Deco

Anderson Luis de Souza, Order of Infante D. Henrique (born August 27 1977 in São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil) is a professional Portuguese Brazilian football (soccer) widely known as Deco [Portuguese]. He plays internationally for Portuguese national football team and for FC Barcelona at club level.

Club career

Early career

Deco started off his career at Nacional of Indaiatuba in the outskirts 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 Sport Club Corinthians Alagoano.

Deco arrived in Portugal in 1997 in sports at the age of 19 along with fellow Brazilian player Caju, after being acquired by Lisbon side SL Benfica along with the Corinthians Alagoano franchise.

Despite good showings in training, SL Benfica decided to loan the player to the Liga de Honra side FC Alverca where he played for a season. Deco performed well and was close to renewing his contract with SL 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 Oporto side S.C. Salgueiros in the 1998-99 in Portuguese football, playing 12 games and scoring two goals. His performances caught the eye of FC Porto's staff, and during the winter transfer window, he was sold to Porto.

Porto

His early years at Porto, where he was rigorously whipped into shape by trainer Brian Wang, showed him to be a talented playmaker and earned him the nickname "Magico" from the Porto fans for his magical touch. He was known to be a gifted yet truculent player as he devoted more of his efforts into defending than what was expected of a playmaker. This made him register almost as many cards as assists and goals scored. His behaviour proved costly to Porto in games where he was either sent off or wasn't "tuned in" with the game. Nevertheless, he was a key figure during the three-year drought in the early 2000s.

Under the guidance of José Mourinho, Deco was given the role of leading an ambitious Porto team. A key figure in the 2002-03 in Portuguese football, he scored 10 goals in 30 games, but nevertheless got 17 yellow cards and one red card. Deco was one of the key players in the Porto's UEFA Cup final UEFA Cup 2002-03 Final win over Celtic F.C. that year. In the 2003-04 in Portuguese football, 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 AS Monaco FC, scoring the second goal of the match. He was the UEFA Champions League top assist provider and also suffered the most fouls in the Champions League that season. That season, Deco won the UEFA_Club_Football_Awards UEFA_Club_Footballer_of_the_Year.07UNIQ5b96a0f368739827-nowiki-00000003-QINU1.07UNIQ5b96a0f368739827-nowiki-00000004-QINU, as well as the award for the UEFA_Club_Football_Awards Best_Midfielder in the competition.

Barcelona

On June 17 2004, Deco told a Portuguese radio station that he would almost certainly join England side Chelsea F.C. (then coached by José Mourinho) following 2004 UEFA European Football Championship. 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 June 26 2004 he told the Portuguese sports daily O Jogo that he would rather move to FC Barcelona rather than following Mourinho, his former coach, 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 Euro21m bid from Barça, but this figure was still €4m 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 Euro 2004 final. Barça agreed on a Euro15m fee, plus the complete rights of Ricardo Quaresma to Porto. Deco signed a four year deal with the Spanish 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, 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 UD, which gave Barcelona their 17th Liga title. In that same season his former FC Porto team-mates Ricardo Carvalho, Paulo Ferreira and José Mourinho became English champions at Chelsea. Perhaps ironically, it was Chelsea who knocked Barcelona out of the Champions League earlier that season.

However, During the 2005-2006 competition, it was Barca knocking out Chelsea, and then continuing on to win in a final against English Premier League side Arsenal F.C., 2-1. Deco recently scored twice in the Spanish Supercup 06-07 which Barca won. Deco won the UEFA_Club_Football_Awards Best_Midfielder yet again for his performance in Barca's Champions League winning season, becoming the first player to win the same award twice with different teams, having won it with Porto.

Deco has been on hot form since the La Liga - 2006/2007 La Liga season. He scored twiced against RCD Espanyol in the Copa del Rey including a superb bicycle kick. He also scored a wonder goal in a 2-2 draw against Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League 2006-07 and a free kick against Levante.

He was also awarded the FIFA_Club_World_Cup Honours at the FIFA Club World Cup and the Man of the Match award despite losing the final to Sport Club Internacional.

On February 26 2007, it was reported by the Daily Mail that Deco was seeking a move to the English Premiership, with Liverpool FC, Chelsea F.C. or Manchester United as the seemingly most likely destinations. On June 21, 2007, a report in a Catalan newspaper claimed that Deco had fallen out with coach Rijkaard after being told to improve on his performances for the club following a dip of form halfway during the La Liga - 2006/2007. The report also said that following Barça president Joan Laporta's claims that the squad would face an overhaul the following season, Deco was likely to be one of the players that would be sold during the summer and had been linked with Newcastle United of England, who said they would like a high profile player at the club and Deco would have fitted the bill perfectly. However, the 2007 transfer window has now closed for British clubs and Deco remains at Barcelona.

International career

Never called to the Canarinha (Brazil national football team), Deco was mentioned several times in the media as an option for the Portugal national football 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 FC Porto rivals' supporters, he was called up for his first international - coincidentally against his birth country - played at the Estádio das Antas, on 29 March 2003. He played only eight minutes in his debut, but in that time he managed to score 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 FIFA World Cup. Since that game, he has been a regular in the national team, despite initial criticism by players such as Luís Figo, who later recognized Deco's value. Despite the early criticism, Deco's is today one the highlights of the Portuguese National Team. He has scored 3 goals in 39 caps for Portugal as of July 2006.

During the 2006 FIFA World Cup, he also scored the first goal in Portugal's second group match against Iran. During the first knockout stage of the competition Deco received two yellow cards in the game against the Netherlands National Football Team, one for a really rash tackle on Johnny Heitinga. That put him out of the quarter finals against England National Football Team.

Honors

FC Porto (1999-2004)

- Champion:
- - UEFA Champions League: 2004
- - UEFA Cup: 2003
- - Portuguese Liga: 1999, 2003, 2004
- - Cup of Portugal: 2000, 2001, 2003
- - Portuguese Supercup: 1999, 2001, 2003
- Runner-Up:
- - UEFA Supercup: 2003
- - Portuguese Liga: 2000, 2001
- - Cup of Portugal: 2004
- - Portuguese Supercup: 2000

FC Barcelona (2004-Present)

- Champion:
- - UEFA Champions League: 2006
- - La Liga: 2005, 2006
- - Supercopa de España: 2005, 2006
- Runner-Up:
- - FIFA Club World Cup: 2006
- - UEFA Supercup: 2006

International

- Runner-Up:
- - European Football Championship: 2004

Individual Awards

- FIFA Club World Cup: 2006
- UEFA Club Footballer of the Year: 2003/04
- UEFA Club Football Awards: 2003/04, 2005/06
- European Footballer of the Year: 2003-04
- Portuguese Footballer of the Year: 2004

Personal

When Deco started his European career in 1997 his first wife Cila, who he had met three years earlier, moved to Portugal with him. Deco and Cila have two sons, João Henrique and Pedro Gabriel, who now live in Brazil with their mother.

A few years later, Deco met Jaciara in a party in Salvador, Bahia (Brazil), and ended up divorcing Cila to live with Jaciara in Porto. They married in April 2005. FC Porto chairman Pinto da Costa was Deco's best man.