[2] Born in Santa Bárbara d'Oeste, São Paulo, Tardelli began his career at a company club in Curitiba called Partner Football.

[4] Tardelli made his first team debut for São Paulo on 9 July 2003, coming on as a second-half substitute for Rico in a 2–0 Série A away win over Coritiba.

After Leão left for the Japanese football, Tardelli's form dropped and he was again separated from the squad in October 2005, after arriving drunk on a training session.

[9] He made his debut abroad the following 11 January, starting in a 0–0 home draw against RC Celta de Vigo, for the season's Copa del Rey.

[12] Tardelli also struggled to feature regularly at PSV, and returned to Tricolor in July 2007, where he appeared sparingly for the club and lifted the 2007 Série A.

[13] After initial controversies with teammate Souza,[14] he was often used as a substitute, but still scored the winning goals in the Taça Guanabara and Campeonato Carioca finals, both against Botafogo.

[19] At Galo, he scored a career-best 39 goals in his first campaign, being the nation's top goalscorer overall;[20] highlights included a hat-trick in a 6–0 Campeonato Mineiro home routing of Uberaba on 8 April.

[23] On 8 March 2011, Tardelli completed a move to Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala following an in-depth medical examination at the Dagi's pre-season training base.

[26] Tardelli made his debut on 20 January 2012, missing a penalty kick 30 minutes after coming on as a substitute in a 2–0 loss against Al Khor.

[27] On his second-ever AFC Champions League match, he scored a brace in order to salvage a draw against Al-Hilal FC on 21 March.

Tardelli was a regular starter for Galo during his first season, helping the club to a first-ever Copa Libertadores title and being the second-best goalscorer in the campaign with 18 goals, only one behind Jô.

[39] In October 2013, in a great shape playing for Atlético Mineiro, Tardelli said on being left out from manager Luiz Felipe Scolari international squad, "Now, again, football professionals have asked my calling up.