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Marcelo Moreno
MarceloMorenoFlamengo (cropped).jpg
Moreno playing for Flamengo in 2013
Personal information
Full name Marcelo Martins Moreno
Date of birth (1987-06-18) 18 June 1987 (age 36)
Place of birth Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
Height 1.87 m
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current club Independiente del Valle
Number 9
Youth career
2003–2004 Oriente Petrolero
2004–2005 Vitória
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2003–2004 Oriente Petrolero 20 (2)
2005–2007 Vitória 30 (12)
2007–2008 Cruzeiro 14 (7)
2008–2011 Shakhtar Donetsk 32 (7)
2009 Werder Bremen (loan) 5 (0)
2010 Wigan Athletic (loan) 12 (0)
2012–2015 Grêmio 28 (10)
2013–2014 Flamengo (loan) 16 (2)
2014–2015 Cruzeiro (loan) 32 (15)
2015–2016 Changchun Yatai 53 (22)
2017–2018 Wuhan Zall 34 (25)
2019 Shijiazhuang Ever Bright 12 (7)
2020–2021 Cruzeiro 43 (8)
2022–2023 Cerro Porteño 30 (6)
2023– Independiente del Valle 0 (0)
National team
2005 Brazil U18 8 (6)
2006 Brazil U20 7 (5)
2007– Bolivia 108 (31)
  • Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21 December 2022.

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 21 November 2023 (UTC)

Marcelo Martins Moreno (born 18 June 1987), known as Marcelo Martins in Bolivia and as Marcelo Moreno in other countries, is a Bolivian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Ecuadorian Serie A club Independiente del Valle and captains the Bolivia national team. He is considered one of the greatest Bolivian players of all time. With 106 caps and 31 goals, he is the national team's all-time capped player and all-time top goalscorer.

Club career

Moreno was born in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. He began his career at Oriente Petrolero. In 2003, Martins debuted for the club as a 16-year-old in Bolivia's Primera División.

He moved to Vitória, becoming first choice in 2006, at the Campeonato Brasileiro Série C. He scored 12 goals in the competition, four less than the top goalscorer. In the middle of 2007, he moved to Cruzeiro, becoming first choice only in the next year, when he scored 8 goals at the 2008 Copa Libertadores, being the top goalscorer, alongside Salvador Cabañas.

On 27 May 2008, he signed a five-year contract with Shakhtar Donetsk. The Ukrainian club agreed to pay €9 million for the player. On 1 November, he scored a brace in a 3–1 league match win against Zorya Luhansk. Even though he had won the 2008–09 UEFA Cup, on 29 May 2009, unable to establish himself in Donetsk, Moreno joined German club Werder Bremen on loan. Bremen had initially attempted to sign Moreno the previous summer, but the player opted for Shakhtar.

In a 2009 interview, Martins remarked that he didn't want to go to Ukraine at the moment of signing with Shakhtar, but that was the way the negotiation was produced. He commented that it was a difficult moment but it was a moment of adaptation to a new football.

In 2009, he said that when speaking in Portuguese with team mates Naldo and Hugo Almeida that he would feel Brazilian, that Brazil was an important country in his life cause he lived in it for half of his life.

On 2 August 2009, he scored a double in a 2009–10 DFB-Pokal match that ended in a 5–0 victory against Union Berlin. On 29 January 2010, Bremen terminated his contract and he returned to Shakhtar Donetsk. On transfer deadline day, a six-month loan deal between Shakhtar and Wigan Athletic was agreed to take the player to the Premier League. He signed for them on 1 February on loan. After returning to Shakhtar, he made a decent impression, scoring 7 times in 23 appearances. However, after being listed as a reserve the next season, Moreno joined Grêmio in late December 2011 and signed a five-year contract with the Brazilian team starting in 2012. He was then loaned to Flamengo in the 2013 season and Cruzeiro in 2014.

In February 2015, Moreno transferred to Chinese Super League side Changchun Yatai. His first season in China was successful, scoring 20+ goals in 53 games. In 2017 he signed for Wuhan Zall in the Chinese League One being the joint top scorer in his first season with 23 league goals, along with Colombian Harold Preciado. In 2019 Moreno signed with Shijiazhuang Ever Bright. Although he only played 12 games with them, he scored 7 goals.

