Marcelo de Araújo Pitaluga Filho (born 20 December 2002) 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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for

Fluminense Fluminense Football Club () is a Brazilian sports club based in the neighbourhood of Laranjeiras, in Rio de Janeiro, being the oldest football club in the state since its foundation in 1902. It competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, th ...

Career

Fluminense

Pitaluga started his career with Brazilian side

. He was an unused substitute with the first team on four occasions during his time with the club.

Liverpool

In 2020, he signed for

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 ...

club

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, for an undisclosed fee potentially reaching £2 million. After sporadically being involved in the first team squad as an unused substitute in

and

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

games, Pitaluga made his first appearance at first team level on 25 July 2023, in a 4–4 draw against German side Greuther Fürth in a pre-season friendly.

Loan to Macclesfield

In July 2022, Pitaluga was sent on loan to English eighth-tier club

Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...

. He made 18 league appearances for the club before an ankle injury suffered in November saw him out of action until April 2023. He made a total of 26 appearances in all competitions for the club as they won the 2022–23 Northern Premier League Division One West.

Loan to St Patrick's Athletic

On 5 January 2024, Pitaluga signed a new contract with Liverpool and was loaned out to

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Men's Premier Division (), also known as the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Republic of Ireland and the highest level of the Republic of I ...

side

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club, commonly known as Pat's or The Athletic, is a professional List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the League ...

. His spell at the club proved difficult, with high profile errors in the 2024 President of Ireland's Cup as well as a league game away to

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

seeing him dropped by manager

Jon Daly Jonathan Barney Daly (born April 14, 1977), sometimes credited as Jonathan C. Daly, Jon C. Daly, or Jon Daly, is an American actor, comedian, writer and producer best known for his sketch comedy work on the Comedy Central series ''Kroll Show''. ...

in favour of

Danny Rogers Daniel "Danny" Rogers (born 23 March 1994) is an Irish-American footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for St Patrick's Athletic. Born in the United States, he has represented the Republic of Ireland at youth level. Personal life Rogers was born ...

after playing the first four league games of the season. On 29 June 2024, newly appointed manager Stephen Kenny confirmed that Pitaluga's loan spell with the club had been cut short after making seven appearances in all competitions in the club's first 29 games of the season.

Loan to Livingston

On 30 August 2024, Pitaluga signed for

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association footb ...

side

Livingston Livingston or Livingstonemay refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North Am ...

on loan.

Return to Fluminense

On 6 January 2025, Liverpool announced that subject to international clearance, Pitaluga would return on a permanent move to Fluminense.

International career

As well as his native

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, Pitaluga also holds a German passport, making him eligible to play for the

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

national team. He has played for the Brazil under-15, under-16 and under-17 teams. He was part of the

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of Military organization, military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and United States, U.S. doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a fireteam, ...

for Brazil U17's

2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the 18th edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth association football, football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It was ...

win.

Career statistics

Honours

Macclesfield * Northern Premier League Division One West:

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Brazil U17 *

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the annual world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fé ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

References

External links

Profile
at the Liverpool F.C. website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pitaluga, Marcelo Living people 2002 births Brazilian people of German descent Brazilian men's footballers Footballers from Niterói Men's association football goalkeepers Brazil men's youth international footballers Northern Premier League players Fluminense FC players Liverpool F.C. players Macclesfield F.C. players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Livingston F.C. players League of Ireland players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the Republic of Ireland 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen