Ángel Labruna

1939/59 River Plate (ARG) 545 games, 317 goals

(Argentine Championship: 515 games, 293 goals)

(Other cups: 17 games, 11 goals)

(Copa Aldao/South American Champion Clubs' Championship: 13 games, 13 goals)

1960 Rangers de Talca (CHL) 3 games

1960 Rampla Juniors (URU) 16 games, 3 goals

1961 Platense (ARG) 2 games

With the National Team :

37 caps, 17 goals

(Friendly matches: 9 caps, 5 goals)

(World Cup qualifiers: 3 caps)

(World Cup: 2 caps)

(Copa America: 5 caps, 3 goals)

(South American Championship: 9 caps, 7 goals)

(Copa Roca: 5 caps, 2 goals)

(Copa Lipton: 3 caps)

(Copa Newton: 1 cap)

1st cap: August 25, 1942 against Uruguay (1-1)

Last cap: June 15, 1958 against Czechoslovakia (1-5)

Ángel Amedeo Labruna

Born on September 28, 1918 in Buenos Aires (ARG)

Died on September 19, 1983 in Buenos Aires (ARG)

Argentine, striker, 1m75

Nicknames: El Feo (the ugly one), Angelito (little angel), the Eternal

At the age of 13, Angelito played football in a park and basketball in River every day until one afternoon he crossed paths with Antonio Vespucio Liberti, a millionaire president, who saw him injured and asked him what had happened to him. That day, the young player joined the River Plate team.

Ángel Labruna continued to play basketball and football until his late teens. In the youth teams, he would be invited to play a match, on May 25, 1937, where he made his debut with the first team in a friendly against Jorge Newbery. The player whose idol was Bernabé Ferreyra lined up alongside José Manuel Moreno and Carlos Peucelle, of the 8 goals that River Plate would score, 3 would be by Labruna. At that time he was paid 25 pesos per game and played in the fourth division, after this match he returned to the fourth division, but sensing his potential, the club added 80 pesos per month.

Labruna made his official debut on June 18, 1939 against Estudiantes in a 1-0 defeat. To score his first goal, the 21-year-old Argentine had to wait until October, José Manuel Moreno having been suspended due to poor performances, the first team of River Plate protested and went on strike to support their technical leader. The response of the club's leaders was as follows: the reserve team that still played in the fourth division would replace the first team against Atlanta, a 4-2 victory for the young River players, Labruna scoring the last goal of the match. From that moment on, Labruna became a starter with the first team. He played the last nine games of the championship and scored 7 goals including one in the derby against Boca in a 2-1 victory for River Plate.

Playing at the heart of the famous Maquina, one of the greatest teams of all time. The player, in love with the club, would win the championship 4 times in the 1940s: 1941, 1942, 1945 and 1947. But the year 1947 was terrible for the player, suffering from muscle pain, he had a bad individual season. Journalists wondered about the player and one newspaper even headlined "Labruna must hang up his boots".

However, the player was only 29 years old. Even when he joined the reserve team to find some rhythm, the results were not good. But suddenly the player found his level again and scored 16 goals in 18 games. Labruna would refuse to meet journalists who came to see him for a report, his wife saying that he was not present. With Argentina, he played in the biggest tournaments, Copa America, World Cup and left a big mark in the history of his country with 17 goals in 37 matches but above all 2 Copa America wins.

In the 50s, the player was still there, he stayed at River Plate until he was 41, proof of an exceptional longevity. He joined the Talca Rangers club in Chile but only played 3 games there. He went directly to Uruguay to join Rampla Juniors, then returned to Argentina in 1961, ending his career after 2 last games played for Platense. He will remain to this day the top scorer in the history of River Plate with 317 goals scored for the club. On September 20, 1983, he succumbed at the age of 64 of a heart attack in the arms of goalkeeper Ubaldo Fillol while they were walking.

- Top scorer in the Argentine championship in 1943 (23 goals) and 1945 (25 goals) (River Plate)

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