Robert de Pinho de Souza (born 27 February 1981), simply known as Robert, 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 le ...

who last played for Portuguesa as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Salvador Salvador, meaning "salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to: * Salvador (name) Arts, entertainment, and media Music *Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music ** ''Salvador'' ( ...

, Robert began his professional career with Botafogo de Ribeirão Preto of Brazil, where he played in 2001. He made a move to São Caetano in 2002. On 14 March 2003, Robert signed for Spartak Moscow on loan until the end of the 2003 season. After less than a season with Spartak, however, he returned to the Americas, signing with Club Atlas. He did exceptionally well in his first season with Atlas, scoring 16 goals in 21 games during the 2004 Clausura. He repeated his performance in the 2004 Apertura, leading them to the semifinals of the liguilla, where they were eliminated by

UNAM Pumas Club Universidad Nacional, A.C., commonly referred to as UNAM, is a professional football club based in Ciudad Universitaria of Mexico City, Mexico. The club competes in the Liga MX, the top division in the Mexican football league system. Found ...

PSV Eindhoven

Robert moved from Atlas to PSV Eindhoven for £2 million, in January 2005. He made 32 league appearances, scoring 7 goals. During the UEFA Champions League quarter-final match against

Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a men and women's French professional football club based in Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The men play in France's highest football division, Ligue 1. Founded in 1950, th ...

, he kept his nerves in check to deliver his decisive spot-kick which sent his team into a semi-final showdown with eventual losing finalist AC Milan. Although he hardly had the time to impress in the Champions League games, he played an excellent match against the Italian giants in the return leg at Philips Stadion, with PSV winning 3–1 and being ousted on away goals, and he himself came close to scoring when he cracked a long range shot which just missed the Milan left post by a matter of inches.

Real Betis

Robert was loaned by PSV to Real Betis for years for €1 million fee, arriving during the 2006 January transfer window. His signing was pivotal in the efforts of Betis to avoid relegation, scoring 7 La Liga goals, including two against Villarreal in a 2–1 win at El Madrigal and a winning penalty against bitter rivals Sevilla FC in a 2–1 win at the

Manuel Ruiz de Lopera Manuel Ruiz de Lopera y Ávalos (born 13 August 1944) is a Spanish businessman who was owner and chairman of football club Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based ...

. Robert also scored one UEFA Cup goal against AZ Alkmaar. Due to the injury of fellow Brazilian and teammate Ricardo Oliveira, Robert's importance to Betis gradually grew, as he finished the club's top goalscorer for the season. His second season, however, was poorer (still managed 9 league goals in 29 appearances) and he eventually left Real Betis in July 2007, despite Betis excised the option to buy Robert from PSV for €3.25 million on 4 April (effective on 1 July). Moreover, Robert refused to sign a contract, making the transfer collapsed. He joined

Al-Ittihad Al-Ittihad (Arabic: الاتحاد "The Union"), sometimes transliterated as Al-Etihad or Al-Ettihad may refer to: Sports Football Libya *Al-Ittihad Club (Tripoli), a football club based in Bab Ben Gashier * Al Ittihad Gheryan, a football club bas ...

as a free agent. The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that despite the collapse of the transfer, Betis still had to pay €1,562,500 as compensation to PSV.

CF Monterrey

On 22 August 2007, Robert signed for Saudi Arabian team

. On 4 December 2007 Mexican media announced the transfer of Robert to the Mexican football club

CF Monterrey Club de Fútbol Monterrey, often known simply as Monterrey or their nickname Rayados, is a Mexican professional association football, football club based in Monterrey, Nuevo León which currently plays in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican footba ...

, where he was paired up in attack with Chilean goalscorer Humberto "Chupete" Suazo.

Tecos UAG

In Tecos, he had mild success and ended the tournament with only 5 goals. Tecos were eliminated in the quarterfinals and Robert de Pinho was sent to Club America.

Palmeiras

In July 2009, Robert joined

Palmeiras Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes. Palmeiras is one of the most popular clubs in South America, with around ...

and in the Série A he scored 5 goals in 12 matches coming as a substitute in all of them. In 2009, he played a good role as a substitute in the league becoming an important player in the squad. In 2010 Robert remained with Palmeiras and became the key striker in the team. On 21 February 2010, he scored two headed goals against Paulista rival São Paulo and Palmeiras won the match by 2–0; it was a great appearance for Robert after he had been criticised in the beginning of the

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional association football, football league in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo. Run b ...

, where he scored already 5 goals. On 14 March 2010, Robert completed

perfect hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against Santos and Palmeiras won the match by 4–3; this game was marked by the different type of commemoration after goals. By the end of this game, Robert came to be known as "Blade do Palestra" due to his resemblance to actor Wesley Snipes, who played the character Blade in a trilogy of films.

Cruzeiro

On 3 June 2010, Cruzeiro Belo Horizonte signed the striker of Palmeiras property, but he arrived on a six-month-loan from

.Depois de Robert, Cruzeiro negocia com Farías e não descarta Rafael Sóbis
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Puebla

It was announced on 8 June 2011 that de Pinho was signed to

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

. This was made public during the "2011 Super Summer Draft" held in Cancun.

Jeju United

On 16 January 2011, Robert joined South Korean K-League side Jeju United.

References

External links