Francisco Leonel Lima Silva Machado (born 19 July 1995), known as Chiquinho, is a Portuguese professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays for Benfica as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

Club career

Born in

Santo Tirso Santo Tirso () is a city and municipality located in the north of Porto Metropolitan Area, 25 km from central Porto, Portugal. In the region, the Ave Valley, there is a large center of textile industry. The population in 2011 was 71,530, in ...

Porto District The District of Porto ( pt, Distrito do Porto ) is located on the north-west coast of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Porto, the second largest city in the country. It is bordered by the Aveiro and Viseu districts to the south, Br ...

, Chiquinho finished his youth career with

Leixões SC The Port of Leixões ( pt, Porto de Leixões, ) is one of Portugal's major seaports, located 4 km north of the mouth of the Douro River, in Matosinhos municipality, near the city of Porto. Leixões Sport Club The Port of Leixões ( pt, P ...

. He made his senior debut on 30 July 2014, playing 62 minutes in a 3–0 home win against

C.D. Santa Clara Clube Desportivo Santa Clara is a Portuguese football club from Ponta Delgada, Azores. They play in the 13,277-seat Estádio de São Miguel. They are the most successful football team from the Azores Islands as the only team from the archipelag ...

in the first round of the

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual football club competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro, the top two tier ...

. His Segunda Liga bow occurred on 27 August in a 1–1 home draw with

C.D. Tondela Clube Desportivo de Tondela () is a Portuguese professional football club that plays in Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. They are based in the town of Tondela, located in Viseu District, and play in the Estádio João Cardoso ...

, and his first league goal was only scored two years later in a 1–2 loss to

FC Porto B Futebol Clube do Porto B, commonly known as Porto B, is a Portuguese professional football team, which serves as the reserve side of FC Porto. They compete in the Liga Portugal 2, the second division of Portuguese football, and play their home ...

also at the

Estádio do Mar 300 px, Estádio do Mar - Main stand Estádio do Mar is a multi-use stadium in Matosinhos, Portugal. It is used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Leixões The Port of Leixões ( pt, Porto de Leixões, ) is one of Portugal ...

. In February 2017, Leixões accepted

NK Lokomotiva Nogometni klub Lokomotiva Zagreb ( en, Lokomotiva Zagreb Football Club), commonly known as Lokomotiva Zagreb or simply Lokomotiva, is a Croatian professional association football, football club based in Zagreb. It competes in the Croatian First ...

's offer of €200,000, and Chiquinho signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with the Croatian club. His first match took place on 25 February, as a second-half substitute in a 2–0 First Football League home victory over

NK Osijek Nogometni klub Osijek ( en, Osijek Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Osijek or simply Osijek (), is a Croatian professional football club from Osijek. Founded in 1947, it was the club from Slavonia with the most seasons in the Yugoslav F ...

. Chiquinho joined Académica de Coimbra in July 2017 on a one-year loan, with an option to make the move permanent, which eventually befell only for the player to move to

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

on a five-year deal on 28 May 2018. He was subsequently sold to

Moreirense FC Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, in Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joa ...

, with Benfica retaining 50% of his economic rights. On 12 August 2018, Chiquinho made his debut in the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

, featuring the entire 1–3 home defeat against

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

. He totalled ten goals in his only season in

Moreira de Cónegos Moreira de Cónegos is a Portuguese ''freguesia'' ("civil parish") and town in the municipality of Guimarães which is in the Braga District in northern Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, link ...

, the first being the only in the third round of the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seaso ...

to oust Associação Recreativa de São Martinho. Chiquinho returned to Benfica on 1 July 2019, signing a contract until 2024. In his first official appearance, against

in the

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...

on 4 August, he completed a 5–0 rout after having replaced

Gabriel In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብር� ...

in the 82nd minute. On 31 August 2021, Chiquinho was loaned to fellow top-tier side

S.C. Braga Sporting Clube de Braga () (), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese f ...

without a buying option. The following February, also on loan, he joined

Giresunspor Giresunspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club based in Giresun. It was founded in 1925 and re-formed in 1967 after the merger of Yeşiltepespor, Akıngençlikspor, and Beşiktaşspor. The football club is playing in the Turkish S ...

of the Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

Honours

Benfica *

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

References

External links

*
Portuguese League profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chiquinho 1995 births Living people People from Santo Tirso Sportspeople from Porto District Portuguese footballers Association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players Boavista F.C. players Leixões S.C. players Gondomar S.C. players Associação Académica de Coimbra – O.A.F. players S.L. Benfica footballers Moreirense F.C. players S.C. Braga players Croatian Football League players NK Lokomotiva Zagreb players Süper Lig players Giresunspor footballers Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Croatia Expatriate footballers in Turkey Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Turkey