Luis Amaranto Perea

Luis Amaranto Perea Mosquera (Turbo, January 30, 1979) is a Colombian former soccer player and coach who has become a Spanish national. He coached the Cadete C of the lower divisions of Atlético de Madrid and also the Itagüí Leones of Colombia. He played as a central defender, his retirement occurred in 2015. He was the foreign player who played the most games with the Atlético de Madrid shirt until which was surpassed by Diego Godín. Throughout the eight years he spent at the red and white club he played 314 games, became the team's second captain and would win two Europa Leagues in 2010 and 2012 and a European Super Cup in 2010. Together with Pablo Ibáñez, he formed a couple of power plants remembered in its time.

Before arriving at Atlético de Madrid he played for Deportivo Independiente Medellín with which he won a Finalización Tournament in 2002 and for Boca Juniors where he also won the Intercontinental Cup in 2003. His last years at a high level were spent at Cruz Azul where they won the Concacaf Champions League in 2014.

He was international with the Colombian soccer team, where he also became captain in several games, and played in the Copa América in 2007 and 2011.

Career as a player

Beginnings

His beginnings in the world of ball were tough as he was forced to combine football with other professional activities to get ahead. In the Colombian League he began his career at Independiente Medellín, where he played three years and was champion in the 2002 Finalización Tournament.

Boca Juniors

In the 2003-04 season he went to play for Boca Juniors in the First Division of Argentina. With this team he won the 2003 Apertura Tournament of the Argentine League and the Intercontinental Cup.

During that same season he played a friendly match at the Vicente Calderón Stadium that made the Atlético de Madrid coaches notice him. At the end of the season the two clubs reached an agreement and Perea signed for the Madrid club.

Atletico Madrid

On August 28, 2004 he debuted with Atlético de Madrid in the Spanish First Division in the two-zero victory against Málaga. From the day of his debut until his departure in 2012, Perea spent eight seasons at the club wearing the red and white shirt on more than three hundred occasions.

During the summer of 2007, Atlético de Madrid played one of the eleven two-legged finals of the Intertoto Cup, a competition to which it had qualified the previous season by finishing in seventh position in the League. Perea played in the final and won his first European title. During that same summer he became a Spanish citizen, ceasing to occupy a position as a foreigner.

Almost three more years had to pass for Perea to lift another title. On May 12, 2010, Perea played in the final of the Europa League, a competition to which the club had entered after its elimination from the Champions League, winning by 2 goals to 1 against Fulham. A few months later, at the beginning of the following season, he won again and started in another final. Atlético de Madrid became champion of the European Super Cup by beating Inter Milan, champion of the Champions League, in the final by two goals to zero.

In the last season he spent in the red and white club, Perea was elected second captain, behind Antonio López. In addition, on September 25, 2011, in the match corresponding to the sixth day of the League, Perea equaled the 288 games played by Jorge Griffa and later increased this figure to 314 games, becoming the foreigner who has played the most games in the history of Atlético de Madrid. On May 5, 2012, in the last game of the season at the Estadio Vicente Calderón received, like Antonio López, the gold and diamond insignia from the club and a shirt with the number of games played with the team since his contract ended on June 30 of that year and there was not going to be its renewal. During the match against Málaga, when Adrián scored two to one that turned the score around, he ran to the sideline to dedicate the goal to them, showing both of their shirts.

Before leaving the club Perea had time to win a second Europa League. On May 5, 2012, the final was played in which his club beat Athletic Club three to zero, although Perea was not included in the squad for the match.

Blue Cross

On June 14, 2012, his signing for Cruz Azul was announced. The debut with his new club took place on July 21 in a goalless draw against Morelia corresponding to the Apertura Tournament. With the Mexican club he scored his first goal as a professional: on January 4, 2013 he scored a 2-2 draw against Morelia in a match that ended in a 3-3 tie.

On April 4, 2013 he made his debut in the Mexico Cup in a 1-1 draw against América, qualifying for the final. In said final that was played on April 11, 2013, Perea was a starter and played the entire match to help achieve the 0-0 draw that in the end, and thanks to the penalty shootout, he made Cruz Azul rise as champion of the tournament..

