Rinaldo Cruzado


Paulo Rinaldo Cruzado Durand is a Peruvian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Peruvian club Alianza Lima and the Peru national football team.

Club career

Alianza Lima

Cruzado came up through the youth ranks of Academia Tito Drago. In 2002, he joined Alianza Lima. Later in the 2002 season he made his Peruvian Primera División debut for Club Alianza Lima, which was his only appearance that year. He eventually established himself as an important player for Alianza and together with a young Jefferson Farfán went on to claim the 2003 Peruvian Primera División League title. Again in the 2004 season he helped Alianza win the 2004 Peruvian League title. He made his Copa Libertadores debut on 11 February 2004 in a group stage match against São Paulo FC, which finished in a 2-1 loss for Alianza. He played in all of the group stage matches in the 2004 Copa Libertadores. However, Alianza were eliminated in that stage as they only managed to finish in 3rd place. In the 2005 season, he played 35 games and scored 1 goal, but with the departure of key players like Jefferson Farfán and Walter Vilchez Alianza finished in 7th place in the overall standings. The next season Cruzado made the most appearances for Alianza in all his time there, with 42 games played and 3 goals scored. That year in the 2006 season he formed a strong partnership in midfield with Marko Ciurlizza and won his third Peruvian League title with Alianza. Cruzado played an important role in the final two-legged tie that determined the champions of the 2006 season. The first leg was won by Cienciano 1-0 in Cusco. In the second leg, Cruzado helped Alianza turn the tie around and defeat Cienciano 3-1 in Matute, with the winning goal being scored by teammate Flavio Maestri.

Grasshopper Club Zürich

In January 2007, he left Alianza and transferred to Swiss team Grasshopper Club Zürich. He made his Swiss League debut on 10 February 2007 in a goal-less draw against FC Zürich.. He scored his first goal in a 2-0 win against Neuchâtel Xamax on 23 February 2008. His second goal was against FC Sion also in a 2-0 win, on 10 May 2008.

Sporting Cristal

In August 2008, Cruzado left Grasshoppers and joined Sporting Cristal for the end of the 2008 Peruvian Primera División. He helped Cristal finish the season in 2nd place in the overall standings.

Esteghlal FC

Cruzaldo played for Sporting Cristal until January 2009 when he joined Esteghlal in Iran which is one of the most popular football teams in Asia. The details of his transfer to this famous Iranian football club had not been revealed until the very last minutes. He was expected to play in the AFC Champions League 2009. He had a very serious injury during his first season which he just played few minuted for the club, but in his second season he was available for more matches and became one of the regular starting players. He left Iran seeking to return to a Peruvian club, possibly Alianza Lima, in 2010.

Club Juan Aurich

On 15 July 2010 Cruzado joined Peruvian club Juan Aurich in the middle of the 2010 Torneo Descentralizado season. His choice to return to Peru was mainly due to his desire to be called up by new coach Sergio Markarian to the Peru national football team. Cruzado made his official debut for Juan Aurich on 21 August 2010 in a league match away to José Gálvez FBC. The manager Juan Reynoso put Rinaldo in the 79th minute to secure the 1–0 victory. The following match he made his home debut at the Estadio Elías Aguirre against Colegio Nacional Iquitos, which he played the entire match as it finished in a 1–1 draw. Cruzado quickly won a starting role in the center of midfield and managed to play in all but one of the remaining matches of the 2010 Descentralizado season. He played his last match of the season at home against Cusco giants Cienciano. He received a red card in the 73rd minute as did his teammate Juan Carlos La Rosa in 46th minute, and eventually the match finished in a 2–3 win for Cienciano. Juan Aurich finished the season in 6th place in the Aggregate table.
Cruzado started the 2011 Torneo Descentralizado season in Round 2 at home against Unión Comercio. In this match Rinaldo scored his first official goal for Juan Aurich in the 73rd minute, which helped his side win 3–2 over Unión Comercio. Away to the defending Champions Universidad San Martin, Cruzado won a penalty that was converted by teammate Luis Tejada to salvage a 1–1 draw in third round. Rinaldo was on the score sheet again by scoring the winning goal from outside the area with a powerful left-footed shot in the 2–0 home win against León de Huánuco, the Runners-up of the league the previous season. Away to the Miguel Grau Stadium, Cruzado then helped his club earn three important points in the 5–0 thrashing of Sport Boys by scoring the third goal of the night. As a regular starter he continued to help Juan Aurich make a bid for the title that season. In Round 9 against direct competitors Alianza Lima, Cruzado helped Juan Aurich defeat his former club 2–0, and two rounds later Juan Aurich won another three valuable points with a 2–1 home win against his other former club Sporting Cristal. Cruzado scored his last goal for Juan Aurich in Round 12 in the 2–1 loss away to Cienciano. His last appearance for the Chiclayo based club was in Round 15 at home against Universidad César Vallejo, which he played the entire match and finished in a 2–0 win for his side. At this midpoint stage of the season Juan Aurich was in third place behind Alianza Lima and Cienciano. Juan Aurich would eventually go on to win the title that season for the first time in the club's history. Cruzado was called up to participate in the Copa América, and during this time journalist Daniel Peredo first announced the news that Cruzado would join Italian club ChievoVerona after the summer tournament.

Chievo

On 5 August 2011 Cruzado left Juan Aurich and transferred to Serie A club ChievoVerona for the start of the 2011–2012 season. He signed a three-year contract and chose to wear the number eight shirt as reported by Chievo's official website. On 13 August 2011 he made his debut for Chievo in a 45-minute summer friendly match against Novara, which ended in a 2-0 loss for his side. Cruzado then played his second match for Chievo on 27 August 2011 in a friendly match against Internazionale in Monza. He entered the match at the start of the second half for club captain Sergio Pellissier when the score was still 0-0. In the end, Cruzado helped ChievoVerona defeat Inter 3-2. Cruzado made his Serie A debut on 11 September 2011 at home in the Bentegodi stadium against Novara for the second round of the 2011–12 Serie A season. He entered the match in the 66th minute replacing Paolo Sammarco and eventually the match finished in a 2–2 draw. Cruzado made his Coppa Italia debut on 11 January 2012 in the Round of 16 away to Udinese.

International career

Rinaldo made his debut for the Peru national team on 27 August 2003 in a friendly match against Guatemala.
His most recent appearance with Peru was in the 2011 Copa América.
Cruzado scored his first goal for Peru on 2 September 2011 in a friendly match against Bolivia which was played in Lima. He scored his goal in the 36th minute by shooting a powerful left-footed shot into the top right corner from about 25 yards away.

Career statistics

Club stats

International goals

Honours

Club

;AlianzPrimera División : 2003, 2004, 2006
;Esteghlal
a Lima:
;Peru