Paulo Bernardo (footballer)

Paulo Guilherme Gonçalves Bernardo (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.

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.

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.

Individual

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".

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.

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.

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.

On 31 January 2023, Bernardo was loaned by Paços de Ferreira until the end of the season.

On 1 September 2023, Scottish Premiership club Celtic announced the signing of Bernardo on a season-long loan with an option to buy.