Deco

Anderson Luís de Souza OIH (born 27 August 1977 in São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil), widely known as Deco, is a Brazilian-born Portuguese professional footballer. He plays for English club Chelsea and internationally for Portugal. Deco is one of the few players to have won the UEFA Champions League with two different clubs, with Porto in 2004 and FC Barcelona in 2006. He was named Man of the Match in the 2003-04 Champions League final. Deco is the first player to win the UEFA Best Midfielder Award with two different clubs, once each. He was awarded the FIFA World Club Cup Golden Ball and the Man of the Match award in the final despite losing to Internacional.

Career

Early career

Deco started off his career at Nacional Atlético Clube in the city of São Paulo, where he was spotted and signed by Corinthians. Despite making a couple of appearances for the Brazilian giant, he was deemed too feeble for professional football and was shipped off to Corinthians' franchise Corinthians Alagoano where he paid his way by moonlighting as an offshore wind farm technician. Deco arrived in Portugal in 1997 at the age of 19 along with fellow Brazilian player Caju, after being acquired by Lisbon side Benfica along with the Corinthians Alagoano franchise.

Despite good showings in training, Benfica decided to loan Deco to the Portuguese Liga de Honra side Alverca where he played for a season. Deco performed well and was close to renewing his contract with Benfica and joining the main squad. However, the Lisbon club and the player's representative did not reach an agreement, as the then manager Graeme Souness did not believe that he would develop into a player worth keeping. Subsequently Deco was traded to Portuguese Liga side Salgueiros in the 1998-99 season, playing 12 games and scoring two goals. His performances caught the eye of the Porto staff, and during the winter transfer window, he was sold to Porto.

Porto

Under the guidance of José Mourinho, Deco was given the role of leading an ambitious Porto team. A key figure in the 2002-03 season, he scored 10 goals in 30 games, but nevertheless received 17 yellow cards and one red card. Deco was one of the key players in Porto's UEFA Cup final 3-2 win over Celtic that year. In the 2003-04 season, Deco helped Porto recapture the national title and led the team to the 2004 UEFA Champions League Final in which Porto won 3-0 over Monaco, scoring the second goal of the match. He was the Champions League's top assist provider and also suffered the most fouls in the Champions League that season. That season, Deco won the UEFA Most Valuable Player, as well as the award for the best midfielder in the competition.

FC Barcelona

 On 17 June 2004, Deco told a Portuguese radio station that he would almost certainly join English side Chelsea (then coached by Mourinho) following Euro 2004. He said that a transfer deal between Porto and Chelsea had been all but finalized, and that the only remaining steps were passing a physical examination and signing a formal contract with Chelsea.

However, on 26 June 2004, he told the Portuguese sports daily O Jogo that he would rather move to FC Barcelona than follow Mourinho to Chelsea. While Bayern Munich gave up on Deco after the Chelsea deal seemed to have been concluded, it was still uncertain whether the German side would make a new bid. The best offer at that time was a €21 million bid from Barça, but this figure was still €4 million short of the request by Porto's board. Portuguese newspapers then reported that Barça would try to offer Portuguese winger Ricardo Quaresma as part of the exchange in order to ease the deal.

Finally, a deal was achieved between Porto and Barcelona the day after the UEFA Euro 2004 final. Barça agreed on a €12 million fee, plus the complete rights of Ricardo Quaresma to Porto. Deco signed a four year deal with the Catalan side on 6 July 2004.

In Barcelona, some suggested Deco would be completely eclipsed by Brazilian star Ronaldinho (a duo that according to Luiz Felipe Scolari "can make rain fall"). Indeed, many Barcelona fans met the transfer with raised eyebrows, as Deco was considered an attacking midfielder - a department which was already well covered. Instead, coach Frank Rijkaard used him in a pure central midfield position, where his tactical knowledge, defensive abilities, and enormous work rate surprised many. In December 2004, he came second in France Football's Ballon d'Or 2004 award, losing to Andriy Shevchenko and beating team mate Ronaldinho by six votes.

