Júnior Moraes
Brazilian footballer

Júnior Moraes

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Brazilian footballer
Gender:
Male
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Birth:
6 September 1997(Santos, Brazil)
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Biography

Introduction

Aluísio Chaves Ribeiro Moraes Júnior (born 4 April 1987), commonly known as Moraes, is a Brazilian-born Ukrainian professional footballer who plays for Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk and Ukraine as a forward. He received Ukrainian citizenship in March 2019.

Biography

Moraes was born in a family of sportsmen. His father was a very good football player. He played for Flamengo and Santos. His brother Bruno also played for Santos and Porto and still in activity, while his sister ended her football career because of an injury. His mother was a Paulista tennis champion.

He started to play football in São Paulo when he was 4 years old, being in the same group with Robinho.

Career

Santos

Moraes was promoted to the senior team of Santos by coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo at the age of 18.

He then scored a goal in the 2007 Campeonato Paulista final between Santos and São Caetano, helping his side to the title.

Gloria Bistrița

Moraes made an impressive debut in Liga I for Gloria Bistrița, scoring 10 goals in 17 appearances. His good run continued in the first part of the 2010–11 Liga I season as he accumulated a total of 18 goals for Gloria Bistrița in the Romanian championship.

Metalurh Donetsk

On 12 February 2011, Gloria Bistrița announced that Moraes was sold to Ukrainian Premier League squad Metalurh Donetsk, for a reported fee of €1.25 million. However, Moraes never played a game for Metalurh before he rejoined the team in the summer of 2012.

CSKA Sofia

Before 2011–12 season Moraes joined Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia. He made his A Group debut on 12 September 2011 in a 3–0 home win over Lokomotiv Plovdiv, scoring a penalty. On 2 October, Moraes scored twice in a 3–0 away win over Svetkavitsa. He scored a hattrick versus Litex Lovech on 19 May. Moraes eventually finished the 2011–12 A Group season as joint top scorer with Ivan Stoyanov.

Dynamo Kyiv

Júnior Moraes with Dynamo Kyiv in 2015.

On 22 May 2015, Moraes signed a three-year contract with Dynamo Kyiv, who at the time have won the Ukrainian League which had automatically qualified them to the UEFA Champions League group stage. Since his contract with Metalurh was expiring in the summer of 2015, he joined Dynamo as a free agent. He made his official debut for Dynamo in the Ukrainian Super Cup against Shakhtar Donetsk, which Dynamo lost 0–2, conceding both goals in the injury time of the second half while being down to 10 men. Despite the loss, Moraes was one of the best players on the pitch as he got many opportunities, one of which hit the crossbar. On 25 July 2015, Moraes scored his first official goal for Dynamo on the 61st minute in a 2–0 win against Olimpik Donetsk in the Ukrainian Premier League and was one of the best players on the pitch despite the fact that his team was down to 9 men in the second half.

On 16 September 2015, Moraes made his UEFA Champions League debut in a 2–2 draw against Portuguese club FC Porto in the group stage. On 29 September 2015, Moraes scored his first ever UEFA Champions League goal in the second group stage match, scoring the second goal on the 50th minute in a 0–2 away win against Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv. In that season he helped Dynamo reach the 1/8 of the UEFA Champions League for the first time in 16 years, getting knocked out by Manchester City 1–3 on aggregate, as well as winning the Ukrainian Premier League.

Shakhtar Donetsk

On 18 June 2018, Moraes signed a two-year contract with Shakhtar Donetsk after his contract with his previous club and Shakhtar's UPL rival Dynamo Kyiv ran out.

International career

Moraes indicated that he would be likely to accept a call-up for Ukraine national football team if asked. On 5 March 2019 Ukrainian journalist announced that Moraes has already filed for citizenship and awaits approval. He received Ukrainian citizenship 13 days later by a decree of President Petro Poroshenko and made his debut as a substituted player in the drawing match against Portugal national football team on 22 March 2019.

Career statistics

As of match played 29 February 2020
Club Season League Cup Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Santos 2007 Série A 15 1 0 0 2 0 4 2 21 3
2008 1 1 0 0 0 0 4 0 5 1
Total 16 2 0 0 2 0 8 2 26 4
Ponte Preta (loan) 2008 Série B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Santo André 2009 Série A 2 1 0 0 0 0 5 1 7 2
Total 2 1 0 0 0 0 5 1 7 2
Gloria Bistrița 2009–10 Liga I 17 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 17 10
2010–11 15 8 3 2 0 0 0 0 18 10
Total 32 18 3 2 0 0 0 0 35 20
CSKA Sofia 2011–12 A Group 24 16 2 1 0 0 0 0 26 17
Total 24 16 2 1 0 0 0 0 26 17
Metalurh Donetsk 2012–13 Ukrainian Premier League 23 11 0 0 4 2 0 0 27 13
2013–14 27 19 1 0 2 0 0 0 30 19
2014–15 13 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 5
Total 63 35 1 0 6 2 0 0 70 37
Dynamo Kyiv 2015–16 Ukrainian Premier League 20 7 3 1 7 1 1 0 30 9
2016–17 16 10 1 2 6 1 1 0 24 13
2017–18 18 5 1 0 11 7 0 0 30 12
Total 54 22 5 3 24 9 2 0 84 34
Tianjin Quanjian (loan) 2017 Chinese Super League 3 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 4 2
Total 3 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 4 2
Shakhtar Donetsk 2018–19 Ukrainian Premier League 27 19 3 3 8 4 1 0 39 26
2019–20 17 15 1 0 8 2 1 0 27 17
Total 44 34 4 3 16 6 2 0 66 43
Career total 238 128 16 11 47 18 17 3 319 159

International

As of 11 October 2019
Ukraine national team
Year Apps Goals
2019 5 0
Total 5 0

Honours

Santos
  • Campeonato Paulista: 2007
CSKA Sofia
  • Bulgarian Supercup: 2011
Dynamo Kyiv
  • Ukrainian Premier League: 2015–16
  • Ukrainian Super Cup: 2016
Shakhtar Donetsk
  • Ukrainian Premier League: 2018–19
  • Ukrainian Cup: 2018–19

Individual

  • ABF A PFG Player of the Year (1): 2011–12