Naldo (footballer, born 1982)

This name uses Portuguese naming customs. The first or maternal family name is Aparecido and the second or paternal family name is Rodrigues.
Naldo
Personal information
Full name Ronaldo Aparecido Rodrigues
Date of birth (1982-09-10) 10 September 1982
Place of birth Londrina, Brazil
Height 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)[1]
Playing position Defender
Club information
Current team
 VfL Wolfsburg
Number 25
Youth career
RS Futebol
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
2002–2004 RS Futebol 47 (3)
2004–2005 Juventude 36 (8)
2005–2012 Werder Bremen 173 (22)
2012– VfL Wolfsburg 119 (16)
National team
2007–2009 Brazil 4 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:55, 27 February 2016 (UTC).

† Appearances (goals)

Ronaldo Aparecido Rodrigues (born 10 September 1982), commonly known as Naldo, is a Brazilian-German footballer currently playing for German club VfL Wolfsburg and the Brazilian national team. He plays as a versatile two-footed central defender.

Career

Naldo at Werder Bremen in the 2006–07 season.

Naldo began his football career playing for RS Futebol at the youth level before playing for them professionally. After two years at RS Futebol, Naldo joined Juventude for one season, where, playing alongside Thiago Silva, he made thirty-six appearances and scored eight goals.

Werder Bremen

His talent in Brazil led to Naldo signing with SV Werder Bremen in the summer of 2005, to replace Valérien Ismaël who left for Bayern Munich for €3 million and shortly after was given the number four shirt. However, he is capable of playing across the back line. On the opening game of the season, Naldo made his debut in a 5–2 win over Arminia Bielefeld and his first goal came in November 2005, in a 6–1 win over Wolfsburg. In his first season, Naldo played in all but two of Bremen's Bundesliga games in the 2005–06 season and in seven of their eight Champions League fixtures, along with two appearances in Champions League Qualifiers, in which he made his Champions League debut that season.

In the 2006–07 season, he scored a hat-trick against Eintracht Frankfurt. The match ended 6–2. He also scored in the next game, with a goal that won the match against Wolfsburg. Two months before, Naldo scored his first UEFA Champions League goal in a 2–0 win over Levski Sofia on 18 October 2006. Placing third in the Champions League secured Werder Bremen a place in the UEFA Cup. In Werder Bremen's first game in the competition, he scored in a 3–1 first-leg win over AFC Ajax to go through to the next round despite losing 3–1 in the second leg.[2] The club advanced through the knock-out stage until they were eliminated in the semi-final by Espanyol. With one game left at the end of the season, Naldo scored an own goal, which handed victory to Frankfurt, in a 1-2 loss. Just as in his first season, Naldo played in all but two of Bremen's Bundesliga games in 2006–07 season as well as in every European fixture.

Naldo pictured in 2009.

In the 2007–08 season, he scored his first goal of the season in a 1–1 draw against Schalke 04 on 27 October 2007, followed up his second goal in a 4–0 win over Karlsruher and his third came (also set up a goal for Hugo Almeida) in a 6–1 win over Hannover 96. Once again, Naldo played in all but two of Bremen's Bundesliga games in 2005–06 season and in six of their six Champions League fixtures, along with, two in Champions League Qualifiers.

In the 2008–09 season, Naldo scored with his right foot, scoring his first goal of the season in a 5–2 win over Bayern Munich which Werder Bremen beat Bayern Munich for the first time at the Allianz Arena.[3] When the clubs meet again but this time Werder at home, he received a straight red card in a 0–0 draw on 1 March 2009. He scored in the 2009 UEFA Cup Final to level the game at 1–1, however his team went on to lose the game 2–1 to Shakhtar Donetsk after extra time. It was in the UEFA Cup Last sixteen, he scored the only goal in a 1–0 win over Saint-Étienne in the first leg. At the end of the season, Naldo played in all but six of Bremen's Bundesliga games in 2006–07 season and in seven of their eight Champions League fixtures and all of the UEFA Cup fixtures. Despite not winning the UEFA Cup, the club would win the DFB-Pokal after beating Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1–0.

Naldo celebrates with Diego Ribas da Cunha after winning the DFB-Pokal.

In the first two games since the opening season, he scored two goals in two matches, with both games a victory against Borussia Mönchengladbach and Hertha respectively. In the first leg of the fourth round of Europa League, he scored twice in a 6–3 win over Aktobe. The club would go through to the Group Stage in a 2–0 win in the second leg. The following season, he signed ntract extension to keep him at the club until 2013. Shortly signing, Manager Thomas Schaaf was delighted with Naldo's new deal.[4] In the Group Stage, he scored in a 3–1 win over Athletic Bilbao and would score against them once again on the last game of the Group stage. In the second round of the Europa League against Twente following Bremen loss in the first round, he scored in the second leg in a 4–1 win and advanced to the next round. However, in the quarter final, Bremen would be eliminated by Valencia. In the DFB-Pokal, Naldo scored three goals in the cup and the club reached the final. In the final against League winner Bayern Munich, he started in the central defense with Per Mertesacker and the club lost 4–0.

In May 2010, Naldo sustained a serious knee injury in a match against Wolfsburg on 17 April 2010 after a challenge with Grafite, resulting Naldo suffered a one bone edema on the right knee. But he recovered after taking painkillers and played the remaining fixture for the club towards the end of the season. However, in the 2010–11 season, he was absent throughout the season as he hadn't made a single appearance that season. His injury may need a require surgery as his injury is rare and the exact cause was not known. Naldo had many surgery's in Germany (having a surgery about three time by Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt, Ulrich Boenisch and even the club's doctor Goetz Dimanski[5]) before going to Brazil where he will have surgery after the club's management was against having German doctors and will be operated by Brazilian physician of Brazil national team, José Luiz Runco.[6] After an operation on his knee a few days later, it revealed he damaged his Cartilage.[7] Doctors also revealed shortly after Naldo's surgery, that his injury will take at least nine months to recover and also feared that the cartilage damage could later lead to other knee problems.[8]

Naldo pictured in 2007.

