# Murilo de Almeida

Murilo Ribeiro de Almeida (born January 21, 1989) simply known as Murilo de Almeida, is a football player. He last played as a striker for Luverdense Esporte in the Campeonato Mato-Grossense. He is a former striker of the Timor-Leste national football team, and is the country's leading goal scorer.

## Personal life

Murilo was born at Presidente Prudente, Brazil, and naturalized East Timorese by fellow Brazilian Antônio Carlos Vieira, who was then the coach of Timor-Leste.

## Club career
### Earlier career

Murilo de Almeida began his professional club career at Esporte Clube Bahia in Brazil but has not appeared in a single league match.

### Persiraja

In 2011, he signed for Persiraja Banda Aceh. Murilo made his debut for Persiraja Banda Aceh in a match versus Persijap Jepara. He score at his opening match debut; In 69 minutes, Murilo make a surprised goal. Persiraja finished 2-1 with Persijap. Murilo de Almeida was sent off in the 16th minute, after a protest with the referee because of his excessive diving at the goal post in Persija IPL match. Referee reaction was pulling out two yellow cards.

### Busaiteen

Between 2012 and 2013, he signed with and played for Busaiteen Club in the Bahraini Premier League. After his departure, in the 2013 edition of Bahraini Premier League was won by Busaiteen.

### Magwe

In 2013, he moved to Myanmar and played for Magwe FC and scored 4 goals in 10 league matches.

### Al-Mesaimeer and Ettifaq

During the 2013-14 Qatari Second Division, he represented Al-Mesaimeer SC and later moved to Saudi giants Al-Ettifaq FC in 2014. With Ettifaq, he played only 6 games in the Saudi Professional League.

### Japanese leagues and Hongkong

In 2015, he signed with J1 League outfit Oita Trinita and later played for AC Nagano Parceiro in the J3 League on loan from Oita.
Murilo later moved to South China AA in the Hong Kong Premier League and also appeared with the club in 2015 AFC Cup.

### Later career

Murilo came back to his previous club Busaiteen Club in the Bahraini Premier League and stayed there until 2016. He later moved to Kuwait and joined Al Tadhamon SC.

### Chennai City

In 2017, he signed with Indian I-League club Chennai City FC on a two-year deal. He appeared in 8 I-League matches and scored a single goal against Churchill Brothers SC. He was also impressive in his team’s 2-1 victory over Mohun Bagan AC in January.

## International career

Murilo made his international debut for Timor-Leste national under-23 football team in the 2011 SEA Games, where the first match was against Brunei U23. Murilo is known for his quick and fast attack. Murilo scored 3 goals during the 2011 SEA Games. Recently, Murilo received a red card for bad conduct during the third match which was against Vietnam U23. He scored 3 goals in 4 matches for the Timor-Leste U23 between 2011 and 2013.
Murilo made his senior international debut for Timor-Leste national football team on 5 October 2012, against Cambodia, where he struck twice late in the first half against Cambodia at the Youth Training Centre to set Timor Leste on the way to their first-ever win in the competition as he glanced home a cross by Alan and then finished off a counter-attack on the stroke of half-time. Timor-Leste won their first international match against Cambodia in which they scored 5–1.
He made his hat-trick against Brunei in the 2014 AFF Suzuki Cup group stages and honoured as the "Southeast Asia Player of the Week" by Goal.com and Goal Indonesia's CEO Eric Noveanto said that, "The Brazilian-born striker was an important figure for Timor Leste in AFF Suzuki Cup 2014 qualification round on Sunday as he successfully netted a hat-trick to clinch a 4–2 thrilling victory over Brunei at New National Stadium Laos."
He appeared in a total of 8 matches for the O Sol Nascente between 2012 and 2015 and scored 6 goals.

## Career statistics
### International goals

    Scores and results list Timor-Leste's goal tally first.
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
| 1. | 5 October 2012 | Thuwunna Stadium, Yangon | Cambodia | 1–0 | 5–1 | 2012 AFF Suzuki Cup qualifier |
| 2. | 5 October 2012 | Thuwunna Stadium, Yangon | Cambodia | 2–0 | 5–1 | 2012 AFF Suzuki Cup qualifier |
| 3. | 9 October 2012 | Thuwunna Stadium, Yangon | Laos | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2012 AFF Suzuki Cup qualifier |
| 4. | 12 October 2014 | New Laos National Stadium, Vientiane | Brunei | 1–0 | 4–2 | 2014 AFF Suzuki Cup qualifier |
| 5. | 12 October 2014 | New Laos National Stadium, Vientiane | Brunei | 2–2 | 4–2 | 2014 AFF Suzuki Cup qualifier |
| 6. | 12 October 2014 | New Laos National Stadium, Vientiane | Brunei | 3–2 | 4–2 | 2014 AFF Suzuki Cup qualifier |