Ángel Labruna

Ángel Labruna
Ángel Labruna
Personnel
Surname	Ángel Amadeo Labruna
birthday	September 28, 1918
place of birth	Buenos Aires ,  Argentina
date of death	20th September 1983
Place of death	Buenos Aires, Argentina
position	striker
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1939-1959	River Plate	515 (293)
1960-1961	Rampla Juniors	16 00(3)
1961	CA Platense	2 00(0)
1961	Rangers de Talca	5 00(0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1942-1958	Argentina	37 0(17)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
1968-1970	River Plate (assistant coach)
1971-1972	Rosario Central
1973	Racing Club
1974	CA Talleres
1975-1981	River Plate
1 Only league games are given.

Ángel Amadeo Labruna (born September 28, 1918 in Buenos Aires , † September 20, 1983 ibid.) Was an Argentine football professional and coach.

The center forward played for River Plate and was part of the legendary attacking formation " La Maquina " (The Machine). With 293 goals in the Argentine league, Labruna is together with Arsenio Erico the most successful goalscorer in the country.

Even today he is considered one of the best footballers in South America in Argentina .

Club career

La Maquina, the famous River Plate team: (from left) Juan C. Muñoz, José M. Moreno, Adolfo Pedernera, Angel Labruna , Félix Loustau

The 21-year-old Labruna completed his first league game in the Primera División for River Plate on June 18, 1939 and was to stay with the club for 20 years. River dominated Argentine football at this time, not least due to the legendary series of storms " La Maquina " ( The Machine ), which produced goals on the assembly line. In the attack line around Juan Carlos Muñoz , José Manuel Moreno , Adolfo Pedernera and Félix Loustau, Labruna occupied the position of the left half-forward and scored goals like on the assembly line. He was the top scorer twice and won nine league titles with River. It was not until 1959 that the 40-year-old goalgetter said goodbye to River as one of the club's greatest legends after 293 goals in 515 games. Another record is his 16 goals in the Superclásico against arch rivals Boca Juniors .

Labruna then had brief guest appearances in Chile for the Rangers Talca , in Uruguay for the Rampla Juniors and CA Platense , before finally ending his active career at the age of 43.

National player

The exceptional striker was soon an Argentine international , but World War II deprived him of the best years of his career, as there were no world championships at that time. To make matters worse, Argentina refrained from participating in the World Cup in 1950 and 1954.

In 1955 Labruna won the Copa América with the " Albiceleste " and finally drove to his first world championship in Sweden in 1958 at the age of 39 . In the preliminary round, the oldie completed two games, but could not prevent Argentina from being eliminated early. After the tournament he announced his retirement from the national team after 37 international matches (17 goals).

successes

• Argentine champion : 1941, 1942, 1945, 1947, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1957
• Argentine top scorer: 1943 (23 goals), 1945 (25 goals)
• Copa America : 1955

Career as a coach

Following his playing career, Labruna switched to coaching and became an assistant coach at River Plate. As head coach, he looked after Rosario Central (champion 1971), Talleres de Córdoba and Racing Club . In 1975 he returned to River Plate and celebrated as a coach similar successes with the club as he had already done as an active. With national players like Daniel Passarella , Ubaldo Fillol , Leopoldo Luque and Norberto Alonso , the team won six championships.

End of life

Angel Labruna died in 1983 and was buried in La Chacarita Cemetery in Buenos Aires.

In honor of one of the club's greatest idols, River Plate fans celebrate the " International Day of River Plate Fans " every year on September 28th (the anniversary of Labruna's death) .