Paulo Rinaldo Cruzado Durand (born 21 September 1984 in

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

) is a Peruvian

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 as a

midfielder 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 ...

Club career

Alianza Lima

Cruzado came up through the youth ranks of Academia Tito Drago. In 2002, he joined

Alianza Lima Club Alianza Lima, popularly known as Alianza Lima or simply Alianza, is a Peruvian professional sports club based in La Victoria District of Lima, Peru. It is widely known for having one of the most historical and successful football teams i ...

. Later in the 2002 season he made his

Peruvian Primera División The Peru First Division (; ''First Division'') —known as Liga 1 Betsson for sponsorship reasons and officially as Liga 1 — is the top flight of association football in Peru. It has been referred to as Torneo Descentralizado since 1966, when ...

debut for

Club Alianza Lima Club Alianza Lima, popularly known as Alianza Lima or simply Alianza, is a Peruvian professional sports club based in La Victoria District of Lima, Peru. It is widely known for having one of the most historical and successful football teams i ...

, which was his only appearance that year. He eventually established himself as an important player for Alianza and together with a young

Jefferson Farfán Jefferson Agustín Farfán Guadalupe (; born 26 October 1984) is a Peruvian former professional footballer who mainly played as a winger. Commonly known as Farfán or the nickname ''Foquita'' (Spanish for ''Little Seal''), he is known for his s ...

went on to claim the 2003 Peruvian Primera División League title. Again in the 2004 season he helped Alianza win the 2004 Peruvian League title. He made his

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

debut on 11 February 2004 in a group stage match against

São Paulo FC São Paulo Futebol Clube (), commonly referred to as São Paulo, is a professional football club in the Morumbi district of São Paulo, Brazil, founded in 1930. It plays in the Campeonato Paulista (the State of São Paulo's premier state leag ...

, which finished in a 2–1 loss for Alianza. He played in all of the group stage matches in the

2004 Copa Libertadores The 2004 Copa Libertadores de América (officially the 2004 Copa Toyota Libertadores de América for sponsorship reasons) was the 45th edition of the Copa Libertadores, CONMEBOL's premier annual international club tournament. The tournament was ...

. However, Alianza were eliminated in that stage as they only managed to finish in 3rd place. In the 2005 season, he played 35 games and scored 1 goal, but with the departure of key players like Jefferson Farfán and

Walter Vilchez Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 1 ...

Alianza finished in 7th place in the overall standings. The next season Cruzado made the most appearances for Alianza in all his time there, with 42 games played and 3 goals scored. That year in the 2006 season he formed a strong partnership in midfield with

Marko Ciurlizza Marko Gustavo Ciurlizza Rodríguez (born February 22, 1978 in Lima) is a Peruvian retired footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Club career Marko Ciurlizza started his career playing in soccer at the club Universitario de Deportes. La ...

and won his third Peruvian League title with Alianza. Cruzado played an important role in the final two-legged tie that determined the champions of the 2006 season. The first leg was won by

Cienciano Club Sportivo Cienciano is a professional football club based in Cusco, Peru that currently plays in the Peruvian Primera División. The club was founded in 1901 by a group of students of the ''Colegio Nacional Ciencias del Cusco'' (National S ...

1–0 in

Cusco Cusco, often spelled Cuzco (; qu, Qusqu ()), is a city in Southeastern Peru near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region and of the Cusco Province. The city is the list of cities in Peru, seventh m ...

. In the second leg, Cruzado helped Alianza turn the tie around and defeat Cienciano 3–1 in

Matute Matute is a village in the province and autonomous community of La Rioja, Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(En ...

, with the winning goal being scored by teammate

Flavio Maestri Flavio Francisco Maestri Andrade (born 21 January 1973 in Lima) is a Peruvian retired football player. He is nicknamed ''The Tank'' because of his large size. Throughout his career, he has played professional football for numerous teams in Peru ...

