Cristian Lema

Cristian Franco Lema (born 24 March 1990) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a centre-back.

Cristian Lema
Personal information
Full name Cristian Franco Lema
Date of birth (1990-03-24) 24 March 1990
Place of birth Puerto Madryn, Argentina
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Position(s) Centre back
Youth career
1998–2009 Guillermo Brown
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2009 Guillermo Brown 30 (1)
2010–2011 Newell's Old Boys 12 (0)
2011–2012 → Tigre (loan) 8 (0)
2012–2014 → Quilmes (loan) 38 (2)
2014–2018 Belgrano 106 (16)
2018–2020 Benfica 1 (0)
2019 → Peñarol (loan) 13 (2)
2019–2020 → Newell's Old Boys (loan) 22 (5)
2020–2021 Damac 11 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 24 July 2020

Club career

Born in Puerto Madryn, Lema started his football career aged 8 at hometown club Guillermo Brown. He debuted for their senior team in 2007 and left the club in 2009.[1]

A year later, Lema joined Newell's Old Boys and made his Argentine Primera División debut in a 0–0 home draw to Godoy Cruz in November.[1] After playing 12 matches with the former side, he moved on loan to Tigre in June 2011,[1][2] and there he played 11 matches, scoring one goal.[1] In July 2012, aged 22, he was loaned out to Quilmes,[1][2] with whom he would play 40 matches and score 2 goals before moving to Belgrano in 2014.[1] In his four-year spell with the latter, he became the club's defender with the most league goals ever, 16 in 123 matches. Moreover, he debuted in Copa Sudamericana in 2015.[1]

In June 2018, Lema moved to Portugal and signed a five-year contract with S.L. Benfica.[3] In February 2019, after playing only two matches for the Lisbon side in October, he was loaned to Uruguayan club Peñarol until June 2019, with option to buy.[4] Afterwards, he was loaned out to Newell's Old Boys for 2019–20.[5] He left Benfica on 1 October 2020 to join Saudi Arabian club Damac FC.[6]

Honours

Benfica

References
  1. Rebelo, Marco (22 June 2018). "Perfil de Lema" [Lema profile]. S.L. Benfica (in Portuguese). Retrieved 23 June 2018.
  2. Cristian Lema at Soccerway
  3. Garcia, Filipa Fernandes (22 June 2018). "Welcome, Lema!". S.L. Benfica. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
  4. "Oficial: Lema no Peñarol com opção de compra" [Official: Lema at Peñarol with option to buy]. A Bola (in Portuguese). 7 February 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  5. "Futebol: Lema emprestado" [Football: Lema loaned out]. S.L. Benfica (in Portuguese). 10 July 2019. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  6. Benfica formaliza saída de Lema
  7. "São estes os campeões nacionais pelo Benfica em 2018/19" [These are the national champions for Benfica in 2018–19]. Record (in Portuguese). 18 May 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
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