San Lorenzo de Almagro

San Lorenzo de Almagro

Full name	Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro
Nickname(s)	El Ciclón (The Cyclone) Los Cuervos (The Crows) Los Santos (The Saints) Los Gauchos de Boedo (Boedo's Gauchos) Los Azulgrana (The Blue and Red)
Founded	April 1, 1908
Ground	Estadio Pedro Bidegain (El Nuevo Gasómetro), Boedo, Buenos Aires (Capacity: 43,494)
Chairman	Carlos Abdo
Manager	Ramón Díaz
League	Argentine Primera División
2010 Apertura	13th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro is a football club based in the barrio (neighbourhood) of Boedo, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Its colors are blue and red vertical stripes.

History

In the early 1900s, a street gang based in the Almagro neighbourhood would invite gangs from other neighborhoods to play street football by writing in graffiti: Los Forzosos de Almagro desafían (Almagro's strongmen dare you). As tramway and bus lines extended into Almagro, street playing became dangerous; following an accident in which a tramway car seriously injured a footballer, Catholic priest Lorenzo Massa started hosting the games in the backyard of his parish church in México avenue. Under his guidance, San Lorenzo de Almagro was formally established on April 1, 1908 honoring Father Massa, the Battle of San Lorenzo, Saint Lawrence and, of course, the barrio.

San Lorenzo soon became one of the top clubs in Buenos Aires; ever since the start of professionalism in 1931, it was counted in the top five (cinco grandes) together with Boca Juniors, River Plate, Racing and Independiente.

In the 1930s, Isidro Lángara and other players of Basque descent endeared San Lorenzo to the Basque community. The team also relied on players from the provinces, known as los gauchos, and won its first professional title in 1933.

San Lorenzo players before a friendly match in Spain, January 16, 1947

In 1946, San Lorenzo broke the River Plate monopoly and won the league title; the team then went on to a tour of Spain and Portugal that was one of the highlights of the club's history. After losing to Real Madrid, it went on to defeat Barcelona and both the Spanish and Portuguese national teams; the Spanish press acclaimed San Lorenzo as "the best team in the world". Player René Pontoni was offered a contract with Barcelona but declined to leave Argentina (Barcelona then drafted River Plate's Alfredo Di Stéfano). Fellow player Reinaldo Martino did stay in European football and would later become a star with Juventus.

In the 1960s, a generation of players known as carasucias (literally: dirty faces) were the darling of Argentine fans because of their offensive, careless playing and their bad-boy antics off the pitch. The 1968 team was nicknamed los matadores as it won the championship without losing a single game, this team was recognized as the best team in the world by many journalists. In the years 1968-1974 San Lorenzo won a total of four league titles, its best harvest ever. In 1972, the club became the first Argentine team to win two league titles in one year.

Unfortunately, poor administrations led San Lorenzo to a huge economic crisis, that even forced it to sell their well located stadium. The team was relegated in 1981, only to return to the top division with great fanfare in the 1982 season, which set all-time attendance records for the club.

By that time, the club had no stadium and was plagued by debt and irregularities. Controversial president Fernando Miele (1986-2001) delivered both the new stadium and two league titles: the Clausura '95 (after 21 years without winning a first division title) and the Clausura 2001 (in which the team achieved 11 consecutive victories). San Lorenzo finished the Clausura 2001 with 47 points in a tournament of 19 matches, setting the record for the highest points haul since the inception of the Apertura and Clausura system in 1990.

In late 2001, San Lorenzo won their first international title: the Copa Mercosur 2001, becoming the only Argentine team to win that international cup, because the others champions were all from Brazil.

San Lorenzo also won the first edition of the Copa Sudamericana in December 2002, claiming their second international title, and getting the opportunity to play the Recopa against the Copa Libertadores champion Olimpia

San Lorenzo is identified with the working class atmosphere of the Boedo neighborhood. Its derby rival from the southern part of Buenos Aires are Huracán, who were promoted back to the first division for the 2007-08 season.

In 2007, San Lorenzo won the First Division League, Clausura 2007 beating Boca Juniors in the race for the title. Led by manager Ramón Díaz, San Lorenzo secured the title after the 17th roand of fixtures, with two games still to play. They finished the tournament with 45 points.

Stadium

View of the Estadio Pedro Bidegain.

The old Estadio Gasómetro stadium in Boedo was a venue of great renown, where many international games were held. Due to debts, it was sold in 1979 and torn down. The new stadium, called the Nuevo Gasómetro was opened December 1993 in the intersection of the Perito Moreno and Varela avenues in the Flores, Buenos Aires neighborhood.

The official name of the stadium is Estadio Pedro Bidegain after a former club president. It has a capacity of 43,494 and the pitch size is 110 x 70 m.

Nicknames

• Los Gauchos de Boedo (Boedo's Gauchos), after the many players from the provinces who played in 1933 and came out as champions.
• Los Santos (The Saints), after the club's name, literally "Saint Lawrence".
• Los Cuervos (The Crows), after the black colors of Father Massa's robes.
• El Ciclón (The Cyclone), in opposition to their traditional opponent Huracán (The Hurricane).
• Los Azulgrana (The Blue and Red), after the club's colors.
• Los Matadores (The Killers), originally used for the unbeaten 1968 champions.
• The fans' collective calls itself La Gloriosa (The Glorious).

Titles

Domestic

• Primera División
  • Champion (10): 1933, 1946, 1959, 1968 Metropolitano, 1972 Metropolitano, 1972 Nacional, 1974 Nacional, 1995 Clausura, 2001 Clausura, 2007 Clausura

International titles

• Copa Mercosur
  • Champion (1): 2001

• Copa Sudamericana
  • Champion (1): 2002

Current squad

Current squad for San Lorenzo de Almagro as of November 14, 2010 (edit)
Sources: Argentine Soccer

No. Position Player 1  ARG GK Damián Albil 2  ARG DF Cristian Tula 3  ARG DF Germán Voboril 4  ARG DF Sebastián Luna 5  ARG MF Juan Manuel Torres 6  ARG DF Jonathan Bottinelli 7  ARG MF Juan Carlos Menseguez 8  ARG MF Diego Rivero 9  URU FW Sebastián Balsas 10  ARG MF Leandro Romagnoli 11  PAR MF Aureliano Torres 13  ARG DF Fernando Meza 14  ARG FW Fabián Bordagaray 15  ARG DF Diego Placente 16  ARG DF José San Román 17  ARG MF Fernando Gutiérrez 18  ARG MF Sebastián Rusculleda 19  URU FW Emiliano Alfaro

No. Position Player 20  ARG DF Gastón Aguirre 21  ARG MF Guillermo Pereyra 22  ARG GK Pablo Migliore 23  ARG MF Salvador Reynoso 24  ARG FW Gonzalo Rovira 25  ARG DF Pablo Alvarado 26  ARG MF Carlos Benítez 27  ARG DF José Luis Palomino 28  ARG MF Gonzalo Bazán 29  ARG DF Diego Herner 30  COL MF Leonardo López 31  ARG DF Nelson Benítez 32  ARG GK Ezequiel Mastrolía 33  ARG MF Sebastián González 34  ARG MF Rafael Cabrera 35  ARG MF Leandro Chaparro 37  ARG FW César Lammana 38  ARG FW Nahuel de Vico

Manager: Ramón Díaz

Former players

To appear in this section a player must have made at least 50 appearances for the club.

External links

• Official website (Spanish)