Cristian Ezequiel Llama (born June 26, 1986) is an Argentine football midfielder who plays for San Martín Tucumán.

Club career

Arsenal de Sarandí

Llama began his professional career in his home country of

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

in 2004, with

Arsenal de Sarandí An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostl ...

. In his first season with the club, Llama made 16 appearances and scored 2 goals. In his second season, he went on to make an additional 19 appearances. However, the player really thrived in his third season, where he made 23 league starts and managed 4 goals. His impressive displays caught the eyes of numerous

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

an clubs, most notably from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, and Switzerland.

Calcio Catania

On 30 June 2012, the young Argentine completed his

an transfer, joining

Italian Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

side,

Calcio Catania Catania S.S.D., commonly known as Catania, is an Italian football club based in the city of Catania, Sicily, that plays in . Originally founded in 1908 as ''Associazione Sportiva pro Educazione Fisica'', the club boasts 17 appearances in the ...

for a transfer fee of just €300k. The player found playing time hard to come by in his first season at the club, due to the presence of wingers

Juan Manuel Vargas Juan Manuel Vargas Risco (; born 5 October 1983) is a Peruvian retired footballer that played as a left back. Vargas' previous clubs include Universitario, Colón, Catania, Genoa and Fiorentina. He played for Peru at international level. His l ...

, Jorge Andres Martinez, Mariano Izco, and

Giacomo Tedesco Giacomo Tedesco (born February 1, 1976 in Palermo) is a former Italian football (soccer) midfielder and football manager. Club career Giacomo Tedesco started his professional career with his hometown club U.S. Città di Palermo in 1994. He rema ...

. After 4 months in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, the player made just 1 appearances, and was, therefore, loaned out to

Newell's Old Boys Club Atlético Newell's Old Boys () is an Argentine sports club based in Rosario, Santa Fe. The club was founded on 3 November 1903, and is named after Isaac Newell of the English county of Kent, one of the pioneers of Argentine football. A ...

, for the second half of the 2007–08 season, in time for the Argentine Clausura. The loan move was not successful however, and Llama was limited to just 3 appearances, due to injury. After six months in

he was brought back to

under new coach

Walter Zenga Walter Zenga (; born 28 April 1960) is an Italian football manager and former player who last managed Serie A club Cagliari. He was a long-time goalkeeper for Inter Milan and the Italian national team. During his playing career, Zenga was pa ...

. In his first full season at Catania, Llama was often regularly featured in Zenga's plans, and made 19 appearances in all competitions. He was also a regular during the 2009–10 season, under coach

Gianluca Atzori Gianluca Atzori (born 6 March 1971) is an Italian football manager and former player, current coach of Floriana. Career Playing Atzori started his professional playing career with Rome-based Serie C side Lodigiani in 1988, then playing mostl ...

and later,

Siniša Mihajlović Siniša Mihajlović ( sr-Cyrl, Синиша Михајловић, ; 20 February 1969 – 16 December 2022) was a Serbian professional football player and manager. During his career as a footballer, he played as a defender or midfielder. He won ...

, on the left wing, until a major injury struck in March 2010. Prior to the injury, Llama had made 23 league starts scoring 2 goals, and was the "in-form" player following Mihajlovic's appointment as head coach on 8 December 2009. His return was not complete until December 2010. Llama went on to make just 30 league appearances for ''gli elefanti'' over the next two seasons. On 31 August 2012, Llama was sent out on a season-long loan deal to fellow

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

outfit, ACF Fiorentina, where he rejoined former Catania coach,

Vincenzo Montella Vincenzo Montella (; born 18 June 1974) is an Italian retired footballer and current manager, who played as a striker. He is current manager of Süper Lig club Adana Demirspor. Montella's nickname during his playing career was "Aeroplanino", i ...

. After just 5 league appearances, however, the player returned to Sicily on 30 June 2013. After 5 years playing back home in Argentina, he returned to Catania on 20 July 2018. He was released from his Catania contract by mutual consent on 20 December 2019.

Return to Argentina

In December 2019, Llama signed with Gimnasia Mendoza and returned to the club on 1 January 2020. In January 2022, Llama moved to

Ecuadorian Serie A The Liga Pro Betcris, simply known as the Liga Pro, or the Serie A, is a professional football league in Ecuador. At the top of the Ecuadorian football league system, it is the country's premier football competition. Contested by sixteen clubs, i ...

side Mushuc Runa. Llama returned to his homeland in June 2022, as he signed with

San Martín de Tucumán Club Atlético San Martín (mostly known as San Martín de Tucumán) is an Argentine sports club founded in 1909 and based in the city of San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán Province. The club is notable for its football team, which currently plays i ...

.San Martín presentó oficialmente a Cristian Llama y Rodrigo Gómez
lv12.com.ar, 11 June 2022

References

External links

Argentine Primera statistics

Cristian Llama at Football Lineups
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Llama, Cristian 1986 births Living people Footballers from Lomas de Zamora Argentine men's footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentine people of Spanish descent Men's association football midfielders Argentine Primera División players Serie A players Serie C players Liga MX players Torneo Federal A players Primera Nacional players Ecuadorian Serie A players Arsenal de Sarandí footballers Newell's Old Boys footballers Catania FC players ACF Fiorentina players C.D. Veracruz footballers Club Atlético Colón footballers Club Atlético Aldosivi footballers Gimnasia y Esgrima de Mendoza footballers Mushuc Runa S.C. footballers San Martín de Tucumán footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Ecuador Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Ecuador