Leandro Desabato

An Argentine footballer, Leandro Desabato has unfortunately garnered more fame from an incident during the Copa Libertadores match in 2005, than for his football skills. Starting his football career with Estudiantes in 1997, Desabato remained with the club till 2001, making only 7 league appearances during this interval. He moved to Olimpo in 2001, where he had more luck, making 56 league appearances, with one goal to his credit.

But Desabato remained with Olimpo for one season, after which he moved to Quilmes, with whom he made 66 appearances, scoring 3 goals. He remained with the club till 2006, during which period, he appeared in the Copa Libertadores match in 2005.

Allegedly Desabato hurled a racist insult at Sao Paulo player Grafite, following which he was arrested and consequently spent the night in jail. The whole incident gained more prominence when Desabato's actions were defended by Tostao, columnist and former Brazilian international footballer. Tosato believed that the incident had been blown out of proportion and in fact the insults were not racial in nature, but were a regular form of provocation that existed in football.

Following this unpleasant incident, Desabato moved to Argentinos Juniors in 2006, where after 34 league appearances in one season, and 4 goals to his credit, he moved to his present club, Estudiantes LP in 2007. He currently plays as defender for the team, with whom he has made over 40 appearances so far.