Leonardo "Léo" Cittadini (born 27 February 1994) is a Brazilian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays for Série A club

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

Club career

Guarani

Born in Rio Claro,

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, Cittadini started his career at Guarani, and was promoted to first team in 2010, under the management of

Vágner Mancini Vagner do Carmo Mancini (born 24 October 1966) is a Brazilian professional football coach and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the current head coach of Goiás. Playing career Born in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Mancini started ...

. He made his first team debut on 30 March 2011, against Horizonte, in that season's

Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil () is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and it is the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de Portugal, ...

. He was handed a starting spot on 1 May, against São José, providing an assist for Léo Paraíba's goal. However, in December, Cittadini had altercations with his club, claiming late payment of wages. In March 2012, half of the player's rights was sold to an agent, due to problems in the negotiation of a contract renewal.

Santos

On 7 July 2012, he signed a two-year contract with Santos, being assigned to youth team. There, he won the 2012 Campeonato Paulista U-20, beating

in the finals, and also won the 2013

Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior The Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior (or ''São Paulo Youth Football Cup'', in English), also known as Copa São Paulo de Juniores (''São Paulo Youth Cup'') and Copinha (''Little Cup''), is a cup competition played by Brazilian under-20 assoc ...

. On 3 June 2013, he was promoted to Santos' first team alongside Walace. He made his debut on the 12th, replacing Pedro Castro in the 70th minute of a 1-0 home win against

Atlético Mineiro Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

. On 24 July 2013, Cittadini scored his first professional goal, the last of a 2–0 away win against CRAC in the

2013 Copa do Brasil The 2013 Copa do Brasil (officially the 2013 Copa Perdigão do Brasil for sponsorship reasons) was the 25th edition of the Copa do Brasil. It began on February 27 and ended on November 27. The competition was contested by 87 teams, either qualifi ...

Ponte Preta (loan)

In April 2014 Cittadini joined Guarani's fierce rivals Ponte Preta on loan until the end of the season. He made his debut for the club on the 19th, playing the entire second half in a 1–1 home draw against

Icasa The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) is an independent regulatory body of the South African government, established in 2000 by the ICASA Act to regulate both the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors in the publ ...

. On 7 October Cittadini's loan was cancelled, and he subsequently returned to Santos.

Return from loan

After his return from loan, Cittadini was not utilized by managers

Enderson Moreira Enderson Alves Moreira (born 28 September 1971) is a Brazilian football coach, currently the head coach of América Mineiro. Managerial career Born in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Moreira had a Physical Education graduation before joining Amér ...

and

Marcelo Fernandes Marcelo Faria Fernandes (; born 20 April 1974) is a Brazilian football coach and former player who played as a central defender. He is the current head coach of Guarani. Playing career Born in Santos, São Paulo Santos (, ''Saints''), of ...

. After the arrival of

Dorival Júnior Dorival Silvestre Júnior (; born 25 April 1962) is a Brazilian professional football coach and former player. He is the current head coach of Corinthians. A defensive midfielder, Júnior notably played for Palmeiras. After retiring, he began ...

he returned to action, being converted to a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

in the 2016 season; he also rejected a loan move to

Chievo Chievo (4,500 inhabitants) is a frazione of Verona located to the west of the city, around from the historic city centre, on the shores of the river Adige. It is best known for its football team, A.C. ChievoVerona. History The name came from t ...

in the process. On 10 April 2016 Cittadini scored his first goal after his return, netting his team's first in a 2–1

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Run by the São Paulo State Football Federation (FPF), ...

home win against Audax. He was mainly used as a replacement to Lucas Lima afterwards, becoming a starter during the latter's participation in

Copa América Centenario The Copa América Centenario (, , ; literally ''Centennial America Cup'') was an international men's soccer tournament that was hosted by the United States in 2016. The competition was a celebration of the centennial of CONMEBOL and the Copa Am� ...

. On 6 November, after nearly two months without playing a single minute, he came off the bench to provide two assists in Santos' 2–1 away win against former club Ponte Preta; he ended up crying after the match was over. Cittadini made his

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

debut on 18 May 2017, coming on as a late substitute for

Vitor Bueno Vitor Frezarin Bueno (born 5 September 1994) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Cerezo Osaka. Career Botafogo-SP Born in Monte Alto, São Paulo, Bueno started his career at Monte Azul's youth setup ...

in a 1–1 away draw against

The Strongest Club The Strongest is a Bolivian professional football club based in La Paz, that currently plays in the Bolivian Primera División. Founded in 1908, their team colours are yellow and black. Although they have a home ground, Estadio Rafael Me ...

. During the 2018 campaign, under new manager Jair Ventura, he overtook veterans Emiliano Vecchio and

Renato Renato is a masculine given name. It is derived from the Latin name Renatus. Notable people with the name used mononymously include: * Renato Mirze (born 1982), International brand chef, TV presenter * San Renato, a saint of the Catholic Church ...

and became a regular starter for the side. Despite Vecchio left the club, he lost the starting spot to Diego Pituca and new signing Carlos Sánchez, being completely ostracized by new manager Cuca after refusing a contract renewal.

Athletico Paranaense

On 7 December 2018, Cittadini signed a three-year contract with

Athletico Paranaense Club Athletico Paranaense (abbreviated CAP, commonly known as Athletico Paranaense and up to 2019 known as Atlético Paranaense) is a Brazilian football team from the city of Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná, founded o ...

, effective as of the following 1 January. Under manager Tiago Nunes, he became an important unit in the club's midfield, scoring a career-best six goals in the season.

Bahia

On 28 July 2023, Cittadini signed for

on a two-year contract with the option of a further year.

Shanghai Port (loan)

On 27 February 2024, Cittadini joined

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

club

Shanghai Port The Port of Shanghai ( zh, c=上海港, p=''Shànghǎi Gǎng'' ; Wu; ''Zånhae Kån'') is located in the vicinity of Shanghai, comprises a deep-sea port and a river port. The main port enterprise in Shanghai, the Shanghai International Por ...

on loan.

Career statistics

Honours

;Santos *

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

;Athletico Paranaense *

Campeonato Paranaense The Campeonato Paranaense is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Paraná. It is run by the Paraná Football Federation (FPF). List of champions Notes * In 1924 Internacional and América merged in ...

: 2019,

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

* J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, also known as Copa Sudamericana (; ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL, the governing body of football in South America, since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club com ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

References

External links

Santos official profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cittadini, Leo 1994 births Living people Footballers from Rio Claro, São Paulo Brazilian people of Italian descent Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Chinese Super League players Guarani FC players Santos FC players Associação Atlética Ponte Preta players Club Athletico Paranaense players Esporte Clube Bahia players Shanghai Port F.C. players Copa Sudamericana–winning players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in China Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in China 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen