Luiz Adriano de Souza da Silva (born 12 April 1987), or simply Luiz Adriano (), is a Brazilian professional

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 lea ...

who plays as a striker for Vitória. Born in

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, ; , ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian Federative units of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of roughly 1.4 million inhabitants (2022) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, 11th-most p ...

, he began his career at hometown club Internacional before joining Shakhtar Donetsk in 2007 for €3 million. He became an integral member of the Ukrainian club, becoming the all-time leading goalscorer for Shakhtar in October 2014 and receiving his first call-up to the Brazil national team the same month.

Club career

Internacional

Luiz Adriano caught the eye of European clubs with his performances for Internacional in December 2006 at the

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

. He notably scored the deciding goal for Internacional in their 2–1 win over

Al Ahly Al-Ahly Sporting Club (), commonly known as Al-Ahly, is an Egyptian professional sports club based in Cairo, Egypt. The club is mainly known for its professional football team which currently plays in the Egyptian Premier League, the highest ...

during the semi-final round of the competition. In the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

against European champions

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, Luiz Adriano came on as a late substitute and played a vital role in

Adriano Gabiru Carlos Adriano de Souza Vieira or simply Adriano Gabiru (born 11 August 1977 in Maceió), is a retired Brazilian attacking midfielder. He was member of the Brazil national team in qualifying at the 2000 Summer Olympics and 2003 FIFA Confedera ...

's 82nd-minute winner.

Shakhtar Donetsk

Luiz Adriano was transferred to Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk on 2 March 2007 for a reported €3 million transfer fee ( R$8,128,830). On 19 March 2007, he made his debut in the

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

against city rivals Metalurh Donetsk, at the age of 19 years 11 months and 7 days. It took almost one year, however, for Luiz Adriano to score his first goal for the club, netting in the 94th minute of a 4–1 win over Metalist Kharkiv on 15 March 2008. On 28 August 2008, Adriano scored his first goal in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, netting his side's opening goal in their 3–1 second-leg victory over

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

to secure a place in the group stage of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

. He scored the opening goal of the 2009 UEFA Cup Final which Shakhtar won 2–1 over

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen, Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

after extra time. On 16 February 2011, Luiz Adriano scored the winning goal against Roma in a 3–2 away victory during the first leg of the Champions League round of 16. On 7 May 2011, he scored his 50th Shakhtar goal in a 2–0 league win over Metalurh Donetsk. Luiz Adriano 4

2012–13 season

On 10 July 2012, Luiz Adriano opened the score in the 2012 Ukrainian Super Cup against cup holders Metalurh Donetsk to help Shakhtar claim the trophy after a 2–0 victory. He netted his first goal of the 2012–13 Premier League season in a 3–0 victory over Karpaty Lviv. He scored the last goal in a 3–1 victory over

Dynamo Kyiv The Football Club 'Dynamo Kyiv', also known as Dynamo Kyiv, or simply Dynamo, ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society ...

on 2 September. He scored the third goal in a 3–0 victory over Zorya Luhansk on 15 September, with an assist from compatriot Willian. On 20 November 2012, playing against Danish team Nordsjælland in the Champions League, Luiz Adriano scored a controversial 1–1 equalizer. After an injury to a Nordsjælland player led to a

dropped-ball A dropped-ball (or drop-ball) is a method of restarting play in a game of association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who al ...

, Willian attempted to return it to the Nordsjaelland goalkeeper, but Luiz Adriano pounced on the pass, rounded the goalkeeper and finished into an empty net. This led to heavy protests from the Danish players and the crowd. UEFA opened a disciplinary case against Luiz Adriano, later banning him for one game for unsporting behaviour. Shakhtar released a statement backing the UEFA decision and stated that they were deeply disappointed by the player's actions.

