Felipe Augusto Santana (; born 17 March 1986) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. During a 17-year career, he also played abroad for football clubs in Germany, Greece and Russia.
Club career Figueirense Having started his football career at Figueirense since 1996 and progressed through the club's youth system, Santana made his professional football debut for Figueirense, starting the whole game, in a 1–0 win against Paraná on 24 September 2006. On 18 November 2006, he made his second appearance of the season, in a 2–0 win against Flamengo. At the end of the 2006 season, Santana made two appearances in all competitions.
At the start of the 2007 season, Santana began to establish himself in the first team place, playing in the centre–back position. On 3 July 2007, he scored his first goal of his professional career, in a 2–1 win over Cruzeiro. Two weeks later on 14 July 2007, Santana scored his second goal of the season, in a 2–1 win over Paraná. Twelve days later on 26 July 2007, he scored his third goal of the season, in a 2–2 draw against Corinthians. Santana helped the club keep four consecutive clean sheets between 4 October 2007 and 21 October 2007. At the end of the 2007 season, he went on to make thirty–six appearances and scoring three times in all competitions.
In the opening game of the 2008 season, Santana scored a brace, in a 5–5 draw against Portuguesa, in what turned out to be his only appearance of the season.
Borussia Dortmund On 16 May 2008, Santana joined Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, with a fee in the region of €2,000,000 and signed a five-year deal. Upon joining the club, Borussia Dortmund's sports manager Michael Zorc said about the match: "It doesn't cost one, but also not three million euros. He's a player like Werder Bremen's Naldo. Maybe even a little more aggressive."
Having appeared in the substitute bench in the first two months of the 2008–09 season, Santana made his debut for the club, starting a match and played 67 minutes before being substituted, in a 2–0 loss against Udinese in the first leg of the UEFA Cup first round. However, Borussia Dortmund were eliminated from the tournament after losing on penalties in the return despite coming back from 2–0 down to equalise. Three days later after making his debut for the club, he made his league debut against Hoffenheim on 21 September 2008 and scored his first goal in a 4–1 loss. This was followed up by scoring his second goal for Borussia Dortmund, in a 3–0 win over Stuttgart. After missing the next six matches due to injury, Santana returned to the starting line–up against Eintracht Frankfurt on 15 November 2008 and scored his third goal for the club, in a 4–0 win. Following this, he regained his first team place, forming a centre–back partnership with Neven Subotić for the rest of the 2008–09 season. Santana then helped Borussia Dortmund keep four consecutive clean sheets between 18 April 2009 and 9 May 2009. During which, he scored his fourth goal for the club, in a 4–0 win against Karlsruher SC. In his first season at Borussia Dortmund, Santana made twenty-three appearances and scoring four times in all competitions.
At the start of the 2009–10 season, Santana continued to regain his first team place, forming a centre–back partnership with Subotić. In a match against Bayern Munich on 12 September 2009, he was at fault when his mistakes led Thomas Müller scoring Bayern Munich's fourth goal of the game, as the club lost 5–1 on 12 September 2009. As a result, Santana was dropped to the substitute bench between 19 September 2009 and 31 October 2009, though he started two times for Borussia Dortmund. He returned to the starting line–up against Werder Bremen on 8 November 2009 and helped Borussia Dortmund draw 1–1. Following this, Santana found himself in and out of the starting line–up, competing in a centre–back position with Mats Hummels and Subotić throughout the 2009–10 season. At times, he rotated into the starting line–up when either of Hummels and Subotić were absent from the squad. At the end of the 2009–10 season, Santana went on to make twenty–seven appearances in all competitions.
At the start of the 2010–11 season, Santana found himself placed on the substitute bench, as Mats Hummels and Subotić were continued to be Borussia Dortmund's first choice centre–backs by Manager Jürgen Klopp. On 22 September 2010, he made his first appearance of the season against Kaiserslautern, coming on as a 78th-minute substitute, in a 5–0 win. As a result, Santana found his playing time, mostly coming from the substitute bench. He made his first start of the season, starting the whole game, in a 0–0 draw against rivals, Schalke 04 on 4 February 2011. Santana later made four more starts for the club later in the 2010–11 season. His contributions to the club saw them win the league for the first time since 2002 after they beat Nürnberg 2–0 on 30 April 2011. At the end of the 2010–11 season, he went on to make thirteen appearances in all competitions.
