Mateus Lima Cruz

Mateus Lima Cruz (born 18 January 1993), known as Mateus, is a Brazilian footballer who plays as a forward for Thai League 1 side Nakhon Ratchasima.

Club career Born in Iturama, Minas Gerais, Mateus Lima was a Grêmio Barueri youth graduate. After a short loan spell at Sport Barueri, he made his professional debut on 17 November 2012, starting in a 2–0 home win against Avaí for the Série B championship.

On 4 February 2013, Mateus Lima moved to Sport Recife. After only appearing for the club in the Campeonato Pernambucano, he joined Guarani on 10 December.

On 16 January 2014, Mateus Lima signed for Luverdense. He scored his first professional goal on 19 November, but in a 1–2 home loss against América Mineiro; he added another ten days later, netting the game's only in a home success over Ceará.

On 20 February 2015, Mateus Lima agreed to a contract with Operário Ferroviário. He was crowned champions of the year's Campeonato Paranaense, but appeared rarely.

In June 2015, Mateus Lima signed with Albanian Champions Skënderbeu Korçë as a reinforcement for the club's campaign in Champions League after the departures of Aco Stojkov, Dhiego Martins and Fatjon Sefa. The Brazilian striker was also a target of FK Kukësi. In his unofficial debut on 16 June, Lima scored in his debut after 29 minutes in an eventual 2–1 win against Romanian side. Despite scoring in his debut, however, he was not named in Skënderbeu's squad list for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League because he did not convince his coach Mirel Josa in his appearances.

In July 2015, after just one month with Skënderbeu Korçë, Mateus Lima left the club and signed with Kukesi. In the 2015–16 campaign, he scored seven league goals in 27 league appearances, along with three goals in the Albanian Cup.

In July 2016, Mateus Lima joined Santos, and was assigned to the B-team squad.

On the last day of the summer transfer window 2017, Mateus Lima signed with the Serbian SuperLiga side Borac Čačak.

In the summer of 2018, Mateus Lima signed a two-year contract with the Croatian First Football League side Slaven Belupo.

On 17 August 2020 he signed with Hapoel Nof HaGalil.

Career statistics

Honours Operário Ferroviário Campeonato Paranaense: 2015