Marcelo Martins Moreno


Marcelo Martins Moreno, known as Marcelo Moreno, is a Bolivian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Cruzeiro and the Bolivia national football team. He is considered one of the greatest Bolivian strikers of all time.

Club career

Martins was born in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. He began his career at 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 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 29 May 2009, unable to establish himself in Donetsk, Martins joined German club Werder Bremen on loan. Bremen had initially attempted to sign Martins the previous summer, but the player opted for Shakhtar. On 29 January 2010, Bremen terminated his contract and he returned to Shakhtar Donetsk. At 16:44 on the final day of the transfer window, a six-month loan deal between Shakhtar and Wigan was agreed to take the player to the Premier League. He signed for Wigan Athletic on 1 February on loan. After returning to Shakhtar as a reserve, Martins negotiated with Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense and signed with the Brazilian team for a five-year contract starting in 2012. He was then loaned to Flamengo in 2013 season and Cruzeiro in 2014 season.
In February 2015, Martins transferred to Chinese Super League side Changchun Yatai.
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.
On 19 February 2020, Martins returned for his former club, Cruzeiro, signing with them for 3 seasons.

International career

Born in Bolivia to a Brazilian father and Bolivian mother, Marcelo Martins has played for the Brazilian U-18 and U-20 sides at the youth level, becoming the first foreign player to be part of it and the fifth foreign player to wear the Brazilian National Team's shirt in an official match, but chose to play for the Bolivian senior national team as a professional.
Due to his success playing for Cruzeiro, he received his first call-up for a friendly match against Peru on 12 September 2007. Martins scored his first international goal on 20 November 2007, during a 2010 World Cup qualifier against Venezuela. He was also one of the goalscorers in Bolivia's 6–1 victory over Diego Maradona's Argentina on 1 April 2009. On 26 March 2013, he scored a goal in the 1-1 draw against Argentina.
Martins 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 El Verde its first win at the Copa América since the 1997 tournament. He was Bolivia's top scorer at the tournament with two goals, and also being the only one to score on the knockout stages as Bolivia lost to Peru 1-3 in the quarter-finals. He announced his retirement from the national squad on 15 September 2015 together with Ronald Raldes, then captain, claiming divergences with head coach Julio César Baldivieso.
He returned to the national squad in 2016 after Guillermo Ángel Hoyos replaced Baldivieso.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.20 November 2007Estadio Polideportivo de Pueblo Nuevo, San Cristóbal, Venezuela
1–0
3–5
2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
2.20 November 2007Estadio Polideportivo de Pueblo Nuevo, San Cristóbal, Venezuela
3–2
3–5
2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
3.18 June 2008Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia
4–2
4–2
2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
4.14 October 2008Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia
1–0
2–2
2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
5.14 October 2008Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia
2–0
2–2
2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
6.1 April 2009Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia
1–0
6–1
2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
7.11 October 2009Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia
2–0
2–1
2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
8.7 October 2010Estadio Ramón Tahuichi Aguilera, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
1–3
1–3
Friendly
9.7 October 2011Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay
2–4
2–4
2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
10.11 November 2011Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti, Buenos Aires, Argentina
1–0
1–1
2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
11.26 March 2013Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia
1–0
1–1
2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
12.11 June 2013Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos, Santiago, Chile
1–2
1–3
2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
13.15 June 2015Estadio Elías Figueroa Brander, Valparaíso, Chile
3–0
3–2
2015 Copa América
14.25 June 2015Estadio Municipal Germán Becker, Temuco, Chile
1–3
1–3
2015 Copa América
15.28 March 2017Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia
2–0
2–0
2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
16.10 September 2018Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2–2
2–2
Friendly
17.13 October 2018Thuwunna Stadium, Yangon, Myanmar
2–0
3–0
Friendly
18.18 June 2019Estádio do Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1–0
1–3
2019 Copa América

Honours

Club

Vitória
Cruzeiro
Shakhtar Donetsk
Werder Bremen
Flamengo
Wuhan Zall
Cruzeiro
Wuhan Zall