Vitorino Antunes

Vitorino Gabriel Pacheco Antunes, commonly known as Vitorino Antunes, is a Portuguese footballer, born on 1st April 1987 in Freamunde of Northern Portugal. He plays mainly as the left-back and occasionally plays in the left flank of the midfield, currently for the club Getafe.

Background

Antunes started playing football at the age of 9 and part of SC Freamunde Under-19 and senior side.

He joined FC Paços de Ferreira in 2006 and made 23 Premeira Liga appearances in that season.

He rose through the ranks representing his country at different age levels. In 2005, he broke into Portugal Under-18 side before representing Portugal in the 2006 European Under-19 Championship, 2007 FIFA Under-20 World Cup and 2007 European Under-21 Championship.

Before the finals of 2007 European Under-21 Championship, he got senior team call.

Debut

Antunes’s maiden appearance for the senior Portugal side came as a 61st-minute substitution in a friendly match against Al-Salmiya Sports Club in Kuwait in June 2007.

He made international debut in an international friendly against the Faroe Islands in August 2008.

Rise to Glory

Antunes tasted success during his stint with Malaga.in 2013-14 season. The left-back became a vital cog in the Spanish team and played 36 La Liga matches scoring once.

Low Points

Antunes’s career has not blossomed in national colour. He was the dropped from the squad after playing his third match against Malta in 2008.

The left-back took five years before making his fourth appearance for Portugal when he came as a 54th-minute substitution against Brazil in September 2013 in an international friendly in Massachusetts.

Since then he managed to play only 13 times out of 56 matches.

Club Career

Antunes’s club-career has not been stable at all. In August 2007, he penned a contract with the Italian side, AS Roma.

Playing only five matches for the Italian giants, he played in many clubs on loan. The Portuguese joined Italian second-tier side Lecee in the 2008 summer.

He joined Portuguese second-tier club Leixoes in January transfer window of 2010 before moving to Serie C side AS Livorono in January 2011.

He moved to Greece Tier-one club, Panionios Athens, in June 2011 ultimately signing a three-year contract with his former club, Paços de Ferreira, in July 2012. But in the very next transfer window in January 2013, he went Spanish top-tier side, Malaga CF on loan.

After two better years in Spain, Danish side, Dynamo Kyiv signed a four-year contract with Antunes’s at 5.5 million Euro in February 2015. He came to Spanish side on loan in 2017 before eventually going back to Danish side in June 2018.