Carlos Luna · Biography

Carlos Ariel Luna was born on 17 January 1982 in Piquillín, a small town in Córdoba Province, Argentina, and came through as a striker at Deportivo Español in Buenos Aires. Known as “Chino”, he spent almost his whole career in Argentine football. He had three spells at Tigre between 2004 and 2021 and also played for All Boys, Racing Club, Quilmes, River Plate and Rosario Central. Abroad, he played for Elche in Spain and Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito in Ecuador.

Early years at Deportivo Español

He joined Deportivo Español in 1998 and lived in the club’s boarding house. In those first years he had no contract and fitted training around other jobs. At around 17 he washed glasses in a bar across the street from the boarding house, and on trips back to Piquillín he worked as a bricklayer. In 2000 he moved up to the first team, which played in the Primera B Metropolitana, the third tier of Argentine football. In 2001-02 he was part of the squad that won that league and went up to the Primera B Nacional.

All Boys and promotion with Tigre

After Español were relegated in 2003, he joined All Boys in the Primera B Metropolitana because coach Ricardo Caruso Lombardi asked for him. A year later he followed the coach to Tigre. In 2004-05 the Victoria club won both the Apertura and the Clausura of the Primera B Metropolitana and were promoted to the Primera B Nacional. In November 2004 Luna scored one of the goals in a 2-0 win away to Platense that clinched the Apertura for Tigre.

Racing, Quilmes and a spell at Elche

His form at Tigre took him to the Argentine top flight. Racing Club signed him for 2005-06, and in 2006 he moved to Quilmes. He scored seven goals for Quilmes in the 2007 Clausura, which earned him a move to Elche in the Spanish second division. He played the 2007-08 season there before returning to Argentina.

Back in Victoria

In 2008 he went back to Tigre, who had been in the Primera División since winning promotion in 2007. That year the club finished the 2008 Apertura level on 39 points with Boca Juniors and San Lorenzo at the top of the table. A three-team play-off decided the title, and Boca won it after beating Tigre 1-0. In the 2009 Clausura Luna scored 11 goals, nearly half of his team’s total, and finished among the tournament’s five top scorers. In June 2010, after scoring nine goals in that year’s Clausura, he was sold to Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito.

LDU Quito and the scoring title

In Ecuador, under coach Edgardo Bauza, he won the 2010 Serie A and the Recopa Sudamericana that same year. In March 2011 he scored against Peñarol in a 5-0 Copa Libertadores win in Quito. It was the 12,000th goal in the tournament’s history. He went back to Tigre on loan for 2011-12. His best season came in the 2012 Clausura, when he was the league’s top scorer with 12 goals, four more than Gastón Caprari in second place. Tigre finished as runners-up on 36 points, two behind champions Arsenal.

River Plate and Rosario Central

In 2012 he signed for River Plate, who had just won promotion back to the Primera División, and he played his first minutes for them that August. He scored six league goals in 2012-13. In July 2013 he joined Rosario Central, who had also just been promoted to the top flight, and the team won its opening match of the season that August. He stayed one season in Rosario and went back to Tigre in 2014.

The final spell at Tigre

His third spell in Victoria ran from 2014 to 2021. In October 2016 he went past Juan Carlos Haedo to become Tigre’s third-highest scorer of all time, with 93 goals. Tigre were relegated in 2019 but won the Copa de la Superliga that same year, beating Boca Juniors 2-0 in the final on 2 June at the Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes in Córdoba. It was the club’s first top-flight title. Luna ended his career at Tigre in 2021.