Carlao

Carlos Roberto da Cruz Junior, or simply Carlao (born 19 January 1986) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a central defender for Guarani.

Club Career

Corinthians

Carlao started his career with Brazilian powerhouse Corinthians where he played a total of 24 games, and scored 3 goals.

Sochaux

In July 2008, Carlao was transferred from Corinthians to the French Ligue 1 side FC Sochaux-Montbeliard, after completing a deal worth €800,000. He played for Sochaux from 2008 until 2014, appearing in 128 matches and scoring 1 goal.

APOEL

On 19 June 2014, after six French Ligue 1 seasons, he signed a two-year contract with APOEL from Cyprus. He made his APOEL debut against HJK Helsinki at Sonera Stadium on 30 July 2014, in a 2–2 first leg draw for the third qualifying round of the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League. Carlao appeared in every group stage match in APOEL's 2014–15 UEFA Champions League campaign and following his impressive performance at Camp Nou against FC Barcelona for the first week of the group stage, he was included in UEFA.com's team of the week as the best central defender. In his first season at APOEL, Carlao managed to win his first two career titles, as his team won both the Cypriot championship and the cup.

He scored his first official goal in his second season at APOEL, netting the winner in his team's 2–1 home victory against Asteras Tripoli for the group stage of the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League on 22 October 2015.

On 3 August 2016, Carlao agreed to extend his contract with APOEL until May 2019. However, on 10 January 2017, APOEL announced that they had agreed for his transfer to the Serie A side Torino, after the Italian club paid his €500,000 minimum release fee.

Torino

On 9 January 2017 he arrived in Italy, signing with Torino for two and a half seasons.

APOEL