The World Cup Givanildo Vieira de Sousa ‘Hulk’ impregnated with his experience, strength and goals the attack of the Athletic Mineiro, which this Thursday was crowned for the second time in its history as champion of the Brazilian soccer league and had the burly striker as its main figure.
Still in the dispute for the trophy as the top scorer of Serie A of the Brazilian Championship in 2021, the 18 goals so far from Hulk were decisive in bringing the whole of Belo Horizonte to be proclaimed as the anticipated winner of the title, with two days remaining to finish the tournament.
In addition to his own goals, Hulk He also stood out as an “innkeeper” by putting the ball “on a tray” to the other forwards of the team who took advantage of his precise passes, such as the Spanish-Brazilian Diego Costa, the Chilean Eduardo Vargas, the Venezuelan Jefferson savarino and the locals Keno and Eduardo Sasha.
After 15 years in foreign football, the Hulk returned “in a big way” to his country and not only became a team figure, but also his outstanding performance put him back on the coach’s radar. Tite, who took it into account again for Canarinha, the same one that he defended in the 2014 World Cup.
Born on July 25, 1986 in the wild city of Campina Grande, in the interior of the state of Paraiba (Northeast) and with a childhood of poverty in which from an early age he helped his butcher father with chores, Hulk he carried out most of his career as a footballer abroad.
After his first 2 seasons at Vitória, in the city of Salvador, Hulk He emigrated to Japanese Kawasaki at the age of 19 and also defended Consadole Sapporo and Tokio Verdy in the Japanese League, with which he became the top scorer in 2007 in the second division and made the leap to Port From Portugal.
His experience, physical build and the power of his left leg ratified in Portuguese territory the nickname of Hulk, in a comparison with the superhero of the comic strips.
The peak of his career was precisely with the “Dragones”, a club with which he won 4 First League titles, 3 Portuguese Cups, 3 Super Cups from the European country and a Europa League from the UEFA, in addition to the artillery in the 2010-2011 season of the Portuguese championship and some individual awards.
His travel through the world of football moved him in 2012 to St. Petersburg, when he stopped in the ranks of Zenit and with which he billed a Russian League, a Russian Cup and a Russian Super Cup, performances that led him in 2013 to play and win the Confederations Cup disputed in his native country.
The journey abroad still had one more excursion and in 2016 the Shanghai SIPG hired him for 60 million euros (about 67.9 million current dollars), which was at the time the most expensive signing in the history of the League from China, which won in 2018.
The “romance” with him Shanghai SIPG, a club with which he played 145 games and scored 77 goals, ended in 2020 and as a free player he was right for this season with the Mineiro, despite the offers he had from other teams in Brazil and abroad.
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