Lucas Pacheco Affini (born 1 March 1990), commonly known as Lucas Sasha, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Fortaleza.

Lucas Sasha
Sasha with CSKA Sofia in 2012
Personal information
Full name Lucas Pacheco Affini
Date of birth (1990-03-01) 1 March 1990 (age 34)
Place of birth São Paulo, Brazil
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 9+12 in)
Position(s) Defensive midfielder
Team information
Current team
Fortaleza
Number 88
Youth career
Corinthians
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2009–2010 Grêmio Barueri 13 (0)
2011 Catanzaro 1 (0)
2012 São José 0 (0)
2012–2013 CSKA Sofia 29 (2)
2013–2015 Hapoel Tel Aviv 59 (7)
2015–2019 Ludogorets Razgrad II 9 (4)
2015–2019 Ludogorets Razgrad 92 (2)
2019–2022 Aris 99 (8)
2022– Fortaleza 94 (3)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 21 August 2024

Club career

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Lucas Sasha began his youth career with Corinthians. He was part of the side that won the youth cup – Copa São Paulo de Juniores in 2009.[1] In the same year he moved to Grêmio Barueri.

In 2010, he made his professional debut for Grêmio and played in 16 matches through the season. He competed in only 3 matches for the club during Campeonato Paulista (from January to May). In the second part of the season, he participated in 13 matches in Série A. The team finished 20th in the league and was relegated.

In January 2011, he went on trial to West Ham United.[2] Later he moved to the Italian Catanzaro 1929.

In early 2012 he joined São José and played in Campeonato Paulista Série A2. He played in 10 matches for the club. During the summer of 2012, Sasha passed trial in CSKA Sofia and signed as a free agent with the club.[3][4][5] Lucas debuted for CSKA in the second qualifying round of UEFA Europa League, coming on as substitute for Kosta Yanev in a match against Mura 05.[6] He scored his first goal as a CSKA player in A Group against Slavia Sofia.[7] On 31 October he made assist for the equalizing goal and scored the second against Ludogorets Razgrad in a 2–1 win at Ludogorets Arena for the Bulgarian Cup.[8][9][10] On 6 April 2013 Sasha netted the winning goal for CSKA against Botev Vratsa as the match finished 4–3 at Hristo Botev Stadium.[11][12] During the summer of 2013 CSKA experienced a management and financial crisis, causing Lucas to start looking for a new club.

On 4 July 2013 Sasha signed a two-year contract with Hapoel Tel Aviv after a short trial.[13][14] On 18 July, he marked his debut by scoring a goal and providing an assist in the 4–1 away win over Beroe in the first leg of a UEFA Europa League preliminary round match.[15] He returned to Bulgaria, joining reigning champions Ludogorets Razgrad in the summer of 2015.[16]

On 10 July 2019, he moved to the Greek Superleague, signing a two-year contract with Aris.[17] On 24 August 2019, he scored his first goal for the club, in a 1–1 home draw against OFI.[18] On 10 November 2019, he scored with a beautiful header helping to a 2–1 home win against Asteras Tripolis.[19]

On 4 January 2020, he scored with a perfect shot, after an assist from Giannis Fetfatzidis, to seal a triumphant 4–2 home win against PAOK, at the Derby of Thessaloniki.[20] Ten days later, he helped with a goal to a 2–1 home win against Xanthi, as his team qualified for the quarter-finals of the Greek Cup.[21]

In June 2020, Sasha is likely to extend his contract, as everyone in the team has been impressed by his consistency and professionalism.[22]

His first goal for the 2020–21 season came in a 2–2 away draw against Atromitos, on 5 December 2020.[23] In the first game of 2021, Sasha opened the score in a 2–0 home win against Volos.[24]

On 22 March 2021, Sasha signed a new three-year contract, which will keep at the Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium, until the summer of 2024.[25]

