Fuente: © Chelsea FC
http://www.chelseafc.com/

CHELSEA FC: DECO BIOGRAPHY

/noticias.info/ Midfielder Anderson Luis de Souza, or Deco, as most fans will know him joins us from Barcelona where he had spent the past four seasons. It is a move that reunites him with his international coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.

The pair worked together for the past five years with the Portuguese national team, yet Deco's greatest achievements have come in club football.

In his time with the Catalan club, the intelligent playmaker, who has a fantastic eye for a pass, as well as the ability to score goals, won a host of silverware, including two La Liga titles and a second Champions League to follow up the one he won at Porto in 2004.

The Portuguese appeared over 100 times in Barça colours, including each of the six European matches we played against them between 2004 and 2006. He scored the opening goal in the 2-2 draw in the Nou Camp in 2006/7.

His first season in Spain saw him lift the league title, a trophy that had been missing since 1999, and this was retained in 2006, securing a famous 'double' to go with the 2-1 victory over Arsenal in Paris, in which Deco played a key part.

Deco was a part of the Porto exodus after the club's Champions League success in 2004, following Chelsea-bound manager José Mourinho and defenders Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho out of the door.

He had joined Porto in the 1998/99 season after impressing for city rivals SC Salgueiros, and over the next five years established himself as one of the most accomplished midfielders in Europe.

Three league titles and a UEFA Cup win against Celtic in 2003, in which the Brazilian-born star was man of the match, preceded an unlikely Champions League success a year later.

Deco was again inspirational, stroking home the second goals in his side's 3-0 win over Monaco in the Final.

Born in Sao Bernardo in August 1977, Deco began his professional career with Corinthians before deciding to head to Europe for a brief spell with Benfica in 1997.

This meant that after spending more than five years in the country, the diminutive Deco was eligible for Portuguese citizenship, which he duly took up before making his debut against his native country in March 2003, under the eyes of coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.

Since then he has been a key member of the side, reaching the final of Euro 2004 and the semi-finals of the World Cup two years later. He now has over 50 caps for his adopted country, and was a goal scorer at Euro 2008, beating new team-mate Petr Cech during Portugal's 3-1 win over the Czech Republic. notas_de_prensa_archivo