Some of the greatest footballers of all time have been pictured wearing Celtic shirts.
A picture of George Best wearing one recently resurfaced, and many Hoops fans will have seen Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi and Pele wearing (or holding) Celtic tops.
Felipe Melo doesn’t quite fall into that category. He picked up 22 caps for the Brazil national team, before being bombed out under infamous circumstances.
An aggressive, hot-headed midfielder, he amassed a whopping 26 career red cards. The most well-known was at the 2010 World Cup, when he violently stamped on Dutch legend Arjen Robben. He wasn’t seen in the national side from then on.
Despite this, he still had a respectable playing career, featuring for Juventus, Inter Milan and Galatasaray during his time in Europe – and he picked up a Celtic jersey along the way.
Ex-Brazil midfielder Felipe Melo wears Celtic shirt
Melo played against Celtic for Inter in a friendly in Dublin in 2016.
He also faced them for Galatasaray in 2014, and this was when he got his hands on the Nike Celtic shirt from that season.
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He was still playing until the age of 41, but eventually retired last year at Fluminense, where he became champion of South America in 2023.
He now works as a pundit in Brazil, and has earned a few compliments for his choice of attire in a new video for ESPN.
Melo earned the nicknames ‘Pitbull’ and ‘Gladiator’ for his touch-tackling style of play during his career.
He was also called ‘Big Cat’ after saving a penalty for Galatasaray in 2012, following a red card to the side’s main goalkeeper when the team was out of substitutions.
Could he have ever played for Celtic? It’s hard imagining him and Scott Brown fitting into the same midfield.
And given Celtic’s record with Brazilian internationals, it’s probably best avoided.
Brazilian Celtic players
Fans who remember Juninho’s Premier League Player of the Season-winning campaign in 1997 will remember him as a magician, but he was far from that during his time in Glasgow.
He complained that Martin O’Neill didn’t give him enough game time, and eventually departed for Palmeiras.
Stories are still told of Rafael Scheidt, one of the most bizarre signings in Celtic’s history, for reasons beyond just his name. He had a solid reputation in Brazil, but his £5 million move to Scotland was appalling value for money.
If anyone ever does become the third Brazilian to play for the Hoops, their bravery can’t be doubted.
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