Souza do Amaral Amarildo, born in Curitiba on October 2 1964, was a decent centre forward. Not exactly great with his feet, he was an exceptional header of the ball and his classic goal was the headed lob from one post to the other.
He had a very long career and played in lots of clubs. Grown up in Pinheros, from 1984 he played in quite a number of Brazilian teams (Botafogo, Operario-MS, Inter de Limeira, XV de Piracicaba) before ending up with Internacional at Porto Alegre where he played from 1986 to 1988.
In 1989 he was spotted by Celta Vigo and had a European chance. He played well in the Liga and scored 16 goals that season. Lazio, not pleased with how Gustavo Dezotti had played the previous season, were looking for a real centre forward and thought Amarildo would do a good job.
He did. Thanks to Paolo Di Canio on the right wing and Raffaele Sergio on the left, plus his attacking companion Ruben Sosa, he was put in a position to score a lot. But, probably due to Giuseppe Materazzi’s over cautious approach to games, he scored just 9 goals in his first and only season with Lazio.
He was sold to Cesena at the end of the season and replaced by Karl Heinz Riedle.
He stayed in Italy until 1992 and won the Mitropa Cup with Torino (he was loaned by Cesena just for the tournament). He then played in the Liga for the 1992-93 season with Logrones before going back to Brazil.
Back at home he played for Famalicao, Uniao Sao Joao, Sao Paolo, Bahia and Ribeirao and quit football in 1999.
Amarildo was part of the Athletes of Christ, a Brazilian Association of Evangelical Christian sportspeople and used to give bibles to his opponents.
He played 31 games for Lazio, 29 in Serie A and 2 in Coppa Italia, and scored 9 goals.
Appearances and goals for Lazio
Season | Total appearances (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
1989-90 | 31 (9) | 29 (8) | 2 (1) |
Sources
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