Lucas Sasha

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Pachecoand the second or paternal family name is Affini.

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 33)
Place of birth	São Paulo, Brazil
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 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	2	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 24 July 2022

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.

Club career

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

Club

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

Corinthians Paulista

• Copa São Paulo de Juniores: 2009

Ludogorets

• Bulgarian First League: 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19
• Bulgarian Supercup: 2018

Fortaleza

• Campeonato Cearense: 2023

References

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.

External links

• Lucas Sasha at Soccerway
• Lucas Sasha at ogol.com