page_title: Deco
section_title: Barcelona
hierarchical_section_title: Deco / Club career / Barcelona
context_page_description: Anderson Luís de Souza, known as Deco, is a retired professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or central midfielder.
  Deco is one of the few players to have won the UEFA Champions League with two clubs, with Porto in 2004 and Barcelona in 2006. He was named UEFA Club Footballer of the Year and UEFA Best Midfielder in Porto's Champions League-winning season and was named Man of the Match in the 2004 UEFA Champions League Final. Deco was the first player to win the UEFA Best Midfielder Award with two clubs, Porto and Barcelona. He was awarded the 2006 FIFA Club World Cup Golden Ball and the Man of the Match award in the final despite losing to Internacional.
  Born and raised in Brazil, Deco received Portuguese citizenship in 2002 having completed five years of Portuguese residence, and subsequently opted to play internationally for the Portugal national team. He earned 75 caps for them, playing at two UEFA European Championships and two FIFA World Cups, reaching the final of Euro 2004, and achieving a fourth-place finish at the 2006 World Cup.
  Deco announced his retirement on 26 August 2013, following a hamstring injury.
context_section_description: On 17 June 2004, Deco told a Portuguese radio station he would almost certainly join English side Chelsea (then coached by José Mourinho) following UEFA Euro 2004. He said a transfer deal between Porto and Chelsea had been all but finalised, and that the only remaining steps were passing a physical examination and signing a formal contract with Chelsea.
  However, on 26 June 2004, Deco told the Portuguese sports daily O Jogo he would rather move to 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 of directors. Portuguese newspapers then reported 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. Barcelona agreed on a €15 million fee in cash, plus the complete rights of Quaresma to Porto, which tagged Quaresma for €6 million. 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 three-man midfield, where his tactical knowledge, passing 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 teammate 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 2005–06 season.
  Deco scored twice in the 2006 Supercopa de España, which Barça won. Deco won the UEFA Best Midfielder Award yet again for his performance in Barça's UEFA 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. 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.
caption: Deco playing for FC Barcelona at the 2005–2006 season
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