Diego Cristiano Evaristo (born 1 August 1992), known as Diego Pituca or simply Pituca, is a Brazilian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays for Japanese club Kashima Antlers. Mainly a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundari ...

, he can also play as a left back.

Club career

Early career

Pituca was born in

Mogi Guaçu Mogi Guaçu is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population is 153,033 (2020 est.) in an area of . The city is at an average elevation of above sea level. Mogi Guaçu is a place name that probably originates from the Tupi ...

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

, and mainly represented Guaçuano and Itapirense as a youth. In 2011 he joined

Mineiros Mineiros, population 68,154, is a municipality in the southwest of the state of Goiás, Brazil. Mineiros is the westernmost city in Goiás and a great producer of cattle, soybeans, and corn. Mineiros is located 430 km from the state capital ...

, but failed to appear for the side during his spell. In 2011 Pituca returned to his native state, after agreeing to a contract with Brasilis. He made his debut for the club on 7 May of that year by starting in a 1–0

Campeonato Paulista Segunda Divisão Campeonato Paulista Segunda Divisão, also known as Campeonato Paulista Série B1, is the fourth level of the São Paulo state professional football tournaments that determines one of the several Brazilian states championships. The two best teams ...

away loss against his first club Guaçuano, and played his first campaign as a left back. On 11 January 2012, after being a regular starter for Brasilis, Pituca moved back to ''Mandi''. He only scored his first senior goal on 3 March of the following year, in a 2–2 home draw against

Sertãozinho Sertãozinho is a Brazilian municipality in the state of São Paulo. The population in 2020 was about 127,142. Its area is 403 km2. The municipality consists of Sertãozinho city and two districts: Cruz das Posses and Vila Garcia. Sertãozi ...

; thirteen days later, however, he netted a brace in a 4–1 home routing of

Marília Marília () is a Brazilian municipality in the midwestern region of the state of São Paulo. Its distance from the state capital São Paulo is by highway, by railway and in a straight line. It is located at an altitude of 675 meters. The popula ...

. After two seasons as a starter, Pituca joined Matonense in April 2013. On 28 May 2014, he was loaned to

União São João União is the Portuguese word for Union. It may refer to: *the Brazilian federal government *União do Vegetal, a church known for its usage of Hoasca as tea * Brazilian frigate ''União'' (F45), a general-purpose ''Niterói'' class frigate launc ...

until the end of the year's ''Paulistão'' Segunda Divisão.

Botafogo-SP

Upon returning to Matonense, Pituca impressed enough for the side to secure a loan deal to

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood ('' bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of ...

on 19 May 2015, despite being relegated with his previous club. He immediately became a starter at the side, helping in their

Campeonato Brasileiro Série D The Campeonato Brasileiro Série D (English: Brazilian Championship Serie D) is the fourth division of the Brazilian football league system, and was announced by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) on April 9, 2008. The Campeonato Brasileir ...

winning campaign and remaining a mainstay afterwards; on 17 November 2016, he renewed his contract until the end of 2018.

Santos

On 29 May 2017 Pituca joined Santos, being initially assigned to

the B-team The B-Team was a professional wrestling tag team in WWE, composed of Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel. The team are former one-time WWE Raw Tag Team Champions. They also formerly performed as The Social Outcasts and The Miztourage from 2016 to 2018 ...

. The following 24 January, he was promoted to the first team by new manager Jair Ventura. Pituca made his first team – and Série A – debut on 14 April 2018, replacing Jean Mota in a 2–0 home win against Ceará. He made his Copa Libertadores debut on 24 May, starting in a 0–0 home draw against

Real Garcilaso Cusco Fútbol Club (known as ''Real Garcilaso'' until 2019) is a professional Peruvian football club based in the city of Cusco, that competes in the Liga 2, the top flight of Peruvian football. History Beginnings The club was founded in ...

. Pituca scored his first senior goal for ''Peixe'' on 23 September 2018, netting the opener in a 1–1 home draw against Vasco da Gama. Under new manager Cuca, he became an undisputed starter and finished the campaign with 34 league appearances. On 3 May 2019, Pituca renewed his contract until April 2023. He remained a regular under subsequent managers Jorge Sampaoli and

Jesualdo Ferreira Manuel Jesualdo Ferreira (born 24 May 1946) is a Portuguese football manager. He is currently the manager of Zamalek in the Egyptian Premier League. In a managerial career of over forty years, he was in charge of all of his country's Big Thre ...

, playing in a more advanced midfield role with the latter. On 10 November 2020, it was announced that Pituca and a further six first team players tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

Kashima Antlers

On 15 January 2021, Santos president Andrés Rueda announced the sale of Pituca to Japanese club Kashima Antlers. Antlers confirmed the transfer six days later, with Pituca joining the club after the 2020 Copa Libertadores Final. Despite the J1 League season beginning in February, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

Pituca was only allowed to enter Japan on April 2 and had to isolate for 14 days on arrival. He eventually made his debut in the

J.League Cup The is a Japanese football (soccer) competition organized by J.League. It has been sponsored by Yamazaki Biscuits (YBC) of Yamazaki Baking (formerly Yamazaki Nabisco) since its inception in 1992. It is also known as the or (Levain is one of Y ...

, coming on as a substitute in a 2–2 draw with

Sagan Tosu is a Japanese professional football club, currently playing in the J1 League. The team is located in Tosu, Saga Prefecture. ''Sagan'' is a coined word with a couple of meanings behind it. One of its homophones is in Japanese. This symbolises ...

. He scored his first goal for Kashima in a 4-0 J1 League win over

Consadole Sapporo is a Japanese professional football club, which plays in the J1 League. The team is based in Sapporo, on the island of Hokkaido. The club name of "Consadole" is made from ''consado'', a reverse of the Japanese word and the Spanish express ...

. He went on to make 37 appearances across all competitions in his debut season, scoring 2 goals.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

;Matonense *

: 2013 ;Botafogo-SP *

: 2015

Individual

* Campeonato Paulista Team of the Year:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pituca, Diego 1992 births Living people Footballers from São Paulo (state) Brazilian footballers Association football midfielders Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série C players Campeonato Brasileiro Série D players Mineiros Esporte Clube players Sociedade Esportiva Matonense players União São João Esporte Clube players Botafogo Futebol Clube (SP) players Santos FC players Kashima Antlers players Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Expatriate footballers in Japan