Ahead of the 2011–12 season, Santana said in an interview that he wanted to leave Borussia Dortmund and doesn't want to stay at the club to be on the substitute bench. But Borussia Dortmund's sport manager Zorc said the player will not be leaving the club. At the start of the 2011–12 season, Santana formed a centre–back partnership with Hummels against rivals, Schalke 04 in the DFL-Supercup and played 120 minutes in a 0–0 draw, as Borussia Dortmund lost 4–3 in the penalty shootout. He then started with Hummels in the first two league matches against Hamburger SV and Hoffenheim. However, Santana suffered ankle injury that saw him recovered, but saw him placed on the substitute bench, with Hummels and Subotić continued to be the club's first choice centre–backs. He made his UEFA Champions League debut against Olympiacos on 1 November 2011 and came on as an 86th-minute substitute, in a 1–0 win. Three weeks later on 23 November 2011, Santana made his first UEFA Champions League start, in a 2–1 loss against Arsenal. Three days later on 26 November 2011, he scored his first goal of the season, in a 2–0 win against rivals, Schalke 04. Following Subotić's injury, Santana started in the next five matches by the end of the year until he suffered an injury during a match against SC Freiburg on 17 December 2011 and was substituted in the 71st minute, as Borussia Dortmund won 4–1. After the match, it was announced that Santana was out for one month with the injury. After returning from injury, Santana continued to remain on the substitute bench, as he continuously found it hard to dispatch Hummels and Subotić, as well as, another injury. Despite this, Santana's contributions at the club win a double: the league, and DFB-Pokal. At the end of the 2011–12 season, he went on to make seventeen appearances and scoring once in all competitions. Following this, Santana had his contract extended with Borussia Dortmund, keeping him until 2014.
Prior to signing a new contract ahead of the 2012–13 season, Santana said that he had thought about leaving Borussia Dortmund, due to continuously being on the substitute bench. Santana was linked a move to Bayer Leverkusen, but his advisor Volker Struth denied the move from happening. At the start of the 2012–13 season, he continued to be placed on the substitute bench. Santana made his first appearance of the season, starting the whole game, in a 3–0 win against FC Oberneuland in the first round of the DFB–Pokal. As part of Klopp's rotation plan, he was given an opportunity to get more playing time, making a number of starts in the absence of first choice centre–backs, Hummels and Subotić, However, this left Santana unsatisfied with the role, due to his hopes of playing in the FIFA World Cup in his homeland country, Brazil. He scored his first Bundesliga goal in three years, in a 5–0 win over Werder Bremen on 19 January 2013. The second half of the season saw Santana receiving a handful of first team opportunities and formed a centre–back partnership with either Hummels and Subotić. On 3 March 2013, he scored the first UEFA Champions League goal in a 3–0 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk in the second leg of the last 16 with a header directly from a corner to advance to the next round. After the match, Manager Klopp praised Santana's performance. A month later on 9 April 2013, he scored a goal in the last minute against Málaga on 9 April 2013 to win the tie with Borussia Dortmund progressing to the semi-finals. They went on to reach the final of the UEFA Champions League to face Bayern Munich, but lost 2–1. After the match, Santana said the club should not have been disappointed with their progression, but he stated his desire to leave the club in order to get first team football. At the end of the 2012–13 season, Santana went on to make thirty–one appearances and scoring three times in all competitions.
Since leaving Borussia Dortmund, Santana has been critical of Jürgen Klopp, describing him as "stupid". In response, the club's CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke expressed anger towards him, calling him unprofessional. Despite being critical towards Klopp, Santana described leaving Dortmund for Schalke as a "hard decision", due to the rivalry between two clubs.
Schalke 04
On 28 May 2013, FC Schalke 04 confirmed that Felipe Santana had signed a contract with them until 30 June 2016, with the transfer fee was reported by media as €1,000,000 at the time. Upon joining the club, he was assigned the number 5 shirt, previously worn by Marcelo Bordon. Schalke 04 were monitoring Santana's situation three months before making a move.
He made his debut for the club, playing the whole game, in a 4–0 loss against Wolfsburg on 17 August 2013. In a match against PAOK in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League play–off round, Santana started the whole game and helped Schalke 04 beat the opposition team 3–2 to advance to the group stage. Since joining the club, he found himself in and out of the first team, competing a place in the centre–back position. Santana then helped Schalke 04 keep three consecutive clean sheets between 15 December 2013 and 26 January 2014. This was followed up when he scored his first goal for the club, in a 2–1 win over Wolfsburg on 1 February 2014. However, Santana suffered a torn muscle fibre while training and this sidelined him out a month. He didn't make his return to the first team against Eintracht Frankfurt on 11 April 2014, coming on as an 82nd-minute substitute, in a 2–0 win. However, in a match against Freiburg on 3 May 2014, Santana was sent–off for a second bookable offence, as Schalke 04 won 2–0 to qualify for the UEFA Champions League next season. At the end of the 2013–14 season, he went on to make twenty–six appearances and scoring once in all competitions.
At the start of the 2014–15 season, Santana's first appearance of the season came on 18 August 2014 against Dynamo Dresden in the first round of the DFB–Pokal and set up Schalke 04's first goal of the game, as the club lost 2–1. However, during a 1–1 draw against Bayern Munich on 30 August 2014, he suffered a tore his muscle bundle in the 81st minute and was substituted as a result. After the match, it was announced that Santana would be sidelined for weeks. It wasn't until on 22 November 2014 when he made his return to the starting line–up against Wolfsburg and helped Schalke 04 win 3–2. However, his return was short–lived when Santana suffered a thigh injury that kept him out for weeks. But he made his return to the first team, coming on as a second-half substitute, in a 2–1 win against SC Paderborn on 17 December 2014. By the time Santana was loaned out for the rest of the 2014–15 season, he went on to make six appearances in all competitions.