Gilberto (footballer, born 1976)

Gilberto da Silva Melo (born 25 April 1976), more commonly known as Gilberto, is a Brazilian former professional footballer. He played at left-back for the majority of his career. Gilberto's brothers Nenei and Nélio are also former footballers.

Not to be confused with Beto (footballer, born November 1976).
Gilberto
Personal information
Full name Gilberto da Silva Melo
Date of birth (1976-04-25) 25 April 1976
Place of birth Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Left-back
Left midfielder
Central midfielder
Youth career
0000–1994 America (RJ)
1996 Flamengo
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1994–1995 America (RJ) 44 (4)
1996–1997 Flamengo 67 (2)
1998 Cruzeiro 25 (3)
1999 Internazionale 2 (0)
1999–2001 Vasco da Gama 40 (6)
2002–2003 Grêmio 54 (9)
2004 São Caetano 6 (0)
2004–2008 Hertha BSC 101 (14)
2008–2009 Tottenham Hotspur 7 (1)
2009–2011 Cruzeiro 44 (9)
2011 Vitória 10 (2)
2012–2013 América (MG) 18 (0)
2014 America (RJ) 0 (0)
2014 Araxá 0 (0)
Total 418 (50)
National team
2003–2010 Brazil 36 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Gilberto started his career in his native Brazil, playing for América-RJ, Flamengo and Cruzeiro. He moved for one season to Italian club Internazionale. However, he soon left for Vasco da Gama. He also played with Grêmio and São Caetano.

Hertha BSC

Gilberto returned to Europe in 2004 with Hertha BSC.

He played four years at this club. Gilberto combined a successful defense with permanent participation in the attacks from the left winger position. He had fast speed and good shot, and often threatened the goal, scoring six goals at the first season as a left back. In the first two seasons of his Berlin career Hertha finished fourth in 2004–05 and the following season finished sixth.

Tottenham Hotspur

Gilberto signed for Tottenham Hotspur from Hertha on 31 January 2008.[1] After an initial period out injured,[2] he made his Spurs debut against PSV in the UEFA Cup on 6 March 2008,[3] but was replaced by Jamie O'Hara at half-time, after he had made a mistake that allowed PSV to score the game's only goal.[4] Spurs manager Juande Ramos stated after the match that Gilberto was substituted not because of the error, but rather because he is still recovering from his calf injury.[5] Nevertheless, in playing, he became the first Brazilian to play for Spurs at first-team level, with their previous Brazilian players Rodrigo Defendi and Diego Bortolozzo only featuring in the reserve team.[6] In Spurs' next game, Gilberto came on as a substitute to score the team's third goal in a 4–0 win over West Ham United in the Premier League.[7] Gilberto played his first full Spurs match against Bolton Wanderers at White Hart Lane on 26 April 2008.

Gilberto only made three appearances for Spurs in the 2008–09 season. He started a league game against Portsmouth[8] and a UEFA Cup tie with Spartak Moscow. He was substituted at half time in both games.[9] His last appearance for Spurs came against Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Cup on 26 February 2009.[10]

Cruzeiro

On 17 July 2009, Brazilian club Cruzeiro announced Gilberto will sign a two-year contract after a medical.[11] Tottenham Hotspur announced his contract was mutually terminated on 24 July.[12] He was unveiled to press on 29 July after the medical on the same day.[13]

He confirmed that he had quit the team during the season after ongoing discord among fans and the other squad members, and the club terminated his contract on 20 September 2011.[14]

Vitoria

On 26 September 2011, Gilberto signed for the Campeonato Brasileiro Série B side Esporte Clube Vitória until the end of the season.

International career

In 1998 was the first time that Gilberto had training with the national team, after a successful season. He played for Brazil in the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany and scored against Japan in the group stage,[15] his first goal for the national side, having made his debut for the team against Nigeria on 11 June 2003. Gilberto also featured as Brazil's first choice left back in the Copa America 2007. Due to club performance, he lost his place on the national team to Kléber, and then to André Santos, which both of them selected to 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup and left Gilberto out. However, he has been called up in February 2010 to a friendly match against Republic of Ireland since returned to Brazil.[16] But he played as unused bench as Michel Bastos's backup.

Moreover, most of the 22-men squad for the Ireland match (except Adriano and Carlos Eduardo), plus Elano, Luís Fabiano (who both pull out from the friendly by injury) and Heurelho Gomes, became the provisional 23-men squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.[17][18] And 7 more players were call-up as backup players.[19] He played twice for the Seleção at the tournament, both as sub, including the match losing to the Netherlands in the quarter-finals. After the dismiss of Dunga, he never received any call-up again, and one year later, in 2011 he retired from the international football.


International statistics

[20]

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Brazil 200320
200570
200661
2007150
200840
201020
Total361

International goals
Scores and results list Brazil's goal tally first.[20]
NoDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.22 June 2006FIFA World Cup Stadium Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany Japan3–14–12006 FIFA World Cup

Honours

Club

Flamengo

Cruzeiro

Vasco da Gama

São Caetano

International

Brazil

References
  1. "Tottenham sign defender Gilberto". BBC Sport. 31 January 2008. Retrieved 3 February 2008.
  2. Tom Adams (20 February 2008). "King hails magic Juande". Setanta Sports. Retrieved 24 February 2008.
  3. "Gilberto set for Spurs debut". Sportbox.tv. 6 March 2008. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 March 2008.
  4. Sam Lyon (6 March 2008). "Tottenham 0–1 PSV". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 March 2008.
  5. "Ramos plays down Gilberto howler". The Press Association. 7 March 2008. Archived from the original on 22 December 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2008.
  6. "Gilberto's pride". Tottenham Hotspur. 1 February 2008. Retrieved 3 February 2008.
  7. Saj Chowdhury (9 March 2008). "Tottenham 4–0 West Ham". BBC Sport. Retrieved 9 March 2008.
  8. "Portsmouth 2–0 Tottenham". BBC. 28 September 2008. Retrieved 16 April 2010.
  9. "Tottenham 2–2 Spartak Moscow". BBC. 18 December 2008. Retrieved 16 April 2010.
  10. "Tottenham 1–1 S Donetsk (agg 1–3)". BBC. 26 February 2009. Retrieved 16 April 2010.
  11. "Cruzeiro repatria lateral-esquerdo Gilberto" (in Portuguese). Cruzeiro Esporte Clube. 17 July 2009. Archived from the original on 20 July 2009. Retrieved 18 July 2009.
  12. "Gilberto Departs". Official Tottenham Hotspur website. 24 July 2009. Retrieved 24 July 2009.
  13. "Gilberto veste a camisa celeste na Toca II" (in Portuguese). Cruzeiro Esporte Clube. 28 July 2009. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
  14. "Meia Gilberto chega a acordo para rescisão amigável de contrato com o Cruzeiro" (in Portuguese). Cruzeiro Esporte Clube. 20 September 2011. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
  15. "Japan 1–4 Brazil". BBC Sport. 22 June 2006. Retrieved 3 February 2008.
  16. AFP (9 February 2010). "Dunga overlooks Ronaldinho". FIFA.com. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
  17. "Dunga names his Seleção". PA. 11 May 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  18. "Dunga convocou para a Copa do Mundo 22 jogadores relacionados para o último amistoso, contra a Irlanda, em março". CBF.com.br (in Portuguese). 11 May 2010. Archived from the original on 15 May 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  19. "Comissão técnica da Seleção Brasileira divulga a lista complementar enviada à FIFA". CBF.com.br (in Portuguese). 11 May 2010. Archived from the original on 15 May 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  20. "Gilberto". National Football Teams. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
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