Lorenzo Antonio Melgarejo Sanabria (born 10 August 1990) is a Paraguayan

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 plays as a forward or

left winger A midfielder is an 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 central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Paraguayan club Libertad. After playing in his country with 12 de Octubre, Olimpia and Independiente, he went on to spend most of his professional career in Portugal and Russia, starting out at Benfica. Melgarejo won four

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

Club career

Early years / Benfica

Melgarejo was born in

Loma Grande District Loma Grande is a district of the Cordillera Department, Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It ...

. He started his professional career with

Club 12 de Octubre 12 de Octubre Football Club is a Paraguayan football club from the city of Itauguá that currently plays in the División Intermedia, the second division of Football in Paraguay. Founded in 1914, the club's home venue is Estadio Luis Alberto Sa ...

at the age of 19, and later moved to the capital,

Asunción Asunción (, , , Guarani: Paraguay) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay o ...

, where he represented Club Olimpia and Independiente FBC. In early June 2011, Melgarejo moved to Portugal after being signed by Primeira Liga club

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904 as ''Sport Lisboa'', Be ...

, who immediately loaned him to fellow league side

F.C. Paços de Ferreira Futebol Clube Paços de Ferreira () is a Portuguese football club based in Paços de Ferreira, Porto district. Founded in 1950, the club competes in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at the 9,077-seater Estádio da Mata Real, a municipal s ...

for one season. Melgarejo scored on his debut with Paços, a 2–1 home win against

U.D. Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria, commonly known as União de Leiria (), is a Portuguese football club based in Leiria, central Portugal. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. ...

. He also found the net against FC Porto in a 1–1 draw on 25 March 2012, also at home, and finished the campaign as the team's top scorer. For

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, Benfica manager

Jorge Jesus Jorge Fernando Pinheiro de Jesus (; born 24 July 1954) is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Süper Lig club Fenerbahçe. He started his career with Sporting CP, going on to play for 1 ...

decided to recall Melgarejo and reconvert him into a left back, also immediately placing him as a starter. On 17 September, in spite of initial criticism, his contract was extended until June 2018 with a release clause of €30 million. Melgarejo spent most of the campaign in the starting eleven, including in the UEFA Europa League final, but was an unused substitute in the season's Portuguese Cup final, with Benfica losing both matches.

Kuban

In July 2013, it was widely reported that

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

had agreed a deal to sign Melgarejo on loan, with a view to making the move permanent at the end of the season, but no transfer took place. Instead, on 2 September, he signed with

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

club

FC Kuban Krasnodar FC Kuban (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб "Кубань" Краснодар) was a Russian football club based in Krasnodar. The team began playing in the Russian Premier League in 2011, after it was promoted for winning the R ...

for a €5 million fee.

Spartak Moscow

On 8 February 2016, Melgarejo joined

FC Spartak Moscow FC Spartak Moscow (russian: Футбольный клуб «Спартак» Москва, Futbolʹnyy klub «Spartak» Moskva, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow. Having won 12 Soviet championships (second only to Dyn ...

on a long-term contract.

Racing

On 25 August 2020, he signed a contract until the end of 2022 with Argentinian club

Racing In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific go ...

International career

On 14 November 2012, Melgarejo made his debut for

, playing the second half of a 3–1 friendly win over Guatemala. In August 2017, he spoke in an interview of his frustration of not receiving a call up for the national team after six years in Europe. On 2 March 2019, more than five years after his last selection, Melgarejo was called by manager

Eduardo Berizzo Eduardo Berizzo Magnolo (; born 13 November 1969) is an Argentine retired footballer who played as a central defender. He is the manager of Chile. During his 18-year professional career he played for six teams in four countries, mainly Newell' ...

ahead of that month's friendlies with

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Career statistics

Notes

Honours

Benfica *

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 sea ...

: Runner-up

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

: Runner-up

Kuban * Russian Cup: Runner-up 2014–15 Spartak Moscow *

: 2016–17 *

Russian Super Cup The Russian Super Cup () is a one-match football annual competition. Its official sponsored name is ''OLIMPBET Russian Supercup'' (). The two participating clubs are the Russian Premier League champions and the Russian Cup winners. If the Premie ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Melgarejo, Lorenzo 1990 births Living people People from Cordillera Department Paraguayan men's footballers Men's association football defenders Men's association football wingers Men's association football forwards Men's association football utility players Paraguayan Primera División players 12 de Octubre Football Club players Club Olimpia footballers Independiente F.B.C. footballers Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players S.L. Benfica footballers F.C. Paços de Ferreira players S.L. Benfica B players Russian Premier League players FC Kuban Krasnodar players FC Spartak Moscow players Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Paraguay men's under-20 international footballers Paraguay men's international footballers Paraguayan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Russia Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Argentina