Leopoldo Jacinto Luque (; (3 May 1949 – 15 February 2021) was an Argentine

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 ...

who played as a striker.

Club career

In a career spanning from 1972 to 1984 he played for

Unión de Santa Fe Club Atlético Unión (; mostly known as Unión de Santa Fe ) is a sports club from Santa Fe, the capital city of the Santa Fe Province, in Argentina. The club was founded on April 15, 1907 and plays in the Argentine Primera División. Althou ...

Rosario Central Club Atlético Rosario Central () is a sports club based in Rosario, Argentina, that plays in the Argentine Primera División. The club was officially founded on December 24, 1889, by a group of railway workers, taking its name from the English- ...

, River Plate,

Racing Club de Avellaneda Racing Club de Avellaneda, officially known as Racing Club or shortened to just Racing, is an Argentine professional sports club based in Avellaneda, a city of the Buenos Aires Province. Founded in 1903, Racing has been historically considered o ...

and

Chacarita Juniors Club Atlético Chacarita Juniors (usually known simply as Chacarita) is an Argentine football club headquartered in Villa Crespo, Buenos Aires, while the stadium is located in Villa Maipú, General San Martín Partido of Greater Buenos Aires. T ...

. On 22 February 1976, Luque scored all five goals in a game in which his team, River Plate, defeated

San Lorenzo de Almagro Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro, commonly known as San Lorenzo de Almagro or simply San Lorenzo (in English: ''Saint Lawrence''), is a sports club of Argentina in the Boedo district of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its football team ...

5–1.

International career

With

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 ...

he was 1978 World Champion, scoring four goals in the tournament, including a spectacular long distance volley against France during the first round. During that tournament, his brother died in a traffic accident on the day that Argentina played Italy. He also seriously injured his left elbow in the match against France, the second game of that championship, forcing him to miss two matches. He was back for the last three matches of the tournament, including the final against the Netherlands.

Later life and death

Luque was sports secretary of

Mendoza Province Mendoza, officially Province of Mendoza, is a province of Argentina, in the western central part of the country in the Cuyo region. It borders San Juan to the north, La Pampa and Neuquén to the south, San Luis to the east, and the republic o ...

. In February 2007, Luque suffered a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

from which he recovered. He died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina The COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). On 3 March 2020, the virus was confirmed to have spread to Argentina. As of , a ...

on 15 February 2021.

Career statistics

Club

FIFA World Cup statistics

International goals

:''Scores and results list Argentina's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Luque goal''.

Honours

Club

River Plate * Primera División: 1975 Nacional, 1977 Metropolitano, 1979 Metropolitano, 1979 Nacional, 1980 Metropolitano

International

Argentina *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

: 1978

Individual

* Copa América Top Scorer:

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Luque, Leopoldo 1949 births 2021 deaths Footballers from Santa Fe, Argentina Argentine footballers Association football forwards Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy footballers Unión de Santa Fe footballers Rosario Central footballers Club Atlético River Plate footballers Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Santos FC players Chacarita Juniors footballers Deportivo Mandiyú footballers Argentine Primera División players Liga MX players Argentina international footballers 1978 FIFA World Cup players 1975 Copa América players FIFA World Cup-winning players Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina Argentine expatriate footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate footballers in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Expatriate footballers in Brazil Unión de Santa Fe managers