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 ...

who last played for Portuguesa as a striker.

Club career

Early career

Born in 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 Spartak Moscow may refer to the following teams based or formerly based in Moscow, Russia: * FC Spartak Moscow, an association football club * HC Spartak Moscow, a professional ice hockey team * Spartak GM Moscow, a semi-professional rugby club * WB ...

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 Atlas Fútbol Club () is a Mexican professional football club based in Guadalajara, Jalisco that currently plays in Liga MX. It plays home matches at the Estadio Jalisco. Founded in 1916, Atlas has won three league titles and four domestic cups ...

. 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 Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, w ...

for £2 million, in January 2005. He made 32 league appearances, scoring 7 goals. During the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

quarter-final match against Olympique Lyonnais, 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 Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seaso ...

. 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 The Philips Stadion () is a football stadium in Eindhoven, Netherlands. As the home of PSV Eindhoven (Philips Sport Vereniging), it is therefore also known as PSV Stadion. With a capacity of 36,500, it is the third-largest football stadium in th ...

, 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 Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

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 The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

goals, including two against

Villarreal Villarreal ( ca-valencia , Vila-real) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's ...

in a 2–1 win at

El Madrigal EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...

and a winning penalty against bitter rivals

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA E ...

in a 2–1 win at the Manuel Ruiz de Lopera. Robert also scored one

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

goal against

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known as AZ Alkmaar or simply AZ (), is a Dutch professional football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan district. The club plays in the Eredivisie, the highest professional football league in the Netherlands, and host ...

. Due to the injury of fellow

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian and teammate

Ricardo Oliveira Ricardo José Dognella Lima de Oliveira (; born 6 May 1980) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Athletic. He represented São Paulo and Santos in two different spells, but also played in Spain, amassing La Liga ...

, 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

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 The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its c ...

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, 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 Paulista is a municipality in Pernambuco, Brazil, with a population of 334,376 as of 2020. It has the highest Human Development Index (HDI) of the Recife metropolitan area. It is the birthplace of footballer Rivaldo and is also famous for its beac ...

rival

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 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, where he scored already 5 goals. On 14 March 2010, Robert completed perfect hat-trick 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 Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962) is an American actor, film producer, and martial artist. His prominent film roles include '' Major League'' (1989), ''New Jack City'' (1991), '' White Men Can't Jump'' (1992), '' Passenger 57'' (1992), '' ...

, who played the character

Blade A blade is the portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with an edge that is designed to puncture, chop, slice or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they are to be used on. Histor ...

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 CF Monterrey.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. 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 K League (Hangul: K리그) is South Korea's professional football league. It includes first division K League 1 and second division K League 2. History Until the 1970s, South Korean football operated two major football leagues, the National ...

side

Jeju United Jeju United Football Club (Hangul: 제주 유나이티드) is a South Korean professional football club based in Jeju Province that competes in the K League 1, the top division in South Korea. In the past, the club has been known as the ''Yukon ...

References

External links