Leandro Somoza

Leandro Daniel Somoza (born 26 January 1981) is an Argentine football coach and former player who played as a defensive midfielder.

Leandro Somoza
Personal information
Full name Leandro Daniel Somoza
Date of birth (1981-01-26) 26 January 1981
Place of birth Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s) Defensive midfielder
Youth career
Vélez Sársfield
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2001–2006 Vélez Sarsfield 124 (6)
2006–2008 Villarreal 25 (0)
2007–2008 → Betis (loan) 15 (0)
2008–2010 Vélez Sarsfield 53 (4)
2011–2013 Boca Juniors 66 (0)
2013–2014 Lanús 45 (1)
2015–2017 Vélez Sarsfield 39 (0)
2017–2018 Aldosivi 21 (0)
International career
2006–2013 Argentina 4 (0)
Managerial career
2019 Cerro Porteño (assistant)
2020–2021 Boca Juniors (assistant)
2021 Al Nassr (assistant)
2022 Rosario Central
2022 Aldosivi
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Somoza began his professional career playing for Vélez Sársfield in the Argentine Primera in 2001. He played for the club for five years, and was a key player in the 2005 Clausura tournament winning team.

In 2006, Somoza was transferred to La Liga club Villarreal CF on a five-year contract. He joined fellow countrymen Juan Román Riquelme, Gonzalo Rodríguez, Rodolfo Arruabarrena, Fabricio Fuentes and Mariano Barbosa. However, Somoza spent only one season with Villarreal, being loaned in August 2007 to Real Betis. The Argentine midfielder was presented to the media on 14 August and made his first appearance in a friendly against Real Zaragoza two days later. His first competitive debut came in the season against Recreativo Huelva, on 26 August.

After his second season in Spain, Somoza returned to Argentina for the 2008–09 season to play again for Vélez Sársfield. During the 2009 Clausura, he was part of the squad that won the Argentine league championship, but did not participate in any of the games due to an injury he had suffered at the end of the previous tournament.

Somoza scored for the first time after his injury on a 1–1 draw with Lanús, on the 9th fixture of the 2009 Apertura.[1]

On 14 January 2011, Somoza signed on to play with Boca Juniors.[2] With the xeneizes Somoza won the 2011 Apertura and 2012 Copa Argentina and was runner-up of the 2012 Copa Libertadores.

For the 2013–14 Argentine Primera División season Somoza joined Lanús. With his new club the midfielder won the 2013 Copa Sudamericana, playing all 10 games.[3]

In 2015, Somoza agreed on a free transfer to Vélez Sarsfield, his third spell with the club.[4]

International career

Somoza debuted for Argentina by then new manager Alfio Basile in the friendly international against Brazil at the Emirates Stadium in London, England during 2006. Two years later, while playing for Vélez, he was called again by Basile for the match against Chile, although he remained on the bench.

After four years, the midfielder rejoined the national team upon Alejandro Sabella's call up to play the Superclásico de las Américas. Sabella also called Somoza for the FIFA World Cup qualifying games against Peru and Uruguay in 2013.

Managerial career

After working as Miguel Ángel Russo's assistant at Cerro Porteño, Boca Juniors and Al Nassr, Somoza was appointed manager of Rosario Central on 27 March 2022.[5] He resigned on 14 June,[6] and was appointed manager of Aldosivi ten days later.[7]

Honours
Vélez Sársfield
Boca Juniors
Lanús

References
  1. "Match report". Argentine Soccer. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
  2. "Como pintada". Horacio Garcia. Diario Olé. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
  3. "South American Cup '13 statistics". Argentine Soccer. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  4. "Vélez Sarsfield presentó a Mariano Pavone y Leandro Somoza" (in Spanish). ESPN FC. 14 January 2015. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  5. "Oficial: Leandro Somoza es el nuevo entrenador de Rosario Central" [Official: Leandro Somoza is the new manager of Rosario Central] (in Spanish). TyC Sports. 27 March 2022. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  6. "Leandro Somoza renunció como técnico de Rosario Central" [Leandro Somoza resigned as manager of Rosario Central] (in Spanish). TyC Sports. 14 June 2022.
  7. "Leandro Somoza llegó a un acuerdo y es nuevo técnico de Aldosivi" [Leandro Somoza reached an agreement and is the new manager of Aldosivi] (in Spanish). TyC Sports. 24 June 2022.
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