Grasshopper Club Zürich

In January 2007, he left Alianza and transferred to Swiss team

Grasshopper Club Zürich Grasshopper Club Zürich, commonly referred to as simply GC, GCZ, or Grasshoppers, is a multisports club based in Zürich, Switzerland. The oldest and best known department of the club is its football team. With 27 titles, Grasshopper holds the ...

. He made his Swiss League debut on 10 February 2007 in a goal-less draw against

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...

.. He scored his first goal in a 2–0 win against

Neuchâtel Xamax , neighboring_municipalities= Auvernier, Boudry, Chabrey (VD), Colombier, Cressier, Cudrefin (VD), Delley-Portalban (FR), Enges, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Hauterive, Saint-Blaise, Savagnier , twintowns = Aarau (Switzerland), Besançon (France ...

on 23 February 2008. His second goal was against

FC Sion Football Club de Sion, commonly known as simply FC Sion or Sion, is a Swiss football team from the city of Sion. The club was founded in 1909, and play their home matches at the Stade Tourbillon. They have won the Swiss Super League twice, and ...

also in a 2–0 win, on 10 May 2008.

Sporting Cristal

In August 2008, Cruzado left Grasshoppers and joined

Sporting Cristal Club Sporting Cristal S.A. is a Peruvian sports club located in the city of Lima, best known for its association football, football team. It was founded on 13 December 1955 in the Rímac District, Rímac district by engineer Richard Bentín Mujica ...

for the end of the 2008 Peruvian Primera División. He helped Cristal finish the season in 2nd place in the overall standings.

Esteghlal FC

Cruzaldo played for

until January 2009 when he joined Esteghlal in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

which is one of the most popular

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

teams in Asia. The details of his transfer to this famous Iranian football club had not been revealed until the very last minutes. He was expected to play in the

AFC Champions League 2009 The 2009 AFC Champions League was the 28th edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 7th under the current AFC Champions League title. The final was held at the National ...

. He had a very serious injury during his first season which he just played few minuted for the club, but in his second season he was available for more matches and became one of the regular starting players. He left Iran seeking to return to a Peruvian club, possibly

, in 2010.

Club Juan Aurich

On 15 July 2010 Cruzado joined Peruvian club

Juan Aurich Club Juan Aurich S. A., commonly known as Juan Aurich, is a professional football club based in Chiclayo, Peru. The original Juan Aurich club was founded in 1922, this incarnation however was founded in 2005; they play in the Torneo Descentral ...

in the middle of the

2010 Torneo Descentralizado The 2010 Torneo Descentralizado de Fútbol Profesional (known as the 2010 Copa Cable Mágico for sponsorship reasons) was the ninety-fourth season of Association Peruvian football. A total of 16 teams competed in the tournament, with Universitari ...

season. His choice to return to Peru was mainly due to his desire to be called up by new coach

Sergio Markarian Sergio may refer to: * Sergio (given name), for people with the given name Sergio * Sergio (carbonado), the largest rough diamond ever found * ''Sergio'' (album), a 1994 album by Sergio Blass * ''Sergio'' (2009 film), a documentary film * ''Se ...

to the

Peru national football team The Peru national football team represents Peru in men's international football. The national team has been organised, since 1927, by the Peruvian Football Federation (FPF). The FPF constitutes one of the ten members of FIFA's South American ...

. Cruzado made his official debut for Juan Aurich on 21 August 2010 in a league match away to

José Gálvez FBC José Gálvez FBC is a Peruvian football club based in Chimbote, Ancash. The club was founded in 1951 under the name Manuel Rivera after the famous Chimbote born footballer Manuel Rivera. The club was forced to change its name because the FPF ...

