Cristian Ezequiel Llama (born June 26, 1986) 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 ...

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 ...

midfielder who plays for Italian

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

club

Akragas Agrigento (; or ) is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento. Founded around 582 BC by Greek colonisation, Greek colonists from Gela, Agrigento, then known as Akragas, was one of the leading citie ...

Club career

Arsenal de Sarandí

Llama began his professional career in his home country of

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

in 2004, with

Arsenal de Sarandí Arsenal Fútbol Club (), usually referred as Arsenal de Sarandí , or simply Arsenal, is an Argentine sports club from the Sarandí district of Avellaneda Partido, Greater Buenos Aires. The football team currently plays in Primera Nacional, t ...

. In his first season with the club, Llama made 16 appearances and scored 2 goals. In his second season, he went on to make an additional 19 appearances. However, the player really thrived in his third season, where he made 23 league starts and managed 4 goals. His impressive displays caught the eyes of numerous

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an clubs, most notably from

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

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 ...

, and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Calcio Catania

On 30 June 2012, the young Argentine completed his

an transfer, joining Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

side

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

. The player found playing time hard to come by in his first season at the club due to the presence of wingers

Juan Manuel Vargas Juan Manuel Vargas Risco (; born 5 October 1983) is a Peruvian former footballer who played as a left back or winger. Vargas' previous clubs include Universitario, Colón, Catania, Genoa and Fiorentina. He played for Peru at international l ...

, Jorge Andres Martinez, Mariano Izco, and

Giacomo Tedesco Giacomo Tedesco (born February 1, 1976) is an Italian former football midfielder and football manager. Club career Born in Palermo, Tedesco started his professional career with his hometown club U.S. Città di Palermo in 1994. He remained in the ...

. After four months in

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

, the player made just one appearance and was, therefore, loaned out to

Newell's Old Boys Club Atlético Newell's Old Boys () is an Argentine sports club based in Rosario, Santa Fe. The club was founded on 3 November 1903, and is named after Isaac Newell of the English county of Kent, one of the pioneers of Argentine football. A ...

, for the second half of the 2007–08 season, in time for the Argentine Clausura. However, the loan move was unsuccessful, and Llama was limited to just three appearances due to injury. After six months in

he was brought back to Catania under new coach

Walter Zenga Walter Zenga (; born 28 April 1960) is an Italian professional football manager and former player, currently club manager at Serie C club Siracusa. He is regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation, and one of Italy's best ...

. In his first full season in Sicily, Llama was regularly featured in Zenga's plans and made 19 appearances in all competitions. He was also a regular during the 2009–10 season, under coach

Gianluca Atzori Gianluca Atzori (born 6 March 1971) is an Italian football in Italy, football manager and former player, currently in charge of Serie D club Scafatese Calcio 1922, Scafatese. Career Playing Atzori started his professional playing career with R ...

and later,

Siniša Mihajlović Siniša Mihajlović ( sr-Cyrl, Синиша Михајловић, ; 20 February 1969 – 16 December 2022) was a Serbian football manager and professional footballer who played as a defender. Mihajlović had an illustrious playing career, winni ...

, on the left wing, until a major injury struck in March 2010. Before the injury, Llama had made 23 league starts scoring two goals and was the "in-form" player following Mihajlovic's appointment as head coach on 8 December 2009. His return was not complete until December 2010. Llama made just 30 league appearances for the ''Elefante'' over the next two seasons. On 31 August 2012, Llama was sent out on a season-long loan deal to fellow

outfit,

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

, where he rejoined former Catania coach,

Vincenzo Montella Vincenzo Montella (; born 18 June 1974) is an Italian association football, football manager and former striker (association football), striker. He is the current head coach of the Turkey national football team. Montella's nickname during his p ...

. However, after just five league appearances, the player returned to Sicily on 30 June 2013. After five years playing back home in Argentina, he returned to Catania on 20 July 2018. He was released from his Catania contract by mutual consent on 20 December 2019.

Return to Argentina

In December 2019, Llama signed with Gimnasia Mendoza and returned to the club on 1 January 2020. In January 2022, Llama moved to

Ecuadorian Serie A The Liga Pro Ecuador Serie A, simply known as the Liga Pro or the Serie A (or the Ecuadorian Serie A to distinguish it from the Italian Serie A and the Brazilian Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, Série A), or as Liga Pro Ecuabet for sponsorship re ...

side Mushuc Runa. Llama returned to his homeland in June 2022, as he signed with

San Martín de Tucumán Club Atlético San Martín (mostly known as San Martín de Tucumán) is an Argentine sports club founded in 1909 and based in the city of San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán Province. The club is notable for its football team, which currently plays ...

Second return to Sicily

On 3 July 2023, Llama agreed to return to Sicily, joining newly promoted

club

References

External links

*
Cristian Llama at Football Lineups
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Llama, Cristian 1986 births Living people Footballers from Lomas de Zamora Argentine men's footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentine sportspeople of Spanish descent Men's association football midfielders Argentine Primera División players Serie A players Serie C players Liga MX players Torneo Federal A players Primera Nacional players Ecuadorian Serie A players Arsenal de Sarandí footballers Newell's Old Boys footballers Catania FC players ACF Fiorentina players C.D. Veracruz footballers Club Atlético Colón footballers Club Atlético Aldosivi footballers Gimnasia y Esgrima de Mendoza footballers Mushuc Runa S.C. footballers San Martín de Tucumán footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Ecuador Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Ecuador 21st-century Argentine sportsmen