National team top scorer joins Cerro Porteño
The top scorer of the South American qualifiers has left Cruzeiro and will now seek glory with Cerro Porteño.
Paraguayan champion Cerro Porteño presented Bolivian striker Marcelo Moreno Martins as a reinforcement for the team led by Francisco 'Chiqui' Arce with an eye on their participation in the group stage of the 2022 Copa Libertadores.
"When they proposed it to me, I didn't think twice. I would love to win the Copa Libertadores with Cerro Porteño," said the popular forward of the Bolivian national team, top scorer of the South American qualifiers for Qatar 2022 with 10 goals, who played last season at Cruzeiro in Brazil.
The South American tournament "is a championship that I still don't have and I would love to win it," said the 34-year-old striker. "At the moment, the ideal thing would be to build a good team for that to happen. And if this is the championship we are missing, we will go for it," he declared optimistically.
The Bolivian signed a two-year contract and will wear the number 9 jersey, previously worn by Argentine Mauro Boselli, who was transferred to Estudiantes de La Plata.
The "Flecheiro," the player's nickname in Brazil where he spent most of his career, made his debut at Oriente Petrolero at the age of 16, and was later transferred to Vitória in Brazil in 2004. In 2007, he had his first spell at Cruzeiro and then made the move to Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine, before subsequently moving to Werder Bremen in Germany and Wigan in England.
In 2011, he was signed by Gremio de Porto Alegre. He later played for Flamengo (2013) and returned the following year to Cruzeiro. In 2015, he was transferred to the Chinese Super League, where he played for three clubs. In 2020, he returned to Cruzeiro before finally landing at Cerro Porteño.
"Thank you, Paraguay. Greetings to the fans of Cerro Porteño," said the top scorer in his first statements to the press. AFP