Lisandro López

Lisandro López, (born 2 March 1983 in Buenos Aires), commonly known simply as Lisandro, is an Argentine football player who currently plays for Olympique Lyonnais in Ligue 1. He primarily plays as a striker, but is also capable of playing on the wings. Lisandro is also an Argentine international having earned caps under former coaches José Pekerman and Alfio Basile and current coach Diego Maradona.

Club career

Racing Club
Lisandro started his career at Racing Club de Avellaneda, in the Argentine first division. He was the league's top scorer in the Apertura tournament of 2004. Lopez scored 26 goals in 70 appearances for Racing Club de Avellaneda.


Porto
López eventually made the switch to F.C. Porto for a transfer fee of €2.35 million, likes Lucho González, his agent Global Soccer Agencies retained 50% right.After a first season in which he netted 7 league goals in 26 appearances, he became a key player for Porto, scoring vital goals for the team, including the first goal in the UEFA Champions League against Rangers, and two goals in the home game against Hamburg in the competition's following season.
In 2007-08, as Porto were crowned league champions for the third consecutive time, López was the competition's top scorer, scoring 24 in 27 games (adding three in Champions League).
In mid of 2007-08 season, Porto rejected the offer from Zenit, thus activated the clause with Global Soccer Agencies, Porto bought the remain economic rights for €4.429M.
His eye for the goal is not solely restricted to the Liga Sagres as he finished fourth in the leading scorers table with six goals for the UEFA Champions League 2008-09 campaign, behind Barcelona winger Lionel Messi, Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard and Bayern Munich striker Miroslav Klose. Lopez scored 49 goals in 106 league appearances for F.C. Porto.


Lyon
After the sale of Karim Benzema, on 7 July 2009, López transferred to Lyon for a fee of €24 million, plus €4 million bonus subject to sporting performance. On 8 August 2009, Lisandro scored on his debut from a free-kick in the 90th minute away at Le Mans. The final score was 2-2. Lopéz also scored a penalty in a Champions League play-off round qualifier against Anderlecht. In the second leg away to Anderlecht, he netted a first half hat trick.
On 4 November 2009, López scored a decisive equaliser in a Champions League group game against Liverpool to ensure Lyon qualified for the knockout stage. Seven days later on 11 November 2009, Lisandro scored two goals in three minutes in a classic 5-5 draw with Ligue 1 rivals Olympique Marseille. Through his first 21 league games for Lyon Lisandro scored 11 goals, a average of more than one goal per every two games. On 30 March 2010, Lisandro "Licha" Lopez scored two goals, in the victory over French club FC Girondins de Bordeaux, at UEFA Champions League Quarter Finals, in Lyon. He was also named Ligue 1 Player Of The Year in his first season at the club.


International career

In 2005, Lisandro was called up to the Argentine national team by José Pekerman, made his debut against Mexico on 10 March 2005. The friendly ended in 1-1 draw. After fantastic Porto performances, he was summoned three years later by Alfio Basile, for friendly games against Egypt, Mexico, United States[9] and Belarus. On 12 August 2009, Lisandro scored a goal in Argentina's 3-2 victory over Russia at the Lokomotiv Stadium in Moscow. On 21 August 2009, he was called up by Diego Maradona for the decisive encounters against Brazil on 5 September and Paraguay on 9 September 2009 counting towards the 2010 World Cup qualification.


Club statistics

Club Season League Cup League Cup Europe Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Racing Club 2002–03 3 0 – – – 3 0
2003–04 30 8 – – – 30 8
2004-05 37 18 – – – 37 18
Total 70 26 – – – 70 26
FC Porto 2005–06 26 7 1 0 – 2 1 29 8
2006–07 25 8 0 0 – 8 3 33 11
2007–08 27 24 4 0 0 0 8 3 39 27
2008–09 28 10 4 1 0 0 10 6 42 17
Total 106 49 9 1 0 0 28 13 143 63
Lyon 2009–10 30 14 2 0 2 2 12 7 46 23
Total 30 14 2 0 2 2 12 7 46 23
Career total 199 87 11 1 2 2 37 18 249 108


International goals
Scores and results list Argentina's goal tally first.
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 12 August 2009 Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Russia Russia 2-1 3-2 Friendly

Honours

Club
Porto
Portuguese League (4): 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09
Portuguese Cup (2): 2005-06, 2008-09
Portuguese Supercup (1): 2006


Individual
Primera División Argentina 2004–05 Topscorer Apertura
Portuguese League: Topscorer 2007-08
Portuguese Liga Player of the Year: 2007-08
Ligue 1: Player of the Year 2009-10
Source:wikipedia