Legendary striker Marcelo Martins Moreno will retire from professional football today. The farewell will come before the Cruzeiro fans, who revere him so much, in the final of the Mineirao Championship against Atlético Mineiro, which ended 2-2 in the first leg.
“In my 20-year career, Cruzeiro is the club in which I have played the most, scored the most goals and won the most titles, among the greatest joys that football has given me. For this reason, I could not finish my professional career without saying goodbye to the fans that welcomed me as a legitimate celestial citizen,” the attacker wrote in a letter for the site “The Players Tribune.”
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The footballer began his fourth stage in the Belo Horizonte team with the sole objective of training for his farewell match. He arrived as a free agent after his departure in December from Independiente del Valle (Ecuador), in one more club on his extensive resume that took him to play in China, Ukraine and England, among other countries.
With Cruzeiro, he won two Mineiro Championships (2008, 2014) and the 2014 Brasileirão, the last one won by the team owned by Ronaldo Nazário. He scored 42 goals in 122 matches with the team, but he also made financial loans to the institution when it was at risk of falling to the third division due to its finances, before it was bought by the former Brazilian star.
"Meu muito obrigado a cada cruzeirense por ter me proporcionado o maior dos sentimentos que um atleta pode sonhar em receber. E ao Cruzeiro, claro, que pra sempre eu vou amar."@marcelo_moreno se despede dos gramados com uma mensagem especial para a torcida do @Cruzeiro. pic.twitter.com/31ejutI0PR
— The Players' Tribune Brasil (@TPTBrasil) April 5, 2024
He is also the highest historical scorer for the Bolivian national team with 31 goals and with 108 games he is the one who wore the La Verde shirt the most times. His last international match was in the 3-0 loss of La Verde against Uruguay in Montevideo, in November of last year, for the Qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.
“When I step on that field (the Mineirão stadium) for the last time and hear the fans shout my name on Sunday, I have no doubt that my father, who now rests like a star in the sky, will be happy to know that all the love “What I have given to football has been duly rewarded,” said Martins Moreno in his farewell letter.
