Deco – and the close ties to Mourinho

Anderson Luis de Souza, also called Deco, was born on the 27th of August in Brazil. He started his career at Nacional Atlético Clube in São Paulo, where he was discovered and signed by Corinthians. At the age of 19 Deco came to Portugal when Benfica noticed his great talent. Benfica had him for two years before he was sold to Porto in 1999. It was in Porto that the fairytale about the boy from São Bernardo do Campo with the sad eyes really took hold, and the coach who started it all was José Mourinho.

José Mourinho and Deco
The charismatic and very untraditional coach began his football career as a translator for Sir Bobby Robson, where he collected a lot of valuable knowledge by working together with the seasoned British coach and manager. They worked together with Portuguese teams such as Sporting Clube de Portugal and FC Porto, as well as the Spanish giants FC Barcelona. Mourinho returned to Porto in 2002, but this time as their coach, and soon he became a success. Together with Deco he won the Portuguese Championship, the National Cup, and the UEFA Cup in 2003. Deco was a central player in the UEFA Cup final against Celtic, which they won 3-2. In the season 2003-2004, Deco helped Porto to regaining the national title, but the pinnacle came in 2004, when Porto won the greatest honor in European football, Champions League. Porto defeated Monaco 3-0 in the final, with Deco scoring the second goal. It was in this season that Deco got the title of UEFA’s Most Valuable Player. Also he was named the best midfielder in Europe.

His time in Barcelona
Deco and Mourinho’s roads often lead the same way, just not always at the same time. This was the case when Deco transferred to FC Barcelona. Porto sold Deco shortly after the Champions League final, with a price tag of 21 million euro and the transfer of Ricardo Quaresma to Porto. Deco signed a four year contract with the Catalan club.

Many critics said that Deco would be overshadowed by the Spanish and Brazilian stars such as Ronaldinho, and that he didn’t fit in to their system. Many Barcelona fans saw Deco as an attacking midfielder, a position which was already well covered. Luckily for the fans, they were wrong, because Frank Rijkaard chose to use Deco as a central midfielder, where his tactical knowledge, defensive skill, and huge effort delighted football fans around the world. In December 2004, Deco came in second in Ballon d’Or, losing to Andriy Shevchenko, but beating his teammate Ronaldinho by six votes. Deco became very popular at Camp Nou, mainly due to the high and steady quality of his game as well as his amazing long shots. On May 14th 2005, Deco played in the match against Levante, which secured the 17th La Liga title for Barcelona. He was also named best player in Barcelona in the season 05/06. He scored twice in the Spanish Supercup 06-07, and yet again Deco’s winning mentality as well as his role in Barcelona’s Champions League victory against Arsenal in 2006 earned him the title of UEFA’s best midfielder. Deco was thereby included in the exclusive club of players who have won Champions League with different teams. The current record holder is Clarence Seedorf from AC Milan. So fare he is the only player who has won the Champions League with tree different clubs (Ajax, Real Madrid, and Milan twice). Deco is one of the most eligible to join Seedorf’s impressive record.

After four amazing years in what many call the world’s most beautiful city, Barcelona, Deco was ready for new challenges. And yet again he followed in the footsteps of Mourinho when he transferred to Chelsea.

Mourinho had made the switch to Chelsea roughly at the same time as Deco transferred to Barcelona. But it was Chelsea’s new coach Felipe Scolari who got Deco to the British club. Their roads did cross when Mourinho moved east to Inter, when Deco landed in London. Once again the wizards apprentice didn’t show his face before the wizard himself had moved on.

Deco got his Champions League debut for Chelsea on the 16th of September 2008, but he was injured that same fall. Since then Deco has recovered, and with a very well playing Chelsea team odds are that he will reach Seedorf’s record, even if he brakes with the tradition of following in Mourinho’s footsteps next time he is transferred.