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Revision as of 18:53, 18 June 2006
- This article is about the football player. You may be looking for Art Deco.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Anderson Luiz de Sousa | ||
| Height |
| ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
| Current team | FC Barcelona | ||
| Number | 20 | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of June 6, 2006 | |||
Anderson Luiz de Sousa (born 27 August 1977 in São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil) is a professional footballer widely known as Deco (pron. IPA: ). He plays internationally for Portugal.
Arrival in Europe
Deco arrived at Portugal in 1997 at the age of 19 from Brazilian club Corinthians Alagoano to play for Lisbon side SL Benfica, along with fellow Brazilian player Cajú. Despite good showings in training, Benfica decided to loan the player 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 join the main squad. However, the Lisbon club and the player's representant did not reach an agreement as manager Graeme Souness did not think that he would develop into a player worth keeping, subsequently Deco was traded to Porto side Salgueiros in the 98-99 season, playing 12 games and scoring two goals by December, his performances caught the eye of FC Porto's staff, and during the winter transfer window he was sold to Porto, where he played six more games that season.
FC Porto Years
His early years at Porto 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 "número dez" (number 10) since he devoted more than usual effort to defensive play than was expected from 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, and was linked with a move to Catalan giants FC Barcelona.
Success
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 got 17 yellow cards and one red card, becoming one of the key players in the 2003 UEFA Cup 3-2 win over Celtic. The following year Deco helped Porto recapture the title, and led the Champions League in assists and fouls suffered, in a run that ended with a 3-0 victory over AS Monaco in the Champions League final, where he scored the second goal. His final season at Porto earned him UEFA's MVP (Most Valuable Player) award, as well as the award for the best midfielder in the competition.
National team
Never called to the 'Escrete' (Brazilian national team), Deco was 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 FC Porto rivals' supporters, he was called up for his first international - ironically 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
. Since that game, he has been a regular in the national team, despite initial criticism by players such as Luís Figo. Even with the criticism, Deco's performance was one the highlights of the Portuguese National Team. He has scored 2 goals in 32 caps for Portugal as of December 2005.
During the 2003-04 season, Deco was the player who had won the most trophies and awards. Deco holds, after winning the UEFA Champions League in 2005-06, more international trophies than the Portuguese superstar Luís Figo. Already regarded as one of the world's best midfielders, Deco was one of the reasons Barcelona won the La Liga.
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 Template:Ec2. He said that a transfer deal between FC 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, 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 €21M 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 in part-exchange in order to ease the deal.
Finally, a deal was achieved between FC Porto and Barcelona the day after the Euro 2004 final. Barça agreed on a €15M fee, plus the complete rights of Ricardo Quaresma. 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"), and although he played more on the midfield than on attacking roles (taking advantage of his tackling ability, which is above-average for an attacking midfielder), he continued to perform well. In December 2004, he came second in France Football's Ballon D'Or 2004 award, losing to Andriy Shevchenko and beating Ronaldinho by six votes.
In 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 although in the next season, Chelsea was out of the competition; eliminated by Barcelona. This year Deco claims the Champion's league 2005 - 2006
He also scored the first goal in Portugal's second group match against Iran.
Honours
FC Barcelona: Uefa Champions League 2005-06, Spanish La Liga 2005-06, Spanish Supercup 2005-06, Spanish La Liga 2004-05
FC Porto: Uefa Champions League 2003-04, Portuguese League 2003-04, Uefa Cup 2002-03, Portuguese League 2002-03, Portuguese Cup 2002-03, Portuguese Supercup 2002-03, Portuguese Cup 2000-01, Portuguese Supercup 2000-01, Portuguese Cup 1999-00, Portuguese League 1998-99, Portuguese Supercup 1998-99
Portugal National Team: Euro 2003-04 Runners-Ups
Individual Awards: 2003-04 Silver Ball(Second position of the Europeon Player of the Year Award), Uefa Champions League MVP 2003-04, Uefa Champions League Best Midfielder 2003-04
Facts about Deco
- Deco is currently the only Portuguese player in the Barcelona squad.
- Deco is also one of the few players to win the UEFA Champions League with two different clubs.
- Deco nickname at FC Porto was "Mágico" and "SuperDeco".
- Deco was named man of the match at the 2003-04 Champions League final.
- Deco tops the 2005-06 Champions League in the passes category. He finished on top of AC Milan's Andrea Pirlo.
- Deco scored the first goal of Barcelona's winning Champions League campaign.
- In most matches, Deco tops the commited fouls list but he also tops the suffered fouls list.
- It took GBP 21 million and a player for Barcelona to purchase Deco.
- Deco scored the winning goal on his international debut against Brazil to give Portugal its first victory over Brazil since the 1966 World Cup.
Goals
(Total goals)
ALVERCA
Portugese League: 13 goals
SALGUEIROS
Portugese League: 2 goals
FCPORTO
Portuguese League: 32 goals
UEFA Cup : 5 goals
UEFA Champions League: 8 goals
FCBARCELONA
Spanish Laliga: 10 goals
UEFA Champions League: 4 goals
PORTUGAL
International Friendly: 2 goals
Portugal: 3 goals
TOTAL GOALS: 79 goals
Quotes
"Deco doesn't talk a lot but when he does everybody listens" - Lionel Messi on Deco.
"World-Class" - Jose Mourinho on Deco.
"My choice of Deco had to do with his technical and professional qualities and his strong determination in reaching the objectives," - Scolari(Portugal Coach) on the inclusion of Deco into the Portuguese National Squad.
"Deco is the barometer of our season, when he is in form the quality of the game rises, when he is not so good the team as a whole performs less well," - Barca Coach Frenk Rijkaard on Deco.
"He's a great player. It would be foolish to underestimate him," - Celtic coach Martin O'Neill on Deco during the 2002-03 Uefa Cup Final
Portugal National Team
Deco has currently over 30 caps for the Portugal National Team. Deco has also been named in the Portuguese National Team for the 2006 World Cup. With the National Team, Deco enjoys a more attacking role than his Barcelona role. Deco form has been noted by coaches, players and the most surprising, the Brazilian National Team Coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira who said that he should have considered putting Deco into the Brazilian squad.
External links
- FootballDatabase provides Deco's profile and stats
- Mini Deco profile from a2bworldcup.com
- FC Barcelona profile
| Preceded byGianluigi Buffon | UEFA Champions League Most Valuable Player 2003-04 |
Succeeded bySteven Gerrard |
| Portugal squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup fourth place | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| FC Barcelona – current squad | |
|---|---|