2013–14 season

Luiz Adriano made his season debut against Chornomorets Odesa in the Ukrainian Super Cup as Shakhtar won 3–1, but the striker failed to get on the scoresheet. He opened his account for the season in Shakhtar's first

fixture, scoring his side's second in the final minute of normal time in a 2–0 victory over Hoverla Uzhhorod on 14 July 2013. He scored once as Shakhtar defeated

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

4–0 in their penultimate group match of the Champions League on 27 November 2013. He scored the game's only goal in Shakhtar's next match, a league victory over Chornomorets. Luiz Adriano scored both of his side's goals in their 2–0 win over Dynamo Kyiv in the Ukrainian derby on 16 April 2014. In Shakhtar's following

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

match, against city-rivals Metalurh, Luiz Adriano scored the game-winning goal as Shakhtar came from a goal down to win 2–1. On 11 May, Luiz Adriano scored twice as Shakhtar clinched their fifth consecutive league title with a 3–1 win over Zorya Luhansk. In the final league match of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

on 18 May, Luiz Adriano scored both goals as Shakhtar defeated Volyn Lutsk 2–0 to finish as the leading goal-scorer with 20 strikes.

2014–15 season

On 30 September 2014, Luiz Adriano put Shakhtar ahead 2–0 with less than five minutes to play against

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

, but the Ukrainian champions relinquished the win as two goals in the final minutes from Jackson Martínez ensured a 2–2 draw. On 17 October, Luiz Adriano scored in either half and provided an assist for

Alex Teixeira Alex Teixeira Santos (; born 6 January 1990) is a Brazilian professional association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club CR Vasco da Gama, Vasco da Gama. Teixeira ...

as Shakhtar defeated Volyn Lutsk 6–2. On 21 October, playing against Belarusian team BATE Borisov in the Champions League, Luiz Adriano scored five goals, becoming the second player – after

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...

(which would eventually be equalled by

Erling Haaland Erling Braut Haaland (, ; born 21 July 2000) is a Norwegian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for club Manchester City F.C., Manchester City and the Norway national football te ...

in 2023) – to score five goals in a Champions League match. Adriano's hat-trick took 11 minutes, the third-fastest ever in the competition; he scored three goals in a seven-minute span, the quickest ever, and his four first-half goals were a record for a player in the competition. With his fourth and fifth goals of the match, he overcame Andriy Vorobey to become Shakhtar's all-time leading goalscorer with 117 goals. With his five goals, Adriano also established himself as Shakhtar's all-time leading goalscorer in Europe with 29 goals. In Shakhtar's next Champions League match, hosting BATE on 5 November, Luiz Adriano scored another hat-trick, starting with a 58th-minute penalty, as his team won 5–0. In doing so, he became the first-ever player to score back-to-back hat-tricks in the competition. In the 2014–15 Champions League group stage, Shakhtar finished second in its group, therefore qualifying for the knockout phase. In the six games played, Luiz Adriano equalled Messi's record of five goals in a Champions League match and equalled

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

's record of scoring nine goals in the group stage, prompting

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

to name him the best player of the season's Champions League group stage phase.

Milan

On 2 July 2015, Luiz Adriano signed for

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

on a five-year deal for a transfer fee of €8 million. Milan, however, also paid an additional €6 million to unknown parties. He made his debut on 17 August in the third round of the

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

, scoring the second goal of a 2–0 win over

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

at the

San Siro San Siro is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy. It has a seating capacity of 75,817, making it the largest stadium in Italy and one of the largest stadiums in Europe. It is the home stadium of the city's principal ...

. He scored his first goal in

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

on 29 August 2015 in a 2–1 home win against

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno River, Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Ancient Ro ...

. In January 2016, Milan agreed an offer from

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

side Jiangsu Suning to sell Luiz Adriano for a reported fee of €14 million. The deal, however, could not be completed after Luiz Adriano and Jiangsu Suning failed to agree on personal terms during negotiations.

Spartak Moscow

On 16 January 2017, he signed a long-term contract with

FC Spartak Moscow FC Spartak Moscow (, ) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. Having won 12 Soviet Top League, Soviet championships (second only to FC Dynamo Kyiv, Dynamo Kyiv) and 10 Russian Premier League, Russian champ ...

Palmeiras

On 30 July 2019, he signed with Palmeiras on a four-year deal. On 3 November 2020, he scored his first hat-trick for the club in a 3–1 win over Guarani. Luiz Adriano won back-to-back

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

titles in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

and

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

with Palmeiras, beating Santos and

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; ), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian multi sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea. It was founded and named after the Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Flamengo n ...

respectively.