He made his comeback in mid August 2011, appearing for Bremen in a friendly match, and subsequently returned to Bundesliga action in September 2011, after coming on as a substitute in a late minute in a 2–0 win over Hamburger and played his first match in fifteen months. One month later, he told Kreiszeitung Syke newspaper that he's pleased with overcoming his injury nightmare and feels happy on his return.[9] Naldo would score his first goal in a year, in a 2–0 win over Stuttgart on 27 November 2011 and in the second half of the season, he scored in a 2–2 draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach on 10 April 2012 and two weeks later on 21 April 2012, he scored and scored an own goal in the match, in a 2–1 loss against Bayern Munich. In the January transfer window, Naldo was linked with a return to Brazil, Internacional rumoured to be one.[10] However, the move never happened after Naldo was convinced to stay by manager Schaaf

Wolfsburg

On 18 July 2012, Naldo moved to VfL Wolfsburg on a four-year contract for a fee of €3 million, which will rise to €4m.[11][12] Naldo was linked with a move to Wolfsburg but failed a medical over his fitness, resulting a move to collapsed[13] It revealed that the Naldo move was successfully complete after Wolfsburg inserted a clause, that would not let Naldo fail his medical again and resulted Werder Bremen receiving an extra payment.[14] Naldo made his competitive debut in a 5–0 win over Schönberg 95 and setting a goal for Ivica Olić, who would score a hat-trick in the first round of DFB-Pokal and made his league debut in the opening season in a 1–0 win over Stuttgart. However, his performance was criticised by manager Felix Magath, over he does not error and mistakes cost us points.[15] Just weeks after Magath criticised Naldo, Magath would be sacked after only five points in eight matches (and no goals and points in the last four games). On 18 November 2012, he scored his first goal for the club in a 3–1 win over 1899 Hoffenheim.

On 16 May 2014, Naldo signed a new two-year contract.[16]

Nicknames

During his first few weeks at Bremen fans likened him to an Ox due to his immense height and athletic build, as a result he was nicknamed The Beast, a name shared with players Julio Baptista, Jon Parkin, Álvaro Negredo, Brian Jensen and Adebayo Akinfenwa.

Style of play

He stands at 1.98 metres tall and this height, combined with his jumping and heading ability, make him a big threat in aerial contests. He is also well known for his set piece skill and according to Brazil national team manager Dunga, Naldo can hit the ball in excess of 60 mph using the cannonball free kick method associated with other pros such as Roberto Carlos, Alex and Adriano. During his time at Werder Bremen, he was the club's fan favorite and became in the regular team. His team-mate Tim Wiese described him as a best central defender in the league.[17]

Personal life

Naldo is a devout Christian and has a large back-piece tattoo depicting Jesus on the cross with two angels on either side, one holding a guitar the other holding a heart. Over the tattoo it says in Portuguese "De Todo o Nos Livrai time Amém" ("Deliver us from evil, Amen"). The tattoo was done by Frank Kassebaum and describing it Naldo states "I am very religious, and have faith in God. It is to my family and will always protect me." In addition Naldo has the names of his wife Carla and his son Naldinho tattooed on his forearms.[18]

Honours

Club

Werder Bremen
VfL Wolfsburg

International

Brazil

References

  1. ↑ "Naldo" (in German). VfL Wolfsburg. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  2. ↑ "Uefa Cup round-up". Sky Sports. 14 February 2007. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  3. ↑ "Awesome Werder Bremen crush Bayern 5–2 in Munich". French 24. 20 September 2008. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
  4. ↑ "Naldo staying with Bremen". Sky Sports. 10 September 2009. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  5. ↑ "Ärzte-Krach um Naldo" (in German). Kreiszeitung. 5 January 2011. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  6. ↑ "Naldo ist schon in Brasilien" (in German). Kreiszeitung. 15 January 2011. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  7. ↑ "Naldo in Brasilien operiert und sehr optimistisch" (in German). Kreiszeitung. 19 January 2011. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  8. ↑ "Naldo-Schock: Offenbar noch neun Monate Pause" (in German). Kreiszeitung. 9 February 2011. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  9. ↑ "Naldo – It's good to be back". Sky Sports. 25 October 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  10. ↑ "Naldo claims Internacional offer". Sky Sports. 4 December 2011. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  11. ↑ "Naldo transfers to Wolfsburg". Werder Bremen. 17 July 2012. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
  12. ↑ "Werder Bremen confirm Naldo's transfer to Wolfsburg". Goal.com. 17 July 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  13. ↑ "Naldo fails Wolfsburg medical". Goal.com. 18 July 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  14. ↑ "Wolfsburg insert 'knee clause' into Naldo's contract". Goal.com. 20 July 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  15. ↑ "Magath niet blij met prestaties Naldo" (in Dutch). Goal.com. 18 October 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  16. ↑ "Naldo bleibt bis 2016". VfL Wolfsburg (in German). 16 May 2014.
  17. ↑ "Naldo sorgt für dunkle Wolken" (in German). Frankfurter Rundschau. 6 January 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  18. ↑ "Mein Jesus-Tattoo soll mich beschützen". Bild.com (in German). 26 December 2008. Retrieved 22 December 2014.

Quotes

External links

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