Léo Baptistão

Leonardo Carrilho Baptistão, short Léo Baptistão ( born August 26, 1992, Santos, São Paulo) is a Brazilian footballer who plays in the Spanish Primera División plays for Atlético Madrid. He also holds a Spanish passport and Italian.

Career

The career of Léo Baptistão began in his hometown of Santos, where he began - with Neymar - at the AA Portuguesa Santista to play football. At the age of 16, he went to Spain, where he played from then on in the youth department of the capital club Rayo Vallecano. Shortly thereafter, he contracted hepatitis and returned to his home, because his father is a doctor. Back in Spain, he was loaned to CD San ​​Fernando de Henares, as the Spanish Football Federation ( RFEF ) forbade him an immediate return to Rayo. In San Fernando, a municipality in the metropolitan area of Madrid, he remained one season and then allowed to return to Rayo again.

On August 25, 2012, he made ​​his debut in La Liga in a 2-1 away win against Real Betis and was there even in the starting lineup. In the 4-2 -3-1 - system of coach Paco Jémez he was placed in the sequence and acted as either " tens" as an attacking midfielder or as a center forward. In the course of the season, he scored a total of seven hits and struck it against Espanyol even once twice. In final standings he finished with Rayo eighth place and would therefore have reached the international competition, the UEFA Europa League due to the exclusion of Málaga CF, but Rayo was denied a license for this competition.

In the summer of 2013 Baptistão changed hands for an undisclosed transfer fee within the capital of Rayo Vallecano to Atlético Madrid and signed there a contract for five years. There he is behind David Villa and Diego Costa third striker and usually comes off the bench. In his first Champions League match against Zenit St Petersburg succeeded him after his Einwechselung, with his first goal for Atletico, the 3-1 final score.

In January 2014 Baptistão moved to the end of the season on loan to Real Betis.