club
Mallorca on 26 August 2010 a season-long loan with the option to purchase for €3.5 million. He scored six goals in 13 total games for the
Balearic club, all in the form of braces against
Real Sociedad in
La Liga, and
Sporting Gijón and
Almería in the
Copa del Rey. In January 2011 Cavenaghi joined Brazil's
Internacional on a year-long loan, with option to make it permanent for €2.5 million.
Return to River Plate In July 2011, after leaving his contract at Bordeaux a year early, Cavenaghi returned to River Plate. He was appointed captain of the club, who had been relegated. He scored 19 goals in 37 league matches that season, including a notable performance against
Gimnasia de Jujuy where he scored four goals. In his one-season back he helped the club capture the
2011-12 Primera B Nacional and gain promotion back to the first division.
Villarreal Cavenaghi returned to Spain in August 2012 by signing for
Villarreal, who themselves had fallen into the
Segunda División. On his debut on 17 August, he scored in each half of a 2–1 win over
Real Madrid Castilla at the
Estadio El Madrigal. He totalled 19 appearances and four goals for the "Yellow Submarine", but cut his stay short in January 2013 Cavenaghi when he signed for
Pachuca of the Mexican
Liga MX.
Third stint at River Plate In early 2014, Cavenaghi joined River Plate for the third time. He would wear his number 9 throughout his 3rd stay. River Plate became Champion in
Argentina's Primera División 2014, making them eligible to several continental/international tournaments in 2014–15. As captain, Cavenaghi led River Plate to achieve a sweep of all three international championships:
2014 Copa Sudamericana,
2015 Recopa Sudamericana and the
2015 Copa Libertadores. Included in these campaigns were two eliminations of arch-rival
Boca Juniors, first in the Sudamericana and later in Libertadores. Winning the
Copa Libertadores would make River Plate eligible to play in the
2015 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan representing
CONMEBOL. He was the second-highest scorer in
Argentina's Primera División 2015 with 11 goals.
APOEL and retirement On 25 August 2015, Cavenaghi moved back to Europe signing a two-year contract with
Cypriot First Division club
APOEL FC. Five days later, he scored twice on his debut in a 6–2 home victory against
Pafos FC for the
Cypriot First Division. He scored in each of his first seven
league appearances, totalling twelve goals in that sequence. He helped APOEL to win the
Cypriot First Division title, and despite playing his last match on 10 February 2016, missing the last three months of the season due to his injury, he also won the top goalscorer award with 19 goals in only 18 league appearances. Cavenaghi appeared in 26 matches and scored 23 goals in all competitions with APOEL, before a serious knee injury forced him to mutually terminate his contract with the club on 2 April 2016, as his recovery from the knee surgery was estimated to take more than eight months to complete. His serious knee injury eventually forced Cavenaghi to retire from the professional scene, making the official announcement through a YouTube video on 27 December 2016 at River Plate's
El Monumental in Buenos Aires. ==International career==