Most finals lost in Liga MX history (10+ dropped titles)

Lore & Background

Santa Cruz started his career with Olimpia, progressing through their youth system to the first-team squad where he made his debut at the age of 15 in 1997. He finished his career with the club having scored 13 goals in 24 Primera División appearances where Olimpia claimed the 1997, 1998 and 1999 Primera División titles. Santa Cruz scored three goals in four appearances for Paraguay at the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship before debuting for the Paraguay national team at the 1999 Copa América, where he scored three goals in four appearances. He immediately joined Bundesliga club Bayern Munich in August 1999 for a fee of €5 million, which was the highest transfer fee in Paraguayan football until 2019. For Bayern, he scored five goals in 28 league appearances in his first season. He faced a series of injuries and heavy competition from teammates Giovane Élber, Roy Makaay and Claudio Pizarro which limited his impact and restricted his appearances for the club.

In Their Own Story

The floodlights at the Estadio Azul hummed their low, electric note, and the stands were a sea of blue so dense it looked almost black from the upper tiers. It was the second leg of the final, and the scoreline meant that a single goal—just one—would send La Máquina through to the title. The away fans in the corner had their scarves draped over the railings, singing in that low, rolling chant that made the concrete vibrate. In the tunnel, the players could hear it, that particular silence that falls over the home end when the ball is in the air and the whole city holds its breath. A header from the corner. The net trembled. For one second, the blue crowd was frozen, hands on their mouths, not daring to believe. Then the opposing striker tapped in from the rebound, and the silence that followed was louder than any cheer. In the stands, a father put his arm around his son and said nothing, because there was nothing to say. They would drive home in the blue dusk, the radio off, the city lights blurring past the windshield, and the son would ask, 'Papá, will we win next time?' and the father would smile and say, 'La Máquina always comes back.' And he meant it. He always meant it.

Reader's Guide

Santa Cruz was part of a successful team for Bayern, winning numerous Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and DFB-Ligapokal titles. He also won the 2000–01 UEFA Champions League and the 2001 Intercontinental Cup. He left Bayern Munich in July 2007 to join Blackburn Rovers for a transfer fee of €5 million, where he scored 19 goals in the 2007–08 Premier League season. In June 2009, he joined Manchester City for a fee of £17.5 million on a four-year deal. Since his transfer, he was loaned out to Blackburn and Real Betis. He represented Paraguay at the 2002, 2006 and 2010 FIFA World Cup tournaments, and at the 1999, 2007, 2011 (where Paraguay finished runners-up) and 2015 Copa América tournaments. He retired from international football in 2016, but reversed his decision in May 2019.

Did You Know?

• Santa Cruz made his first-team debut for Olimpia at age 15 in 1997.
• He scored three goals in four appearances at the 1999 Copa América.
• His transfer to Bayern Munich in 1999 was the highest fee in Paraguayan football until 2019.
• He is only the second Paraguayan to make over 1,000 competitive appearances, after Paulo da Silva.