Gilberto (footballer, born 1982)
Felisberto Sebastião da Graça Amaral, more commonly known as Gilberto (born 21 September 1982), is an Angolan former professional footballer who played as a left winger or left midfielder. He played professionally for Egypt's Al Ahly, Belgian club Lierse, Cypriot club AEL Limassol, and for Benfica de Luanda in his native country. He represented the Angola national team at international level.
| Gilberto with Angola in 2014 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Felisberto Sebastião da Graça Amaral[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 21 September 1982[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Luanda, Angola | ||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Left winger, left midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2001–2002 | Petro Atlético | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2002–2010 | Al Ahly | 121 | (7) |
| 2010–2011 | Lierse[2] | 29 | (0) |
| 2012–2013 | AEL Limassol[3] | 16 | (1) |
| 2013–2015 | Petro Atlético[3] | 23 | (6) |
| 2015 | Benfica de Luanda[3] | 11 | (2) |
| Total | 365 | (15) | |
| International career | |||
| 1999–2015 | Angola | 78 | (8) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Club career
Al Ahly
While playing for Al Ahly in Egypt, Gilberto was well known for fitting into the team's tactic. The tactic was that Gilberto would run on the side of the pitch and then cross the ball at the end to Flavio who would score with a header. With Al Ahly, Gilberto played against many world class teams such as FC Barcelona and Roma. He helped his team to domestic success before helping them become the only team in the world to qualify to Club World Cup twice in a row.
2015 incident and retirement
On 26 July 2015, during a match of Benfica de Luanda, Gilberto was knocked out following a tackle by an opponent from Progresso do Sambizanga. He subsequently remained unconscious for about twenty minutes, before being resuscitated by medical service and immediately carried to the hospital. A doctor stated that no injuries were detected in medical tests.[4] Shortly afterwards, he announced his retirement as a player[5] and that he was taking an office position with Benfica de Luanda.
International career
An Achilles tendon injury made him miss the 2006 African Cup of Nations and the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. He was part of the Angola national team during the 2008 African Cup of Nations in Ghana.
In the 2010 African Cup of Nations opening game against Mali on 10 January in Luanda Gilberto made assist for 1–0 lead to Flávio Amado in the first half. In the second half he scored from penalty-kick for Angola 3–0 lead and later in the game Seydou Keita penalised him for another penalty kick for Angola. Manucho scored for 4–0 but the match finished 4–4 after four consecutive goals for Mali in the last 15 minutes of the game.
Career statistics
International
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Angola | 1999 | 2 | 0 |
| 2000 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2001 | 8 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2003 | 3 | 1 | |
| 2004 | 5 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2006 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2007 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2008 | 11 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 7 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 8 | 2 | |
| 2011 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2012 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2013 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2014 | 9 | 0 | |
| 2015 | 5 | 1 | |
| Total | 78 | 8 | |
- Scores and results list Angola's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Gilberto goal.[6][7]
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 21 April 2001 | Nchanga Stadium, Chingola, Zambia | Zambia | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 2 | 29 March 2003 | Estádio da Cidadela, Luanda, Angola | Algeria | 1–0 | 1–1 | Friendly |
| 3 | 23 May 2004 | Stade des Martyrs, Kinshasa, DR Congo | DR Congo | 1–0 | 3–1 | Friendly |
| 4 | 12 October 2008 | Estádio dos Coqueiros, Luanda, Angola | Niger | 2–1 | 3–1 | 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 5 | 9 September 2009 | Estádio Municipal de Albufeira, Albufeira, Portugal | Cape Verde | 1–0 | 1–1 | Friendly |
| 6 | 10 January 2010 | Estadio 11 de Novembro, Luanda, Angola | Mali | 3–0 | 4–4 | 2010 Africa Cup of Nations |
| 7 | 9 October 2010 | Estádio 11 de Novembro, Luanda, Angola | Guinea-Bissau | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification |
| 8 | 13 June 2015 | Estádio Nacional da Tundavala, Lubango, Angola | Central African Republic | 4–0 | 4–0 | 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification |
References
- ^ a b c (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 5 December 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 December 2008.
- ^ "Gilberto » Club matches". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
- ^ a b c d "Gilberto". National Football Teams. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
- ^ "Gilberto passes out in game against Progresso". ANGOP.com. 27 July 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
- ^ "Midfielder Gilberto officially announces retirement from football". ANGOP.com. 5 November 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
- ^ Gilberto at Soccerway. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
- ^ Felisberto Sebastião de Graça Amaral "Gilberto" - International Appearances
External links
- Gilberto at FootballDatabase.eu
- at the Wayback Machine (archived 3 March 2012)