In his last season he played his first game in the Concacaf Champions League on September 25, 2013. Perea started in the three-zero victory against Valencia of Haiti. In this competition, Cruz Azul qualified to play the final against the Mexican team Toluca. The first leg ended with a 0-0 draw and the second leg with a 1-1 draw. In this way, Cruz Azul was proclaimed champion thanks to the double value of the goals scored away from home. Perea only played the last twenty minutes of the second leg.

These minutes were the last of his career. An injury kept him away from football for the entire 2014-15 season and although he tried to recover at the facilities of Celaya FC and Querétaro, after having terminated his contract with Cruz Azul, he finally had to announce his retirement.

Career as a coach

Atletico de Madrid Cadet "C"

His first steps in technical direction were taken when he coached Atlético de Madrid Cadete "C" in 2018.

Itagüí Leones

At the end of August 2018 he was confirmed as the new coach of Itagüí Leones of the First A Category of Colombia. The team was at the bottom of the table, its first coached match was on September 9 as a visitor against DIM with a 1-1 result. Leones could not maintain itself and was relegated to B. In 2019 the club's board trusted in its project for promotion, on February 19 he would achieve his first victory as a coach by defeating Atlético FC 4-2 in Primera B 2019, in In the round-robin, Amaranto's team qualified in seventh place with 24 points. On May 28, the board reported that at the end of the semester Luis would not continue for 'personal reasons'. Itagüí Leones ultimately did not achieve the goal of returning to the first division. Amaranto would permanently leave office on June 2, 2019.

Atlético Junior

Since January 2020, he worked as technical assistant to Julio Comesaña at Junior de Barranquilla. On September 14, he was named coach in charge after the resignation of the veteran Uruguayan coach. The rojiblanco team remained in the group stage of the Copa Libertadores and would end up entering the 2020 Copa Sudamericana. On December 13, Junior was eliminated in the semifinals of the 2020 Colombian Championship after losing the return match 1-2 against América de Cali in Barranquilla. On December 16, Junior beat him 0-1 to Coquimbo Kingdom but the 1-2 first leg defeat meant they were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the 2020 Copa Sudamericana.

On December 17, he was confirmed as the club's coach for one more year, until December 2021. At the start of the season on January 13, Junior ended up eliminated from the 2020 Colombia Cup after losing 2-1 with Independiente Medellín in the quarterfinals. On January 16, Junior beat Independiente Medellín 1-0 on the first date of the 2021 Apertura Tournament. In the 2021 Apertura Tournament they fell in the semifinals after losing 2-0 to Millonarios, finishing 5-0 on aggregate. 3 that left several expelled between the two opponents. On July 21, in the umpteenth failure, Junior was eliminated in the round of 16 of the 2021 Copa Sudamericana after beating Libertad 0-1, in the first leg they lost 3-4 at home. Due to the pale results, Amaranto was dismissed from his position in August of 2021.

National team

He was international with the Colombian soccer team 74 times. His international debut occurred on November 20, 2002, in the 0-1 defeat with Honduras Friendly played in San Pedro Sula. Since that match he became a regular in the Colombian national team's squad during the qualifiers for Germany 2006, for South Africa 2010 and for Brazil 2014, being left out of the roster that played in the World Cup in Brazil due to an injury in April 2014. the captain's armband on several occasions.

Copa América 2007

Perea played his first Copa América during the summer of 2007. He played in the three games that his team played, with two defeats against Argentina and Paraguay, and a victory against the United States, and they were eliminated in the first phase.

Copa América 2011

On June 6, 2011 he was called up by coach Hernán Darío Gómez to play in the 2011 Copa América that took place in Argentina. In this edition of the Copa América, the coffee team went first in the group to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinal match pitted the Colombian and Peruvian teams; which after an intense 90 minutes, ended in extra time, with the Colombian team losing 0-2. Perea was a starter and played all the complete games.

Participations in Qualifiers

Participations in Copa América

Cup	Headquarters	Outcome	Part.
Copa América 2007	Venezuela	First phase	3
Copa América 2011	Argentina	Final rooms	4

Gold Cup Participations

Cup	Headquarters	Outcome	Part.
Gold Cup 2003	United States and Mexico	Final rooms	4

Statistics as a player

Clubs

• Updated on 18 October 2014:

