San Lorenzo

Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro is one of the most successful Argentinian football clubs and one of the Big Five, the grandes. They are also recognizable for being the favorite team of Pope Francis who is born in Buenos Aires, the city in which the club resides. Since 1993, they play their home games at the Estadio Pedro Bidegain, usually referred to as El Nuevo Gasómetro.

History

San Lorenzo was founded in 1908 after a meeting in Almagro, a barrio of Buenos Aires. The name was decided after a priest, Father Lorenzo Bartolomé Martin Massa, had offered some young players to use the churchyard as a safer field than the streets.

The Cyclone (El Ciclón)

After the first league title (Copa de Honor) in 1936, it took the club ten years to win the next. After a long period of dominance from River Plate and Boca Juniors, San Lorenzo could claim the title in 1946. A big reason for the triumph was Terceto de Oro, the Golden Trio of Armando Farro, René Pontoni and Rinaldo Martino.

But it was more glory to come. The team would tour Spain and Portugal that winter and would be praised by the Spanish press for their brilliant short-pass style. It was during this time the club earned its nickname El Ciclón (The Cyclone), from the fact the team played some of their games on the Iberian Peninsula tour in dire weather conditions.

San Lorenzo wouldn’t win any more titles in the 1940s and the fans have to wait until 1959 before another Primera División could be brought home. One of the reasons that happened were 31 goals from José Sanfilippo. Sanfilippo would be the all-time record scorer of the club after three spells in the club (1953–1963, 1966–1967 and 1972); during the first period he was the Primera División top scorer four times.

The undefeated team

Nine years later, in 1968, San Lorenzo won another Argentine league title and it was a special one. The side went through the competition of Campeonato Metropolitano playing 22 matches, winning 14, drawing 8 and losing zero, and as a result they were 12 points ahead of the Estudiantes on the second place.

Losing their home ground

Since almost the beginning of its existence, San Lorenzo had been playing at Estadio Gasómetro, but that would come to a stop in 1979. The power of Argentina had been taken over by the military junta in 1976 and in 1979 the Buenos Aires mayor and also a brigadier at the air force, Osvaldo Cacciatore decided that the land occupied by football stadiums in the city in some cases were better used for other purposes. San Lorenzo was pressured to sell the stadium and the government would sell the land for a much higher price to a supermarket group.

San Lorenzo lacked the funds to build a new stadium and for years they would play their games on various stadiums they was able to rent. Finally, in 1993, they could find a stable home at Estadio Pedro Bidegain.

The heritage was nevertheless broken and the fans of the club showed a strong will to return to the old neighborhood. This was marked by a demonstration in 2012, attended by over 100,000 people and the city of Buenos Aires have shown signs of agreeing to compensate the club for the lost ground. The Supermarket group Carrefour are still the owner, but may be forced to sell the land back to the San Lorenzo football club.

First relegation

As one of the consequences from the forced abandon of the historic stadium led to relegation in 1981. It was the first time it happened the club and also the first time any of the grandes were relegated.

Copa Libertadores

In 2014, San Lorenzo won the Copa Libertadores for the first time, defeating Paraguayan Nacional Asuncion in the two-legged final. Later that year they played the Club World Cup final against Real Madrid in Marrakesh, but lost to the Spanish team.

By Georgios Moralis

References:
Jonathan Wilson, Angels with Dirty Faces (2016)
Golazo!: The Beautiful Game from the Aztecs to the World Cup: The Complete History of How Soccer Shaped (2014) by Andreas Campomar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Lorenzo_de_Almagro
http://www.stadiumguide.com/san-lorenzos-dream-return-to-boedo-is-coming-closer/