Quick Facts
Biography
Matheus Leite Nascimento (born 15 January 1983), known simply as Matheus, is a Brazilian footballer who plays for Chinese club Shijiazhuang Ever Bright F.C. as a forward.
He spent most of his professional career in Portugal with Braga and in Ukraine with Dnipro, winning the 2013 League Cup with the first club and appearing in 154 competitive games with the second (48 goals).
Club career
Early years / Braga
Matheus was born in Ribeirópolis, Sergipe. After starting professionally with lowly Associação Olímpica de Itabaiana, he moved to Portugal in the summer of 2005, with second division team F.C. Marco. In January of the following year, however, he was bought by Primeira Liga's S.C. Braga, making four appearances in his first season.
During the year 2007, encompassing both the 2006–07 and 2007–08 campaigns, Matheus served two loans: in January 2007 he played with S.C. Beira-Mar, appearing from August–December with Vitória de Setúbal and being subsequently recalled by his parent club.
In 2009–10, Matheus appeared in all 30 league matches – but rarely as a starter – as Braga finished in a best-ever second place behind S.L. Benfica. He contributed with five goals, in 1,142 minutes of action.
Matheus started the following season with major contributions: on 28 July, he scored from a 35-meter free kick to close the score against Celtic (3–0 at home), as Braga progressed to the next UEFA Champions League qualifying round (4–2 on aggregate). On 13 August, in the league opener against Portimonense SC, he started and opened the scoresheet in an eventual 3–1 home win; five days later, again for the Champions League, he scored the game's only goal in a home win against Sevilla FC –in celebrating the goal, he pulled out a pacifier and put it in his mouth– and netted the first in the second leg in Andalusia, in a 4–3 win (5–3 on aggregate).
Dnipro
On 23 November 2010, Matheus scored twice in the dying minutes of the 2–0 Champions League home win against Arsenal, although Braga would eventually fail to reach the knockout stages of the competition, finishing third in their group. In January 2011, the 28-year-old left and signed for FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in Ukraine, for €1 million.
Matheus finished his first full season at Dnipro with seven goals from 23 appearances, helping his team to the fourth position. During the 2015 UEFA Europa League Final in Warsaw, he collapsed on the field of play with nobody around him in the late stages of the team's 2–3 defeat to Sevilla. Manager Myron Markevych confirmed that he had been treated at hospital for a nasal fracture and a head injury, being discharged in good health hours later to reunite with his teammates.
Shijiazhuang Ever Bright
On 12 June 2016, Matheus was supposed to join Superleague Greece club PAOK FC on a free transfer, signing alongside teammates Léo Matos and Evhen Shakhov. However, the deal fell through and he moved to Shijiazhuang Ever Bright F.C. instead.
International career
In March 2013, after more than two years of living in the country, Matheus indicated that he would be likely to accept a call-up for the Ukrainian national team if asked.
Honours
- Taça da Liga: 2012–13
- UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2008
- UEFA Europa League: Runner-up 2010–11
- UEFA Europa League: Runner-up 2014–15