Sporting Crystal became national champion in 2012 for the first time in ten years. One of the most outstanding aspects of the team led by Roberto Mosquera was their goal-scoring ability, largely due to their three main attacking players: Irven Ávila, Hernán Rengifo and Junior Roß. In total, they scored 48 goals, which is more than half of all the team’s goals. The following year only Ávila repeated the scoring plate and in 2014 a foreign 9 arrived: Leandro Leguizamon.
Leandro Leguizamón was a striker who stood out in Tigre. The Argentine even managed to score against Sporting Cristal when he faced them in the 2013 Copa Libertadores and his loan deal to Rímac was completed in the middle of the year. Despite this, he could only debut with a light blue jersey in the 2014 season, which ended up being unfavorable for the attacker.
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Leandro Leguizamón and his time at Sporting Cristal
Leandro Leguizamón’s stage at Cristal has had a difficult start since arriving in Peru in August 2013. The Argentine striker couldn’t play for six months because Tigre, the holder of his passport, didn’t want to send his transfer. For example, Leguizamón made his official debut in the light blue jersey on February 15, 2014 in a 1-1 draw against Real Garcilaso in Cusco.
The ex-Tigre played the first eight games – most of them starting – of the Inca Tournament and also the key against Atlético Paranaense in the Copa Libertadores. Unfortunately, he hasn’t scored any goals in all that time. He provided a few assists and the occasional game that showcased his technical prowess, but overall he failed to produce memorable performances for the club.
Leandro Leguizamón became Cristal’s foreign goalscorer, but in the end it was Irven Ávila who once again established himself as the club’s top scorer. Photo: GLR archives
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What happened to Leandro Leguizamon?
Due to his unremarkable performance, Leandro Leguizamón parted ways with Sporting Cristal after the conclusion of the 2014 Apertura tournament. The Argentine played a total of 789 minutes in 15 matches at the local tournament and didn’t score a single goal. After his departure, Uruguayan Sergio Blanco came on as a substitute and every Sky Blue fan still remembers how this season ended with “Chapita” at the helm.
Leguizamón returned to Tigre after his stint in Peruvian football but played almost nothing compared to the stage prior to his arrival at Cristal. His next destination was the Murciélagos, the Mexican promotion, in which he established himself as a starter in his first season. However, over time he added fewer and fewer minutes until he became a regular substitute.
Today, after playing for Club Atlético General Lamadrid and Atlético San Miguel, his country’s promotion, Leandro Leguizamón has been playing with Club Atlético Ferrocarril Midland in Primera C (fourth tier) since the 2022/23 season. Ex-Sporting Cristal is a regular substitute at Funebrero but almost always adds minutes.
Leandro Leguizamón has played in Argentina’s fourth division for the past few seasons. Photo: Mittelland