Goal.com 50: Grafite (35)

36. Alexandre Pato (Milan & Brazil)

35. GRAFITE (VfL Wolfsburg & Brazil)

It has been quite a season for the Brazilian Edinaldo Batista Líbano.  More commonly known as Grafite, the 30-year-old stormed the goalscoring charts in Germany and fired underdogs VfL Wolfsburg to their first ever Bundesliga triumph.

To many observers, the rise of Grafite came as somewhat of a surprise, but, to the more keenly sighted, the signs have been there for quite a while that he was ready to explode onto the European scene, and step up to the next level to be considered one of the continent's best finishers. 

He rose to prominence back in his homeland scoring plenty of goals for Goias and Sao Paulo and earning a call-up to the Brazilian squad in 2005 only for a serious knee injury to cut him down and halt his progress.  However a move to Europe first with Le Mans and then Wolfsburg led to last season’s outstanding campaign.

The leading goalscorer award in Germany, known as the ‘Torschutzenkoenig’, has had some illustrious recipients in the past with names like Gerd Mueller, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Klaus Allofs inscribed upon the trophy, but with 28 Bundesliga goals last season the latest name on the award is that of Grafite.   

The Brazilian, who follows compatriots Marcio Amoroso, Giovane Elber and Ailton as winner of the award, opened his account in his first game of the season against Eintracht Frankfurt and never looked back.  He palyed a total of 25 league games for the Wolves and scored an amazing 28 goals in the process.  Indeed, he only failed to find the back of the net on seven occasions. 

Of those 28 goals though, one stood out above all others and earned him the Bundesliga ‘Goal of the Year’ award.  With the race for the title entering the crucial final phase, Wolfsburg hosted rivals Bayern Munich at the Volkswagen Arena in April and hammered the Bavarians 5-1.  Grafite scored twice, but the final goal of the game was what left spectators buzzing.

He picked the ball up on the left before turning the poor Andreas Ottl inside-out.  He then took the ball around both Christian Lell and keeper Michael Rensing before leaving both Breno and Philipp Lahm in his wake.  The Brazilian topped it all off cheekily with a reverse back-heel which trickled agonisingly into the Bayern net as if to prolong the Bavarians' agony.     

Venerated German commentator Fritz von Thurn und Taxis described the goal during his commentary as the best goal he had ever seen since the Bundesliga's inception in 1963.

Grafite’s partnership with Bosnian Edin Dzeko was amazing and the duo became the most prolific double-act in Bundesliga history, beating the long-standing record of goals held previously by Gerd Mueller and Uli Hoeness.  The pair notched up 54 goals between them. 

His performance understandably led to speculation that a bigger club would snap him up, but the striker calmed the Wolfsburg faithful’s nerves by signing a contract extension until 2012.

Grafite has just one Brazilian cap to his name and will be hoping to fight his way back into the Selecao frame although his omission from the recent Confederation Cup squad was not a positive sign. 

“I admit that I'd been hoping for a call-up and not seeing my name on the list made me sad, because I know I could have been involved. But you can't criticise the squad he [coach Dunga] picked: the four forwards selected are excellent players” he told fifa.com in a recent interview.

“Whatever, I've just got to do my job well and leave it up to Dunga to decide. I think that being successful in Europe was huge, but I'd still like to win something with the national team. I think that's the only thing left before I can look back and say 'I achieved everything I possibly could'. I'll keep chasing that opportunity."

2008-09 HONOURS

Mathew Burt, Goal.com

36. Alexandre Pato (Milan & Brazil)

35. GRAFITE (VfL Wolfsburg & Brazil)