Leandro Benítez (born 5 April 1981) is a retired

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

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 lea ...

who usually played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

on the left side of the pitch.

Career

A native of

Ensenada Ensenada ("inlet") is a city in Ensenada Municipality, Baja California, situated on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Located on Bahía de Todos Santos, the city had a population of 279,765 in 2018, making it the third-largest city in Baja Californ ...

, Benítez grew in the youth system of

Estudiantes de La Plata ( lit. "La Plata Students"), simply referred to as Estudiantes de La Plata, is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Plata. The club's football team currently competes in the Primera División, where it has spent most of its histo ...

, and in 2001 was loaned to

Quilmes Quilmes () is a city on the coast of the Rio de la Plata, in the , on the southeast end of the Greater Buenos Aires, being some away from the urban centre area of Buenos Aires. The city was founded in 1666 and is the seat of the eponymous '' ...

where he played two years, and then to Olimpo where he stayed another two years. Back in Estudiantes since 2005, Benítez was part of the 2006 ''Apertura'' championship team. In 2008, he was runner up with the team in the

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, also known as Copa Sudamericana (; ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL, the governing body of football in South America, since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club com ...

. Subsequently, he was a starter and key contributor on the team that won the

2009 Copa Libertadores The 2009 Copa Libertadores de América (officially the 2009 Copa Santander Libertadores de América for sponsorship reasons) was the 50th edition of the Copa Libertadores de América, CONMEBOL's premier annual international club tournament. The ...

. The midfielder played in 14 games, and scored 1 goal (against

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

in the semifinal) during the tournament. In the

2009 FIFA Club World Cup The 2009 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2009 presented by Toyota for sponsorship reasons) was a football tournament played from 9 to 19 December 2009. It was the sixth FIFA Club World Cup and was played in Ab ...

, Benítez scored twice in the semi-final against

Pohang Steelers The Pohang Steelers (Hangul: 포항 스틸러스) are a South Korean professional Association football, football club based in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province that compete in the K League 1, the top flight of Football in South Korea, South Ko ...

in a 2–1 win.

Coaching career

After retiring, Benítez became the manager of Estudiantes's reserve team. On 14 June 2017, Benítez was appointed as caretaker manager of Estudiantes until the end of the season following the departure of

Nelson Vivas Nelson David Vivas (born 18 October 1969) is an Argentine former professional association football, footballer and manager who played as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, right-back. Vivas played for clubs Quilmes Atlético Club, Quil ...

. On 20 September 2017, he was once again appointed as the caretaker manager of the club, this time following the departure of

Gustavo Matosas Gustavo Cristian Matosas Paidón (born 25 May 1967) is an Argentine-born Uruguayan former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Playing career Club The son of former footballer Roberto Matosas, Gustavo was born in Buenos Aires, ...

. He was in charge for one game, before a new manager was appointed nine days later. On 7 May 2018, he was again appointed as caretaker manager for the rest of the season after Lucas Bernardi resigned. At the end of the season, he was appointed as the permanent manager of the club. On 24 February 2019, Benítez decided to resign after a period with poor results.ESTUDIANTES SE QUEDÓ SIN DT: RENUNCIÓ LEANDRO BENÍTEZ
infocielo.com, 24 February 2019

Honours

;Estudiantes *

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; ), known officially as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Betano for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Argentina and the highest level of the Argentine football league system. Organ ...

(2): 2006 Apertura, 2010 Apertura *

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

(1):

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

References

External links

* at Fútbol XXI * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Benitez, Leandro 1981 births Living people Footballers from Buenos Aires Province Argentine men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Estudiantes de La Plata footballers Copa Libertadores–winning players Quilmes Atlético Club footballers Club Olimpo footballers Boca Unidos footballers Argentine Primera División players Estudiantes de La Plata managers Argentine football managers 21st-century Argentine sportsmen