Cristian Daniel Ledesma

Cristian Ledesma

Personal information
Full name	Cristian Daniel Ledesma
Date of birth	September 24, 1982 (1982-09-24)
Place of birth	Moron, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position	Central Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Lazio
Number	24
Youth career
1997–2001	Boca Juniors
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2001–2006	Lecce	126	(4)
2006–	Lazio	169	(9)
National team
2010–	Italy	1	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Cristian Daniel Ledesma (born 24 September 1982 in Morón, Buenos Aires) is a footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Lazio. A dual citizen of Argentina and Italy, he represents the latter at international level since November 2010.

Ledesma is a deep lying central midfielder with a powerful shot with either foot, and occasionally scores goals from long range.

Career

Born in Morón, Buenos Aires, Ledesma grew up in Puerto Madryn, in the province of Chubut, Argentina. He later returned to the capital, joining the youth system of top Argentine club Boca Juniors.

Lecce

In 2001, Ledesma was noticed by Italian club Lecce, whose sporting director Pantaleo Corvino decided to bring him to Salento. At Lecce, he immediately became a regular. Despite being young, he was captain until November 2005.

Lazio

In July 2006, Roman club Lazio signed Ledesma, after Lecce were relegated to Serie B. With Lazio, Ledesma signed a contract worth 450,000 euro per season until 2011.

Ledesma's first year in the capital, the 2006–07 season, saw him establish himself as a key player despite a difficult start. His first moment of magic came in the December 2006 Derby della Capitale against historical rivals AS Roma, when he scored a strike from 25 metres out. He continued this good form until the end of the season, by which time Lazio had qualified for the UEFA Champions League. He successively served as vice-captain, and was a protagonist in Lazio's winning Coppa Italia 2008–09 campaign.

In July 2009, with his contract set to expire on June 2010, Ledesma was excluded from the first team due to disagreements with club chairman Claudio Lotito and did not play any competitive games during the whole first half of the 2009–10 season. This led the player to formally ask the Lega Calcio arbitration committee for a contract termination due to violation of its terms, only a few weeks after teammate Goran Pandev had taken the same exact action. This was however turned down on January 26, 2010 on the grounds that Ledesma was occasionally involved in first-team activities. After being linked with a move to Inter, he ultimately stayed at Lazio and, immediately after the replacement of head coach Davide Ballardini with veteran manager Edoardo Reja, he made his 2009–10 season debut on February 14, being featured in the starting lineup in a 2–0 win at Parma. Since his return on the pitch, Ledesma immediately established himself back into being a key player for the biancazzurri.

On August 23, Ledesma signed a new contract with Lazio, tying him to the club for another five years (until 2015). In his 2010–11 campaign, he was one of the protagonists of Lazio's surprising start that led the Rome club to even top the Serie A table for a few weeks between October and November.

International career

Argentine-born Ledesma acquired Italian citizenship in 2008 through marriage to an Italian woman he met during his spell at Lecce; this made him eligible at international level for both Argentina and the Azzurri, as he had never been capped with the Selección before.

On 14 November 2010 Ledesma accepted a call-up by Italy manager Cesare Prandelli for a friendly match against Romania, thus becoming the third oriundo to become part of the Azzurri senior squad in the last ten years, the other two being Mauro Camoranesi and Amauri.

Statistics

Season	Club	League			National cups			Continental cups			Total
		Comp	Apps	Goals	Comp	Apps	Goals	Comp	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Sep 2001	Lecce	A	1	0	CI	1	0	–	–	–	2	0
2002–03		B	29	1	CI	1	0	–	–	–	30	1
2003–04		A	30	1	CI	1	0	–	–	–	31	1
2004–05		A	33	0	CI	4	2	–	–	–	37	2
2005–06		A	33	2	CI	1	0	–	–	–	34	2
Total Lecce			126	4		8	2				134	6
2006–07	Lazio	A	33	2	CI	3	0	–	–	–	36	2
2007–08		A	32	3	CI	4	0	CL	7	0	43	3
2008–09		A	34	2	CI	7	1	–	–	–	41	3
2009–10		A	13	0	CI	0	0	–	–	–	13	0
2010–11		A	34	1	CI	1	0	-	-	-	35	1
2011–12		A	23	1	CI	2	0	EL	6	0	31	1
Total Lazio			169	9		18	1		13	0	200	10
Total Serie A			295	13		26	3		13	0	334	16

Honours

Lazio

• Coppa Italia: 1 (2008–09)

External links

• Official Lazio Club Profile
• Statistics at Guardian Stats Centre