Felipe Melo

Brazil

Felipe Melo began his career for Flamengo, where he made 69 appearances and scored no goals in his two-season spell with the club. Following impressive performances with Flamengo, Melo transferred to Cruzeiro in the summer of 2003, but would remain for just one season. In his single season with Cruzeiro, Melo managed to make 31 league appearances, scoring two goals. Following yet another impressive season in Brazil, he was sold to Grêmio. Following his transfer to Grêmio, Melo managed to make an additional 19 appearances and adding three goals to his tally in his native Brazil. He would only remain in Porto Alegre for 2004, because Grêmio was relegated that year and the team was dismantled.

Spain

In January 2005, Felipe Melo moved abroad for the first time, joining Spanish La Liga club Mallorca, who released Andrija Delibašić to give him a place. He played only eight times for the Balearic team, his season ending through knee ligament injury against Valencia in March; they narrowly avoided relegation. Ahead of the 2005–06 season, Melo moved to fellow league team Racing de Santander. He scored his first goal for them on 21 December, in a 2–1 win away to Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu. On 3 July 2007, Felipe Melo became Almería's first signing ahead of their debut top-flight season. The transfer, which involved buying some of his rights from a third-party owner, was the most expensive in the club's history. He was a regular in midfield for Unai…

Felipe Melo made his senior international debut for Brazil on 10 February 2009 against Italy in a friendly, a match Brazil won 2–0. On 1 April 2009, he scored his first goal for his country against Peru in a 3–0 World Cup qualification victory. Felipe Melo was named to the Brazilian squad for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa, playing in every match of the tournament for his side and scoring the opener in a 3–0 group stage win against the United States. Brazil would again beat the U.S. in the final to win a third consecutive Confederations Cup title. Felipe Melo was named in Brazil's final 23-man squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In Brazil's quarter-final against the Netherlands in Port Elizabeth, he provided the assist for Robinho's tenth-minute opener, before Melo himself slightly touched a Wesley Sneijder cross, which at first was recorded as an own goal, but later credited to Sneijder. Sneijder then put the Dutch 2–1 ahead, before Melo was then sent off by referee Yuichi Nishimura in the 73rd minute for a violent stamp on Dutch winger Arjen Robben. On Brazil's return home after the World Cup, Felipe Melo took the brunt of the criticism of the fans as they threw insults, pushed and shoved towards the players.

A quick, strong, tenacious, yet talented midfielder, Felipe Melo is known in particular for his hard-working, energetic, physical, and hard-tackling playing style, which has earned him the nicknames Pitbull and Gladiator, while in 2015 his Inter manager at the time, Roberto Mancini, described Melo and his teammate Gary Medel as warriors. He is able to play as a central or box-to-box midfielder, but is usually deployed as a defensive midfielder, where his stamina, power, tactical intelligence, and ball-winning abilities aid him in breaking down opposing plays, while his good all-round skills, first touch, and passing allow him subsequently to distribute the ball to his more offensive-minded teammates. In addition to his defensive attributes, he is also known for his dynamism and ability to make late runs into the area from midfield, which occasionally enables him to provide an additional attacking outlet to his teams. Throughout his career, Melo has stood out for his leadership on the pitch, although he has also equally been criticised for his aggression and tendency to pick up cards.

Felipe Melo is married to Roberta, and they have one daughter (Pietra) and three sons, Davi, Linyker (who he named after the English centre forward Gary Lineker), and Bernardo. On 18 June 2013, through Twitter and Facebook, Felipe Melo offended Renato Maurício Prado, a pundit of the Fox Sports channel. Among another names callings, Melo called Prado "coward", "arsehole" and "the most famous cuckold of sporting journalism". Prado sued Melo in August. On 4 June 2014, Felipe Melo was on vacation with his family and friend in Las Vegas. Whilst enjoying dinner with his family and friends, a former football player and his friend handed Melo a hand-written paper stating "Sampiyon Fenerbahçe – which means Champion Fenerbahçe". Fenerbahçe, the main opponent of Galatasaray, had finished as Turkish Süper Lig champions for the 2013–14 season, which had just concluded. Melo responded to the note by showing the two his middle finger and by kicking one of them. The case was taken to American police. Felipe Melo endorsed Jair Bolsonaro in the 2018 Brazilian presidential election. He dedicated his winning goal against Chapecoense in October 2019 to the president, a fan of Palmeiras.