Career statistics

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Club

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As of 2 June 2022
Club Season League Cup Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
CSKA Sofia 2012–13 Group A 29 2 1 0 2 0 32 2
Hapoel Tel Aviv 2013–14 Israeli Premier League 34 4 0 0 4 2 1 1 39 7
2014–15 Israeli Premier League 25 3 5 0 2 1 0 0 32 4
Total 59 7 5 0 6 3 1 1 71 11
Ludogorets Razgrad 2015–16 Group A 22 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 24 0
2016–17 First League 25 1 4 1 7 0 0 0 36 2
2017–18 First League 27 0 2 0 11 0 0 0 40 0
2018–19 First League 18 1 2 0 7 0 0 0 27 1
Total 92 2 8 1 26 0 1 0 127 3
Aris 2019–20 Superleague Greece 34 3 6 1 4 0 44 4
2020–21 Superleague Greece 35 3 4 0 1 0 40 3
2021–22 Superleague Greece 30 2 4 0 2 1 36 3
Total 99 8 14 1 7 1 120 10
Career total 279 19 28 2 41 4 2 1 350 26

Honours

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Corinthians Paulista
Ludogorets
Fortaleza

References

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  1. ^ Corinthians win the São Paulo youth competition (in Portuguese)
  2. ^ it loses any meaning it has in other contexts
  3. ^ Brazilian midfielder joins CSKA on trial (in Bulgarian)
  4. ^ CSKA signs a Brazilian scouted by several English clubs (in Bulgarian) Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ "CSKA introduce the new signings at Bulgarska Armiya (in Bulgarian)". Archived from the original on 26 November 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  6. ^ Match report of the match against Mura 05 – uefa.com
  7. ^ CSKA wins against Slavia 2–0, Lucas scored the first goal (in Bulgarian)
  8. ^ CSKA win at Ludogorets Arena in the Bulgarian Cup first leg, Sasha with assist and a goal (in Bulgarian)
  9. ^ CSKA with a comeback against Ludogorets (in Bulgarian)
  10. ^ "Sasha prove to the critics that he is a class player (in Bulgarian)". Archived from the original on 28 May 2013. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  11. ^ Sasha:"I'm not a hero" – comment after the match (in Bulgarian)
  12. ^ CSKA – Botev Vratsa match report from Sportal.bg (in Bulgarian)
  13. ^ "Lucas Sasha signed for two years with Hapoel Tel Aviv (in Bulgarian)". Archived from the original on 15 December 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  14. ^ Lucas Sasha signs with Beroe's Europa League opponent (in Bulgarian)
  15. ^ „Червени демони" обладаха Берое, Апоел предреши всичко след 4:1 (in Bulgarian)
  16. ^ Лудогорец със силен трансфер, привлече Лукас Саша (in Bulgarian). dariknews.bg. 5 June 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  17. ^ "Άρης: Στα κιτρινόμαυρα για τα επόμενα δύο χρόνια ο Σάσα". sport24.gr. 10 July 2019. Archived from the original on 10 July 2019. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  18. ^ "Άρης – ΟΦΗ 1-1: Μοιρασιά στο "Κλ. Βικελίδης" με χαμένους τους "κίτρινους"". sport24.gr. 24 August 2019.
  19. ^ "Άρης – Αστέρας 2-1: Διπρόσωποι αλλά νικητές οι "κίτρινοι"". sport24.gr (in Greek). 10 November 2019. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  20. ^ "Άρης – ΠΑΟΚ 4-2: Του έσπασε το αήττητο με τεσσάρα". sport24.gr. 4 January 2020.
  21. ^ "Άρης – Ξάνθη 2-1: Με ανατροπή στους "8"". sport24.gr. 14 January 2020.
  22. ^ "Ο Άρης θέλει την επέκταση των συμβολαίων των Σάσα, Φετφατζίδη" (in Greek). Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  23. ^ "Ατρόμητος – Άρης 2-2: Όρθιοι στο Περιστέρι με 10 παίκτες οι κίτρινοι". sport24.gr. 14 January 2020.
  24. ^ "Άρης – Βόλος 2-0: "Κίτρινη" υπεροχή και επιστροφή στις νίκες". sport24.gr. 7 January 2021.
  25. ^ "Άρης: Υπέγραψε ο Σάσα έως το 2024". sport24.gr. 22 March 2021.
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