. The manager Juan Reynoso put Rinaldo in the 79th minute to secure the 1–0 victory. The following match he made his home debut at the

Estadio Elías Aguirre Estadio Capitán Remigio Elías Aguirre Romero is a multi-purpose stadium administrated by the governmental ''Instituto Peruano del Deporte'' in Chiclayo, Peru. It was built in 1970 named after the 19th century Peruvian sailor Elías Aguirre Rom ...

against

Colegio Nacional Iquitos Colegio Nacional Iquitos (usually referred to as CNI) is a Peruvian football team based in the city of Iquitos which was founded in 1926. CNI is the biggest club in the city of Iquitos and currently is not playing in any league. At the beginni ...

, which he played the entire match as it finished in a 1–1 draw. Cruzado quickly won a starting role in the center of midfield and managed to play in all but one of the remaining matches of the 2010 Descentralizado season. He played his last match of the season at home against

giants

. He received a red card in the 73rd minute as did his teammate

Juan Carlos La Rosa Juan Carlos La Rosa Llontop (born 3 February 1980) is a Peruvian former footballer who played as a midfielder. Career He won the Copa Sudamericana with Cienciano and also the Recopa Sudamericana in 2003 and 2004 respectively. La Rosa made 13 ...

in 46th minute, and eventually the match finished in a 2–3 win for Cienciano. Juan Aurich finished the season in 6th place in the Aggregate table. Cruzado started the

2011 Torneo Descentralizado The 2011 Torneo Descentralizado de Fútbol Profesional (known as the 2011 Copa Movistar for sponsorship reasons) was the ninety-fifth season of Association Peruvian football. A total of 16 teams competed in the tournament, with Universidad de S ...

season in Round 2 at home against

Unión Comercio Unión Comercio is a Peruvian football club based in the city of Nueva Cajamarca, San Martín, Peru. History Unión Comercio was 2010 Liga Departamental champion, when they defeated Atlético Belén. In the 2010 Copa Perú, the club classi ...

. In this match Rinaldo scored his first official goal for Juan Aurich in the 73rd minute, which helped his side win 3–2 over Unión Comercio. Away to the defending champions

Universidad San Martin Universidad (Spanish for "university") may refer to: Places * Universidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico * Universidad (Madrid) Football clubs * Universidad SC, a Guatemalan football club that represents the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala ...

, Cruzado won a penalty that was converted by teammate

Luis Tejada Luis Carlos "Matador" Tejada Hansell (born 28 March 1982) is a Panamanian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Molinos El Pirata. Club career Tejada's debut in professional soccer was with Tauro in the local league, where he man ...

to salvage a 1–1 draw in third round. Rinaldo was on the score sheet again by scoring the winning goal from outside the area with a powerful left-footed shot in the 2–0 home win against

León de Huánuco Club Social Deportivo León de Huánuco is a professional Peruvian football club based in the city of Huánuco. It is the biggest football club of Huánuco city. The club was founded in 1946 and play in the Copa Peru (''Peruvian Third Division'' ...

, the Runners-up of the league the previous season. Away to the Miguel Grau Stadium, Cruzado then helped his club earn three important points in the 5–0 thrashing of

Sport Boys Sport Boys Association, commonly referred to as Sport Boys or simply Boys, is a Peruvian football club based in the port city of Callao. It was founded on 28 July 1927. Its classic and historic rival is the Atlético Chalaco against whom dispute ...

by scoring the third goal of the night. As a regular starter he continued to help Juan Aurich make a bid for the title that season. In Round 9 against direct competitors

, Cruzado helped Juan Aurich defeat his former club 2–0, and two rounds later Juan Aurich won another three valuable points with a 2–1 home win against his other former club

. Cruzado scored his last goal for Juan Aurich in Round 12 in the 2–1 loss away to

. His last appearance for the

Chiclayo Chiclayo (; qu, Chiklayu) is the principal city of the Lambayeque region in northern Peru. It is located inland from the Pacific coast and from the nation's capital, Lima. Founded by Spanish explorers as "Santa María de los Valles de Chiclay ...

based club was in Round 15 at home against

Universidad César Vallejo Universidad (Spanish for "university") may refer to: Places * Universidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico * Universidad (Madrid) Football clubs * Universidad SC, a Guatemalan football club that represents the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala ...

