Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro
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San Lorenzo de Almagro is a football team based in the Boedo barrio (neighbourhood), Buenos Aires, Argentina. Its colors are blue and red vertical stripes.
History
In the early 1900s, a street gang based in the Almagro barrio (neighborhood) 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, a football club was formally established April 1 1908 and named San Lorenzo de Almagro honoring both Father Massa and 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.
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 Stefano). 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 outside the pitch. The 1968 team was nicknamed los matadores as it won the championship without losing a single game. In the years 1968-1974 San Lorenzo won a total of four league titles, its best harvest ever.
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). In late 2001 Alberto Guil was elected as president, and a month later San Lorenzo achieved its first international title: the Copa Mercosur 2001. San Lorenzo also won the first edition of the Copa Sudamericana in December 2002. The current president is Rafael Savino, and the club finances are steadily improving.
San Lorenzo is identified with the working class atmosphere of the Boedo neighborhood. Its derby rival from the southern part of Buenos Aires is Huracán, which currently plays in the lower divisions.
Stadium
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 Pedro Bidegain after a former club president. It has a capacity of 43,494 and the pitch size is 110 x 70 m.
Titles
Amateur titles
- 1923
- 1924
- 1927
Professional titles
- 1933
- 1946
- 1959
- 1968 (Metropolitano - unbeaten)
- 1972 (Metropolitano)
- 1972 (Nacional - unbeaten)
- 1974 (Nacional)
- 1982 (Nacional B)
- 1995 (Clausura)
- 2001 (Clausura)
International titles
- Copa Mercosur 2001
- Copa Sudamericana 2002
Famous players
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Nicknames
- Los gauchos de Boedo (after the many players from the provinces who played in the 1933 champions)
- Los santos (the saints) (from the club's name)
- Los cuervos (the crows) (after the black color of Father Massa's robe)
- El ciclón (the cyclone)
- Los azulgrana (the blue-and-red)
- Los matadores (originally used for the unbeaten 1968 champions)
- The fans' collective calls itself la gloriosa (the glorious)
Current squad
As of 19 September 2005
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(Players ordered by number. These positions are generic and do not contemplate players that play multiple positions or more specific positions.)
External links
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