On 19 February 2020, Moreno returned for his former club, Cruzeiro, signing with them for 3 seasons.

On 30 January 2022, ABC Color announced that Martins would join Primera División Paraguaya team Cerro Porteño. He would be the attacking replacement of Argentine Mauro Boselli. The transfer took effect on 9 February 2022 of Paraguay's summer transfer window. On 10 February, Martins arrived to Paraguay and was officially presented at Cerro Porteño. He signed for two years. He was presented with the number 9 shirt. His salary would not be paid by the club, instead by a private company would. Before signing, Martins spoke with Cerro Porteño coach Francisco Arce, who sent him videos so he can adapt to his play as quick as possible. Martins remarked that Arce was important so that he could join Cerro Porteño. His arrival into Paraguay was made through Cerro Porteño's director, Miguel Carrizosa, who lent his airplane to bring Martins. He became Cerro Porteño's 5th signing ahead of the 2022 Primera División season, following William Riveros, Robert Piris Da Motta, Sergio Díaz and Alfio Oviedo.

International career

Born in Bolivia to a Brazilian father (Mauro Martins, former footballer) and Bolivian mother, Moreno played for the Brazilian under-18 and under-20 sides at the youth level, becoming the first foreign player to be part of this youth setup and the fifth foreign player to wear the Brazilian national team's shirt in an official match, but chose to represent the Bolivian senior national team as a professional.

Due to his success playing for Cruzeiro, Moreno received his first call-up for a friendly match against Peru on 12 September 2007. He scored his first two international goals on 20 November 2007, during a 2010 World Cup qualifier against Venezuela. On 14 October 2008, he scored both of Bolivia's goals against Uruguay in a 2–2 draw. He also opened the scoring in Bolivia's historic 6–1 victory over Diego Maradona's Argentina on 1 April 2009. A few months later, in October, he scored the winning goal in a 2–1 victory against powerhouse Brazil at Estadio Hernando Siles.

Moreno was included in the Bolivia squad for the 2015 Copa América in Chile. On 15 June, he scored the decisive goal in the team's second group match – a 3–2 defeat of Ecuador – to give La Verde its first win at the Copa América since the 1997 tournament. He was Bolivia's top scorer at the tournament with two goals, also being the only Bolivian player to score in the knockout stage as the side lost 3–1 to Peru in the quarter-finals. Moreno announced his retirement from the national squad on 15 September 2015 together with then captain Ronald Raldes, claiming divergences with head coach Julio César Baldivieso.

Moreno returned to the national squad in 2016 after Guillermo Ángel Hoyos replaced Baldivieso.

On 12 November 2020, Moreno scored his 20th international goal in a 3–2 defeat to Ecuador, equaling Joaquín Botero's all-time top goalscoring record for Bolivia. On 28 March 2023, he played his 100th international match for Bolivia, in which he also scored a goal in a 2–1 win in a friendly match against Saudi Arabia.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Oriente Petrolero 2003 Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano 8 0 8 0
2004 Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano 12 2 12 2
Total 20 2 20 2
Vitória 2005 Série B
2006 Série C 30 12 4 0 0 0 16 4 50 16
2007 Série B 0 0 4 1 0 0 10 1 14 2
Total 30 12 8 1 0 0 26 5 64 16
Cruzeiro 2007 Série A 13 6 1 0 14 6
2008 Série A 1 1 0 0 10 8 11 6 22 15
Total 14 7 0 0 11 8 11 6 36 21
Shakhtar 2008–09 Ukrainian Premier League 14 2 1 1 6 0 21 3
2010–11 Ukrainian Premier League 18 5 2 2 3 0 23 7
2011–12 Ukrainian Premier League 0 0 1 1 1 0 2 1
Total 32 7 4 4 10 0 46 11
Werder Bremen (loan) 2009–10 Bundesliga 5 0 3 2 4 1 12 3
Wigan Athletic (loan) 2009–10 Premier League 12 0 0 0 12 0
Grêmio 2012 Série A 28 10 8 3 5 1 15 8 56 22
2013 Série A 3 0 2 0 5 0
2015 Série A 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 2 6 2
Total 28 10 8 3 8 1 17 8 67 24
Flamengo (loan) 2013 Série A 16 2 4 2 0 0 1 1 21 5
Cruzeiro (loan) 2014 Série A 32 15 7 4 4 0 14 5 57 24
Changchun Yatai 2015 Chinese Super League 24 9 0 0 24 9
2016 Chinese Super League 29 13 0 0 29 13
Total 53 22 0 0 53 22
Wuhan Zall 2017 China League One 29 23 0 0 29 23
2018 China League One 5 2 0 0 5 2
Total 34 25 0 0 34 25
Shijiazhuang Ever Bright 2019 China League One 12 7 1 1 0 0 0 0 13 8
Cruzeiro 2020 Série B 26 3 2 0 0 0 4 0 32 3
2021 Série B 17 5 1 0 0 0 4 1 22 6
Total 43 8 3 0 0 0 8 1 54 9
Career total 331 117 38 17 37 10 83 28 489 172