Club	Div	Season	League		Cups national(1)		Tournaments international(2)		Total		Media Shotgun
			Part.	Goles	Part.	Goles	Part.	Goles	Part.	Goles
Independent Medellín ColombiaColombia
	1. a	2000	18	0	-	-	-	-	18	0	0
		2001	45	0	-	-	-	-	45	0	0
		2002	36	0	-	-	-	-	36	0	0
		2003	18	0	-	-	-	-	18	0	0
	Total club		117	0	-	-	-	-	117	0	0
Boca Juniors Argentina
	1. a	2003-04	16	0	0	0	13	0	29	0	0
	Total club		16	0	0	0	13	0	29	0	0
Atletico de Madrid SpainSpain
	1. a	2004-05	33	0	6	0	6	0	45	0	0
		2005-06	34	0	3	0	-	-	37	0	0
		2006-07	26	0	4	0	-	-	30	0	0
		2007-08	30	0	5	0	8	0	43	0	0
		2008-09	26	0	3	0	8	0	37	0	0
		2009-10	28	0	7	0	14	0	49	0	0
		2010-11	28	0	6	0	5	0	39	0	0
		2011-12	19	0	0	0	15	0	34	0	0
	Total club		224	0	34	0	56	0	314	0	0
Blue Cross Mexico Mexico
	1. a	2012-13	39	3	2	0	-	-	41	3	0.07
		2013-14	31	2	0	0	6	0	37	2	0.05
	Total club		70	5	2	0	6	0	78	5	0.06
Total career			427	5	36	0	75	0	538	5	0.01
(1) Includes data from Copa del Rey (2004-12); Copa México (2012-13). (2) Includes Copa Libertadores (2003-04); Intercontinental Cup (2003); Intertoto Cup (2004-05); Europa League (2007-08) and (2009-12); UEFA Champions League (2007-09); European Super Cup (2010); Concacaf Champions League (2013-14).

Statistics as a coach

As technical assistant

Club	Country	Year	Assistant
Junior of Barranquilla	ColombiaColombia	2020	Julio Comesaña
Absolute Selection		2022 - Presente	Néstor Lorenzo

As a coach

Club	Country	Year
Atletico de Madrid Cadete "C"	SpainSpain	2018
Itagüí Leones	ColombiaColombia	2018 - 2019
Junior of Barranquilla		2020 - 2021

Statistics as a coach

Updated data to the last match directed the 15 August 2021.

Equipment	Div.	Season	League						Cup					International						Totals
			PD	G	E	P	Pos.		PD	G	E	P		PD	G	E	P	Pos.		PD	G	E	P	Performance	GF	GC	Dif.
Itagüí Leones ColombiaColombia	1. a	2018-II	11	0	5	6	20.		4	0	2	2		-	-	-	-	-		15	0	7	8	15.56%	13	23	-10
	2. a	2019	21	8	7	6	Inc.		6	2	2	2		-	-	-	-	-		27	10	9	8	48.15%	30	31	-1
	Total		32	8	12	12	-		10	2	4	4		-	-	-	-	-		42	10	16	16	36.51%	43	54	-11
Junior ColombiaColombia	1. a	2020	16	7	6	3	1/2		2	0	1	1		10	5	1	4	1/4		28	12	8	8	52.38%	39	30	+9
		2021-I	22	10	6	6	1/2		-	-	-	-		10	4	4	2	FG		32	14	10	8	54.17%	42	28	+14
		2021-II	5	1	3	1	Inc.		-	-	-	-		2	1	0	1	1/8		7	2	3	2	42.86%	7	8	-1
	Total		43	18	15	10	-		2	0	1	1		22	10	5	7	-		67	28	21	18	52.24 per cent	88	66	+22
Total Clubs			75	26	27	22	-		12	2	5	5		22	10	5	7	-		109	38	37	34	46.17%	131	120	+11
↑ Includes Colombia Cup. ↑ Includes Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana.

Palmarés

National titles

Title	Club	Country	Year
Finalization Tournament	Independent Medellín	ColombiaColombia	2002
Opening Tour	Boca Juniors	Argentina	2003
Copa Mexico	Blue Cross	Mexico Mexico	2013

International titles

Title	Club	Headquarters	Year
Intercontinental Cup	Boca Juniors	JapanJapan	2003
UEFA Intertote Cup	Atletico de Madrid	SpainSpain	2007
UEFA Europa League		Hamburg	2010
European Super Cup		Monaco	2010
UEFA Europa League		Bucharest	2012
Champions League	Blue Cross	Mexico Mexico	2014

Individual distinctions