 Bernardo with Benfica in 2020 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Paulo Guilherme Gonçalves Bernardo | ||
| Date of birth | 24 January 2002 | ||
| Place of birth | Almada, Portugal | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team |
Celtic (on loan from Benfica) | ||
| Number | 28 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2010–2022 | Benfica | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2020– | Benfica B | 38 | (7) |
| 2021– | Benfica | 17 | (0) |
| 2023 | → Paços de Ferreira (loan) | 13 | (2) |
| 2023– | → Celtic (loan) | 12 | (2) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2017 | Portugal U15 | 5 | (1) |
| 2017–2018 | Portugal U16 | 11 | (0) |
| 2018–2019 | Portugal U17 | 19 | (4) |
| 2019 | Portugal U19 | 5 | (1) |
| 2021– | Portugal U21 | 21 | (6) |
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22:16, 7 February 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 18:37, 20 November 2023 (UTC) | |||
Paulo Guilherme Gonçalves Bernardo (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈpawlu βɨɾˈnaɾðu]; born 24 January 2002) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Scottish Premiership club Celtic, on loan from Primeira Liga club Benfica.
A product of S.L. Benfica's youth system, Bernardo played for its ranks and signed his first professional contract with Benfica on 26 February 2018.[2] He made his debut for Benfica's reserve team in a Segunda Liga match against Vilafranquense on 2 February 2020, with manager Renato Paiva praising him as one of the "future stars of the club".[3]
After a promising 2020–21 season with the B team, Bernardo started the 2021–22 season, with various solid performances, leading him to be named Liga Portugal 2's Midfielder of the Month for the months of October and November.[4] On 2 November 2021, Bernardo made his first-team debut coming on the 77th minute in a 5-2 Champions League group stage defeat at Bayern Munich.[5] Later that week, on 7 November 2021, he made his Primeira Liga debut coming on for injured João Mário on the 23rd minute for a 6–1 home win against Braga.[6]
On 31 January 2023, Bernardo was loaned by Paços de Ferreira until the end of the season.[7]
On 1 September 2023, Scottish Premiership club Celtic announced the signing of Bernardo on a season-long loan with an option to buy.[8]
With the Portugal under-17s, Bernardo took participated in the 2019 UEFA European Under-17 Championship in Ireland, playing four matches, scoring one goal as the team lost in the quarter-finals to Italy.[9]
On 6 September 2021, Bernardo won his first cap for the under-21 side, replacing André Almeida in the 73rd minute in a 1–0 victory against Belarus for the 2023 European Championship qualification campaign.[10]
| Club | Season | League | National cup | League cup | Continental | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Benfica B | 2019–20 | Liga Portugal 2 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 2 | 0 | |||
| 2020–21 | 17 | 4 | — | — | — | 17 | 4 | |||||
| 2021–22 | 10 | 2 | — | — | — | 10 | 2 | |||||
| 2022–23 | 9 | 1 | — | — | — | 9 | 1 | |||||
| Total | 38 | 7 | — | — | — | 38 | 7 | |||||
| Benfica | 2021–22 | Primeira Liga | 17 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | 5[a] | 0 | 24 | 0 | |
| 2022–23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Total | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 26 | 0 | ||
| Paços de Ferreira (loan) | 2022–23 | Primeira Liga | 13 | 2 | — | — | — | 13 | 2 | |||
| Celtic (loan) | 2023–24 | Scottish Premiership | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6[a] | 0 | 14 | 2 |
| Career total | 76 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 91 | 11 | ||
Individual