Lucas Lima Linhares (born 28 September 1996), known as Luquinhas, is a Brazilian 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

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

club

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

as either a winger or 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 ...

Career

Benfica

Born in

Ceilândia Ceilândia is an administrative region in the Federal District in Brazil. With about 398,374 inhabitants, it is the administrative region of largest population in the Federal District. History Ceilândia was created by the government in the 1970s ...

, Luquinhas started his football career at local club Atlético Ceilandense. In September 2014, he moved to Portugal and joined Vilafranquense before moving on loan to Portuguese champions S.L. Benfica in June 2016. On 11 September, he made his professional debut with Benfica's

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

as a substitute in a 2–1 home win over Académico de Viseu in

LigaPro The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Prim ...

. After playing 15 matches with Benfica B, Luquinhas signed a four-year contract with Benfica on 28 June 2017.

CD Aves

On 25 August 2017 Luquinhas penned a three-year deal with Desportivo das Aves, who loaned him out for one season to Vilafranquense three days later. After one season on loan with Vilafranquense, in which he scored 10 goals in 32 league matches, Luquinhas returned to Aves. On 20 January 2019, he made his debut for Aves in a 2-1 victory over Vitória de Setúbal 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, ...

Legia Warsaw

On 4 July 2019, Luquinhas signed a three-year contract with Polish club

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a ...

. On 21 July, he made his debut with Legia as a starter in a 1–2 defeat to Pogoń Szczecin. On 27 October, Luquinhas scored his first goal with Legia Warsaw in a 7-0 victory over

Wisła Kraków Towarzystwo Sportowe Wisła Kraków Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Wisła Kraków (), is a Polish professional football club based in Kraków. It currently competes in the I liga, the second level of Polish football league system. It ...

. He ended his first season in Poland appearing in 45 matches scoring 5 goals and recording 9 assists, helping Legia to a league title. Luquinhas continued to be an important player for Legia during the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season. On 6 February 2021, he scored his first goal of the campaign in a 2-0 victory over

Raków Częstochowa Robotniczy Klub Sportowy Raków Częstochowa Spółka Akcyjna (commonly referred to as Raków Częstochowa, or simply Raków) is a Polish professional football club, based in Częstochowa, that competes in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of na ...

. A few days later, on 9 February, Luquinhas helped Legia to a 3-2 victory over ŁKS Łódź. Luquinhas came on in the second half, scoring his clubs second goal, as they advanced in the Polish Cup. He ended the season appearing in 34 matches scoring 4 goals and recording 8 assists, as Legia won its second straight Ekstraklasa title. For his efforts he was named the Ekstraklasa midfielder of the season. On 7 July 2021, Luquinhas opened the scoring for the Polish champions in a 3-2 victory over

FK Bodø/Glimt Fotballklubben Bodø/Glimt () is a Norwegian professional football club from the town of Bodø that currently plays in Eliteserien, the Norwegian top division. The club was founded in 1916 and is frequently referred to by its original club na ...

in the first leg of the first round of

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

qualifying. On 14 July, he helped Legia advance in the competition, scoring the opening goal in a 2-0 victory in the second leg against FK Bodø/Glimt.

New York Red Bulls

On 16 February 2022, Luquinhas signed with

side

on a three-year deal. Luquinhas made his debut off the bench for his new club on 13 March, in a 0-1 loss versus

Minnesota United FC Minnesota United FC is an American professional soccer club based in Saint Paul, Minnesota that plays in the Western Conference of Major League Soccer. The club began play in 2017 as the league's 22nd club, and replaced the North American Socc ...

. On 24 April 2022, Luquinhas scored his first goal for New York in a 3-0 victory over

Orlando City SC Orlando City SC is an American professional soccer club in Orlando, Florida, that competes as a member of the Eastern Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). Orlando City SC began play in 2015 as the 21st franchise in MLS, succeeding the USL ...

. On 10 May 2022, Luquinhas scored and assisted on another goal for New York in a 3-0 victory over

DC United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Su ...

, helping the club advance to Round of 16 in the

2022 U.S. Open Cup The 2022 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup was the 107th edition of the U.S. Open Cup, a knockout cup competition in American soccer. After the 2020 and 2021 competitions were suspended and ultimately canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the United St ...

. A few days later, on 14 May, he scored a second half equalizer, helping New York to a 1-1 draw on the road against

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Union compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the club began playing in 201 ...

. On 28 May 22, Luquinhas scored two goals to help lead New York to a 4-1 victory over rival

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Suppo ...

. On 22 June 2022, Luquinhas helped New York to advance to the semifinals of the

, scoring a goal in a 3-0 victory over local rival

New York City FC New York City Football Club, also known as New York City FC and shortened as NYCFC, is an American professional soccer club based in New York City. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club ...

. On 18 March 2023, Luquinhas scored his first goal of the season, scoring the opening goal for New York in a 2-1 victory over Columbus Crew.

Career statistics

Honours

Legia Warsaw * Ekstraklasa: 2019–20,

Individual * Ekstraklasa Midfielder of the Season:

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Luquinhas 1996 births Living people Footballers from Brasília Brazilian footballers Men's association football forwards Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Ekstraklasa players S.L. Benfica B players C.D. Aves players Legia Warsaw players New York Red Bulls players Designated Players (MLS) Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate footballers in Poland Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States Major League Soccer players