Matías Emanuel Lequi (born 13 May 1981) is an

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 ...

professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

and former player who played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Club career

Born in

Rosario, Santa Fe Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city, located northwest of Buenos Aires on the west bank of the Paraná River, is the third-most populous city in the ...

, Lequi started his career with hometown side

Rosario Central Club Atlético Rosario Central (), more commonly referred to as Rosario Central, or simply Central, is a sports club based in Rosario, Argentina, that plays in the Argentine Primera División. The club was officially founded on 24 December 1889, ...

, then signed for

Club Atlético River Plate Club Atlético River Plate is an Argentine professional sports club based in the Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Belgrano neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Founded in 1901, the club is named after the English name for the city's estuary, Río de la Plata. ...

where he won two consecutive

Clausura The ' () and ' () tournaments is a split season format for Spanish-speaking sports leagues. It is a relatively recent innovation for many Latin American football leagues in which the traditional association football season from August to May is ...

titles. In 2003 he moved abroad, joining

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

, making his

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

debut on 31 August in a 0–1 away loss against

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, that competes in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. The club was formed on 25 January ...

and only missing four matches during the season as the ''Colchoneros'' eventually finished seventh and

qualified Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

for the

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

. Subsequently, Lequi signed with Italy's

S.S. Lazio (; ; ''Lazio Sport Club'') is an Italian professional sports club based in Rome, most known for its football activity. The society, founded in 1900, plays in the Serie A and have spent most of their history in the top tier of Italian footba ...

, going pretty much unnoticed during his one season-spell. For 2005–06 he returned to

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, being loaned to

RC Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), the club was fou ...

; as the

Galicians Galicians ( or ''pobo galego''; ) are an ethnic group primarily residing in Galicia, northwest Iberian Peninsula. Historical emigration resulted in populations in other parts of Spain, Europe, and the Americas. Galicians possess distinct cu ...

finished in sixth position and

reached ''Reached'' is a 2012 young adult dystopian novel by Allyson Braithwaite Condie and is the final novel in the ''Matched Trilogy,'' preceded by '' Matched'' and '' Crossed''. The novel was published on November 13, 2012, by Dutton Juvenile and ...

the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

straight from

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

, he was heavily featured, scoring against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

(2–1 home defeat) and former team Atlético (opening a 3–0 away win). After extensive negotiations, the deal with Celta was made permanent in late May 2006, for four years. Lequi suffered relegation in the first season after his purchase and, with the club already in the second level, was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

a total of four times in the league as they languished in 16th position; he was released in August 2008. Lequi spent the following months training on his own. In the 2009 summer transfer window, he moved to

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

side Iraklis Thessaloniki FC. On 19 January 2011, the free agent returned to Spain and signed a five-month with

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas S.A.D. is a professional association football, football club based in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. The club will compete in Segunda División, the 2nd division in the Spanish football league syst ...

of the second tier.

Honours

River Plate *

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 ...

2002, 2003

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lequi, Matias 1981 births Living people Footballers from Rosario, Santa Fe Argentine men's footballers Men's association football defenders Argentine Primera División players Primera Nacional players Rosario Central footballers Club Atlético River Plate footballers All Boys footballers Club Atlético Aldosivi footballers Club Atlético Sarmiento footballers La Liga players Segunda División players Atlético Madrid footballers RC Celta de Vigo players UD Las Palmas players Serie A players SS Lazio players Super League Greece players Iraklis F.C. (Thessaloniki) players Paraguayan Primera División players Sportivo Luqueño players Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Paraguay Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Greece Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Paraguay Argentine football managers Argentine Primera División managers Rosario Central managers 21st-century Argentine sportsmen