Antalyaspor

Luiz Adriano was transferred to

Antalyaspor Antalyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional multi-sport club based in Antalya, southern Turkey. The club's colours are red and white. The association football, football side play their home matches at the Antalya Stadium. In Turkey, the cl ...

on 4 February 2022 and signed a one-and-a-half-year contract.

Return to Internacional

On 22 February 2023, Luiz Adriano officially returned to his first club Internacional, signing a contract until June 2024.

International career

In March 2013, Luiz Adriano indicated that he would be likely to accept a call-up for Ukraine national team if asked. He did not, however, have a Ukrainian passport when he was representing Brazil youth team, which made him ineligible to countries other than Brazil (or his ancestral countries). On 23 October 2014, Luiz Adriano was called up to the Brazil national team for the first time for friendlies against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

in November. He debuted on 12 November against Turkey, playing 73 minutes of a 4–0 win before being replaced by fellow debutant Roberto Firmino.

Style of play

Although he is capable of playing in other offensive positions, Luiz Adriano usually plays as a main striker, and is known for his technique, consistency, and composure in front of goal. A quick player who can score with both feet, he is also capable of using his physique to hold up the ball with his back to goal in order to bring his teammates into play. He is also known for his positional sense and ability to play off the last defender and make attacking runs to beat the offside trap. According to Luiz Adriano's former coach

Mircea Lucescu Mircea Lucescu (; born 29 July 1945) is a Romanian professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, currently the head coach of the Romania national football team, Romania national team. He i ...

at Shakhtar, "He is one of those players, who rarely gets injured. He is a powerful footballer; he plays great in the air. Despite the fact that he is not tall, Adriano plays as if his height is about two meters! He fights for the ball in the penalty area, always looking for opportunities to net a goal. He is a proper striker."

Personal life

Luiz Adriano's father worked as a security guard at a chemical plant, and his mother was a housewife. His parents are divorced. He has two brothers, Murillo, who is also a footballer, and Fabiano, and two sisters, Patricia and Caroline. His childhood idols include

Romário Romário de Souza Faria (born 29 January 1966), known simply as Romário (), is a Brazilian politician and former professional association football, footballer who is currently a Senator for Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro and the presi ...

and Ronaldo. He has four tattoos, one on his hand, one on his back, one on his arm and one on his neck.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Internacional *

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

Shakhtar Donetsk *

(6): 2007–08, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14 *

Ukrainian Cup The Ukrainian Cup ( ) is an association football national knockout cup competition run by the Ukrainian Association of Football. The competition is conducted almost exclusively among professional clubs. Since the 2003–04 season, the Cup winner qu ...

: 2007–08, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13 * Ukrainian Super Cup (5):

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

: 2008–09 *

United Tournament The United Tournament or United Supercup was an exhibition football club tournament between two best clubs from Ukraine and two from Russia. The context of the tournament were the talks which are held regarding creating the United CIS championshi ...

Milan *

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana, also known as the Italian Super Cup, is an annual super cup tournament in Italian football. Founded in 1988 as a two-team competition, it has featured four teams since 2023 (the winners and runners-up of the previous ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Spartak Moscow *

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

: 2016–17 * Russian Super Cup:

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Palmeiras *

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Run by the São Paulo State Football Federation (FPF), ...

Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil () is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and it is the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de Portugal, ...

Brazil U20 *

South American Youth Championship South American Youth Championships may refer to: * South American Youth Football Championship The South American Youth Football Championship, also known as South American U-20 Championship (; ), branded as CONMEBOL Sub 20, is a South American foo ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Individual *Ukrainian Cup top scorer: 2012–13 *Ukrainian Premier League top scorer: 2013–14 *

Group Stage MVP: 2014–15 *

Team of the year:

References

External links

Luiz Adriano
at Topforward * * * {{Portal bar, Association football, Brazil 1987 births Living people Afro-Brazilian sportspeople Footballers from Porto Alegre Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football forwards SC Internacional players FC Shakhtar Donetsk players AC Milan players FC Spartak Moscow players SE Palmeiras players Antalyaspor footballers Esporte Clube Vitória players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Ukrainian Premier League players Ukrainian Premier League top scorers Serie A players Russian Premier League players Süper Lig players UEFA Europa League–winning players Copa Libertadores–winning players Brazil men's under-20 international footballers Brazil men's international footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen