Cristian Iván Martínez Giménez

Some careers get complicated by paperwork rather than by football. Cristian Iván Martínez Giménez started out at River Plate in Asunción before Libertad signed him in April 2023. From January 2024 he spent close to two years out on loan at Sportivo Trinidense, the period in which he actually built minutes and match experience away from Libertad's first team.

He returned to Libertad at the end of 2025, and by 2026 was appearing for the senior side wearing number 33, including in a Copa de Primera fixture against his old loan club, Sportivo Trinidense. His return has also brought a first taste of continental football, with an appearance in the Copa Libertadores. Across his matches back at Libertad this year he has yet to score or register an assist, a reflection of a player still working his way into a settled role rather than arriving as the finished product.

There is a gap in the record between the club he left and the club he came back to. Whatever exactly happened during his time away, the shape of Martínez's story so far is a straightforward one: a young Paraguayan defender who left home to get games, and is now trying to turn that loan spell into a foothold at the club that signed him.