Cristian Lema

Cristian Lema
Personal information
Full name	Cristian Franco Lema
Date of birth	24 March 1990 (age 34)
Place of birth	Puerto Madryn, Argentina
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Position(s)	Centre-back
Team information
Current team	Boca Juniors
Number	2
Youth career
1998–2009	Guillermo Brown
Senior career*
Years	Team
2007–2009	Guillermo Brown
2010–2012	Newell's Old Boys
2011–2012	→ Tigre (loan)
2012–2014	Quilmes
2014–2018	Belgrano
2018–2020	Benfica
2019	→ Peñarol (loan)
2019–2020	→ Newell's Old Boys (loan)
2020	Damac
2021–2022	Newell's Old Boys
2023–2024	Lanús
2024–	Boca Juniors
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 20:37, 6 May 2024 (UTC)

Cristian Franco Lema (born 24 March 1990) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Boca Juniors.

Club career

Born in Puerto Madryn, Lema started his football career aged 8 at hometown club Guillermo Brown. He debuted for their senior team in 2007 and left the club in 2009.^[2]

A year later, Lema joined Newell's Old Boys and made his Argentine Primera División debut in a 0–0 home draw to Godoy Cruz in November.^[2] After playing 12 matches with the former side, he moved on loan to Tigre in June 2011,^[2]^[3] and there he played 11 matches, scoring one goal.^[2] In July 2012, aged 22, he transferred to Quilmes,^[2]^[3] with whom he would play 40 matches and score 2 goals before moving to Belgrano in 2014.^[2] In his four-year spell with the latter, he became the club's defender with the most league goals ever, 16 in 123 matches. Moreover, he debuted in Copa Sudamericana in 2015.^[2]

In June 2018, Lema moved to Portugal and signed a five-year contract with S.L. Benfica.^[4] In February 2019, after playing only two matches for the Lisbon side in October, he was loaned to Uruguayan club Peñarol until June 2019, with option to buy.^[5] Afterwards, he was loaned out to Newell's Old Boys for 2019–20.^[6] He left Benfica on 1 October 2020 to join Saudi Arabian club Damac FC.^[7]

On 18 February 2021, Lema returned to Newell's Old Boys, and signed a contract until December 2021.^[8]

In November 2022, Lema joined fellow Primera División club Lanús ahead of the 2023 season.^[9]

On 8 January 2024, Lema moved to Boca Juniors for a reported fee of $500.000, signing a two-year contract.^[10]

Career statistics

As of match played 11 November 2023^[11]

**Appearances and goals by club, season and competition**
Club	Season	League			Cup		Continental		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Newell's Old Boys	2010–11	Argentine Primera División	12	0	—		—		12	0
Tigre (loan)	2011–12	Argentine Primera División	8	0	3	1	0	0	11	1
Quilmes	2012–13	Argentine Primera División	15	0	2	0	—		17	0
	2013–14	Argentine Primera División	23	2	0	0	—		23	2
	Total		38	2	2	0	—		40	2
Belgrano	2014	Argentine Primera División	18	0	—		—		18	0
	2015	Argentine Primera División	28	2	1	0	2^[a]	0	31	2
	2016	Argentine Primera División	14	3	5	0	4^[a]	0	23	3
	2016–17	Argentine Primera División	21	3	2	0	—		23	3
	2017–18	Argentine Primera División	25	8	0	0	—		25	8
	Total		106	16	8	0	6	0	120	16
Benfica	2018–19	Primeira Liga	1	0	0	0	1^[b]	0	2	0
Peñarol (loan)	2019	Uruguayan Primera División	13	2	—		7^[c]	1	20	3
Newell's Old Boys (loan)	2019–20	Argentine Primera División	22	5	0	0	—		22	5
Damac	2020–21	Saudi Pro League	11	0	0	0	—		11	0
Newell's Old Boys	2021	Argentine Primera División	28	1	1	0	4^[a]	0	33	1
	2022	Argentine Primera División	29	2	1	1	—		30	3
	Total		57	3	2	1	4	0	63	4
Lanús	2023	Argentine Primera División	37	1	2	1	—		39	2
Boca Juniors	2024	Argentine Primera División	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
Career total			305	29	17	3	18	1	340	33

^ ^a ^b ^c Appearances in Copa Sudamericana
^ Appearance in UEFA Champions League
^ Five appearances and one goal in Copa Libertadores, two appearances in Copa Sudamericana

Honours

Benfica

Primeira Liga: 2018–19^[12]

Individual

Argentine Primera División Team of the Season: 2023

References

^ "Cristian Lema" (in Spanish). Universitario de Deportes. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Rebelo, Marco (22 June 2018). "Perfil de Lema" [Lema profile]. S.L. Benfica (in Portuguese). Retrieved 23 June 2018.
^ ^a ^b Cristian Lema at Soccerway
^ Garcia, Filipa Fernandes (22 June 2018). "Welcome, Lema!". S.L. Benfica. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
^ "Oficial: Lema no Peñarol com opção de compra" [Official: Lema at Peñarol with option to buy]. A Bola (in Portuguese). 7 February 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
^ "Futebol: Lema emprestado" [Football: Lema loaned out]. S.L. Benfica (in Portuguese). 10 July 2019. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
^ Benfica formaliza saída de Lema
^ "Cristian Lema regresa al Parque - Noticias CANOB" [Cristian Lema returns to the Park]. Club Atlético Newell's Old Boys Official Website (in Spanish). February 18, 2021. Archived from the original on 2001-05-17. Retrieved 2021-02-18.
^ "Cristian Lema, el primer refuerzo para Lanús" [Cristian Lema, the first reinforcement for Lanús]. Olé (in Spanish). 18 November 2022. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
^ "¡Última hora! Boca anuncia la llegada de Cristian Lema" [Breaking news! Boca announced the arrival of Cristian Lema]. OneFootball (in Spanish). 8 January 2024. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
^ Cristian Lema at Soccerway
^ "São estes os campeões nacionais pelo Benfica em 2018/19" [These are the national champions for Benfica in 2018–19]. Record (in Portuguese). 18 May 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2019.