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Bolivia 2007 4 2
2008 8 3
2009 6 2
2010 1 1
2011 12 2
2012 6 0
2013 9 2
2014 3 0
2015 6 2
2016 6 0
2017 6 1
2018 5 2
2019 4 1
2020 3 3
2021 13 7
2022 6 2
2023 10 1
Total 108 31
Scores and results list Bolivia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Moreno goal.
List of international goals scored by Marcelo Moreno
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 20 November 2007 Estadio Polideportivo de Pueblo Nuevo, San Cristóbal, Venezuela  Venezuela 1–0 3–5 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
2 3–2
3 18 June 2008 Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia  Paraguay 4–1 4–2
4 14 October 2008  Uruguay 1–0 2–2
5 2–0
6 1 April 2009  Argentina 1–0 6–1
7 11 October 2009  Brazil 2–0 2–1
8 7 October 2010 Estadio Ramón Tahuichi Aguilera, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia  Venezuela 1–3 1–3 Friendly
9 7 October 2011 Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay  Uruguay 2–4 2–4 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
10 11 November 2011 Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti, Buenos Aires, Argentina  Argentina 1–0 1–1
11 26 March 2013 Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia 1–0 1–1
12 11 June 2013 Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos, Santiago, Chile  Chile 1–2 1–3
13 15 June 2015 Estadio Elías Figueroa Brander, Valparaíso, Chile  Ecuador 3–0 3–2 2015 Copa América
14 25 June 2015 Estadio Municipal Germán Becker, Temuco, Chile  Peru 1–3 1–3
15 28 March 2017 Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia  Argentina 2–0 2–0 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
16 10 September 2018 Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia  Saudi Arabia 2–2 2–2 Friendly
17 13 October 2018 Thuwunna Stadium, Yangon, Myanmar  Myanmar 2–0 3–0
18 18 June 2019 Estádio do Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil  Peru 1–0 1–3 2019 Copa América
19 13 October 2020 Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia  Argentina 1–0 1–2 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
20 12 November 2020  Ecuador 2–2 2–3
21 17 November 2020 Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción, Paraguay  Paraguay 1–1 2–2
22 26 March 2021 Estadio El Teniente, Rancagua, Chile  Chile 1–1 1–2 Friendly
23 3 June 2021 Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia  Venezuela 1–0 3–1 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
24 3–1
25 8 June 2021 Estadio San Carlos de Apoquindo, Santiago, Chile  Chile 1–1 1–1
26 5 September 2021 Estadio Campeón del Siglo, Montevideo, Uruguay  Uruguay 1–3 2–4
27 2–4
28 16 November 2021 Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia 2–0 3–0
29 21 January 2022 Estadio Olímpico Patria, Sucre, Bolivia  Trinidad and Tobago 3–0 5–0 Friendly
30 1 February 2022 Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia  Chile 2–3 2–3 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
31 28 March 2023 Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia  Saudi Arabia 1–0 2–1 Friendly

Honours

Vitória

  • Campeonato Baiano: 2005, 2007

Cruzeiro

Shakhtar Donetsk

Werder Bremen

Flamengo

Individual

  • Copa Libertadores de América top scorer: 2008
  • China League One top goalscorer: 2017

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Marcelo Martins para niños

  • List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps
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