, which he played the entire match and finished in a 2–0 win for his side. At this midpoint stage of the season Juan Aurich was in third place behind Alianza Lima and Cienciano. Juan Aurich would eventually go on to win the title that season for the first time in the club's history. Cruzado was called up to participate in the Copa América, and during this time journalist Daniel Peredo first announced the news that Cruzado would join Italian club

ChievoVerona Associazione Calcio ChievoVerona, commonly referred to as ChievoVerona or simply Chievo , is a former professional Italian football club named after and based in Chievo, a suburb of 4,500 inhabitants in Verona, Veneto, and owned by Paluani, a ...

after the summer tournament.

Chievo

On 5 August 2011 Cruzado left

and transferred to

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 ...

club

for the start of the 2011–2012 season. He signed a three-year contract and chose to wear the number eight shirt as reported by Chievo's official website. On 13 August 2011 he made his debut for Chievo in a 45-minute summer friendly match against

Novara Novara (, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It is ...

, which ended in a 2–0 loss for his side. Cruzado then played his second match for Chievo on 27 August 2011 in a friendly match against

Internazionale Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

. He entered the match at the start of the second half for club captain

Sergio Pellissier Sergio Pellissier (, ; born 12 April 1979) is an Italian former professional footballer who plays as a forward. He is currently working as general director of Rovigo and player, owner and chairman of Eccellenza amateurs FC Clivense, a club he f ...

when the score was still 0-0. In the end, Cruzado helped ChievoVerona defeat Inter 3–2. Cruzado made his

debut on 11 September 2011 at home in the Bentegodi stadium against

for the second round (the first round was suspended) of the 2011–12 Serie A season. He entered the match in the 66th minute replacing

Paolo Sammarco Paolo Sammarco (born 17 March 1983) is an Italian football coach and a former player who played as a midfielder. He is the caretaker head coach of Serie D club Ambrosiana. Club career Chievo A product of European giants A.C. Milan's youth syste ...

and eventually the match finished in a 2–2 draw. Cruzado made his

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

debut on 11 January 2012 in the

Round of 16 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

away to

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a fo ...

International career

Rinaldo made his debut for the Peru national team on 27 August 2003 in a friendly match against

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

. His most recent appearance with Peru was in the

2011 Copa América The 2011 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, better known as the 2011 Copa América or the Copa América 2011 Argentina, was the 43rd edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South Americ ...

. Cruzado scored his first goal for Peru on 2 September 2011 in a friendly match against

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

which was played in

. He scored his goal in the 36th minute by shooting a powerful left-footed shot into the top right corner from about 25 yards away.

Career statistics

Club stats

International goals

Honours

Club

;Alianza Lima *

(3):

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

;Esteghlal *

Iran Pro League The Persian Gulf Pro League ( fa, لیگ برتر خلیج فارس, ''Lig-e Bartar-e Xalij-e Fârs''), formerly known as the Iran Pro League ( fa, links=no, لیگ برتر ایران, ''Lig-e bartar-e Irân''), is the highest division of profe ...

(1): 2008–09 ;Newell's Old Boys * Primera División (1): 2013 Torneo Final

Country

;Peru *

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

- Bronze medal:

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cruzado, Rinaldo 1984 births Living people Footballers from Lima Peruvian men's footballers Peru men's international footballers Peruvian expatriate men's footballers Peruvian Primera División players Swiss Super League players Serie A players Uruguayan Primera División players Club Alianza Lima footballers Grasshopper Club Zürich players Sporting Cristal footballers Esteghlal F.C. players Juan Aurich footballers AC ChievoVerona players Club Nacional de Football players Newell's Old Boys footballers Club Deportivo Universidad César Vallejo footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Iran Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Uruguay Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina 2011 Copa América players Men's association football midfielders