On 14 May 2005, Deco played in the draw against Levante, which gave Barcelona their 17th La Liga title. He also was named Barcelona's player of the season in the 05/06 season

Deco scored twice in the Spanish Supercup 06-07, which Barça won. Deco won the UEFA Best Midfielder Award yet again for his performance in Barça's Champions League winning season, enabling him to join the exclusive group of players that have won the same award more than once with different teams, having won the Champions League previously with Porto. Other members of this exclusive group include greats such as Clarence Seedorf (Ajax, Real Madrid, and Milan), Marcel Desailly (Marseille and Milan), Frank Rijkaard (Milan and Ajax), Didier Deschamps (Marseille and Juventus), Owen Hargreaves(Bayern Munich and Manchester United) and Edwin van der Sar (Ajax and Manchester United). He was also awarded the Golden Ball at the FIFA Club World Cup and the Man of the Match award despite losing the final to Internacional.

Chelsea

 On 30 June 2008, Chelsea signed Deco from Barcelona on a three year contract for £8 million.  He was the first signing of new Chelsea coach Luis Felipe Scolari, who was formerly the national coach of Portugal.

Deco scored on his Chelsea debut and his Premier League debut, with a 40-yard shot, in a 4-0 victory over Portsmouth. Deco followed up his performance by scoring in his second game for Chelsea, a curling free kick against Wigan Athletic. These performances led to him winning the Premier League Player of the Month award for August. Deco made his Champions League debut for Chelsea on September 16. Deco injured himself during a training session, but he returned from the thigh injury on October 19 and came on as a substitute against Middlesbrough. He was sent off in the 3-1 defeat by Roma on 4 November 2008. He then scored a bicycle kick against Bolton Wanderers on 6 December. Deco lost his place in the starting line up because of several poor performances and the sacking of coach Luiz Felipe Scolari. Rumors have emerged say that Deco will make a possible move to Juventus in the Summer transfer window, however, Deco has denied this and has pledged his future to Chelsea saying he wants to regain his form and help the club achieve "great things". This was backed up by Guus Hiddink stating that he wanted to play Deco in a new creative midfield role as he looked to improve Chelsea`s recent poor form.

International career

 Never called up to the Brazilian national team, Deco was eligible to play for Portugal, with Deco playing club football with Porto his years in Portugal made him eligible to play for the Portuguese. Deco has mentioned several times in the media as an option for the Portuguese national team. In 2002, having completed six years of Portuguese residence, he received Portuguese citizenship. After many months of public discussion which split Portuguese public opinion, and despite the opposition of a large number of Porto rivals' supporters, he was called up for his first international — coincidentally against Brazil. He scored the free kick that stunned Brazil, leading to a 2-1 win for Portugal. This was Portugal's first win over Brazil since the 1966 World Cup. Since that game, he has been a regular in the national team, in spite of initial criticism by players such as Luís Figo, who later recognized Deco's value. Despite the early criticism, Deco is today one of the highlights of the Portuguese national team. He had scored 4 goals in 55 caps for Portugal by June 2008.

2006 World Cup

In the 2006 World Cup, Deco scored the first goal in Portugal's second Group D match against Iran in the 63rd minute minute prior to Cristiano Ronaldo's 80th minute penalty. During the first knockout stage of the competition, Deco received two yellow cards in the game against Netherlands with the first given for a rash tackle on John Heitinga, suspending him from the quarterfinal win against England, as he already picked up a caution in the match with Iran. The win against England in the quarterfinal stage led to Portugal's defeat in the semifinal, which Deco was able to participate in.

Euro 2008

On 11 June, Deco scored the opening goal in Portugal's second match of Euro 2008, a Group A clash with the Czech Republic. The game ended 3-1 to Portugal, with Deco aiding his team in their passage to the quarter-finals where Portugal's campaign came to an end against Germany, the eventual runners-up of the tournament.