Gilberto (footballer, born 1982)

Gilberto

Gilberto with Angola in 2014
Personal information
Full name	Felisberto Sebastião da Graça Amaral
Date of birth	(1982-09-21) 21 September 1982
Place of birth	Luanda, Angola
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
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	29	(0)
2012–2013	AEL Limassol	16	(1)
2013–2015	Petro Atlético	23	(6)
2015	Benfica de Luanda	11	(2)
Total		365	(15)
International career
1999–2015	Angola	78	(8)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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 played for the Angola national team at international level.

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. Shortly afterwards, he announced his retirement as a player 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

Appearances and goals by national team and year

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.

List of international goals scored by Gilberto

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	Estádio 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

External links

• Angola's Gilberto arrives at Lierse at the Wayback Machine (archived 3 March 2012)