Luciano da Rocha Neves


Luciano da Rocha Neves, simply known as Luciano, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Grêmio.

Club career

Luciano was born in Anápolis, Goiás, and joined Atlético Goianiense's youth setup from hometown club Anápolis. He made his debut for the former on 8 March 2012, coming on as a second-half substitute for William in a 1–0 away win against Gurupi, for the year's Copa do Brasil.
Luciano made his Série A debut on 13 October 2012, coming from the bench and scoring the last in a 3–1 home win against Internacional. He contributed with five league appearances during the campaign, suffering team relegation.
In 2013 Luciano moved to Avaí in the Série B. He again made his debut with a goal, netting his team's only in a 1–3 loss at Chapecoense.
On 13 February 2014, Luciano signed a three-year contract with Corinthians in the top level. He made his debut for the club nine days later, replacing Romarinho in a 3–2 Campeonato Paulista home win against Rio Claro.
Luciano subsequently scored two braces for Timão, in a 3–0 home win against Comercial and in a 4–0 away routing of Linense. On 22 August 2014 he scored a hat-trick in a 5–2 home success over Goiás.
On 19 August 2015, in a match against Santos for the national cup, Luciano suffered a serious knee injury. He was sidelined for seven months, returning to action in February of the following year.
On 24 August 2016, Luciano was loaned to La Liga side CD Leganés for one year, with a buyout clause.

Panathinaikos

On 12 July 2017, Corinthians striker is finally expected in Athens, in order to finalize the last details of deal with Greek Superleague club Panathinaikos. On 17 July 2017 Luciano was officially loaned until the end of the year, as he is expected to sign a contract until June 2020 with the "greens" on 1 January 2018. On 20 September 2017, Luciano suffered a serious cruciate rupture injury during Greek Cup's clash against AEL in Leoforos. It is expected to return in action in March 2018.

International career

Luciano was called for the Brazil U23 team representing the country at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was the tournament's top goalscorer with five goals in only four matches, and won a Bronze medal.

Career statistics

Honours

;Corinthians