Bruno Aguiar

Infobox Football biography
playername= Bruno Aguiar
fullname = Bruno João Morais Aguiar
nickname = Bruno


dateofbirth = birth date and age|1981|2|23
cityofbirth = Lisbon
countryofbirth = Portugal
height = height|ft=5|in=8
currentclub = Heart of Midlothian
clubnumber = 8
position = Central midfielder
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1998-2006 2001-2002 2002-2003 2004-2006 2006-2007 2006-2007 2007-present
clubs = SL Benfica → Gil Vicente (loan) → FC Alverca (loan) → SC Beira-Mar (loan) FBK Kaunas → Hearts (loan) Hearts
caps(goals) = 03 (0) 29 (4) 00 (0) 34 (3)
nationalyears = 2002-2004
nationalteam = Portugal U-21s
nationalcaps(goals) =
pcupdate = 10:07, 9 June 2007 (UTC)
ntupdate = 23:45, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Bruno João Morais Aguiar (born February 23 1981, in Lisbon) is a Portuguese footballer, who plays as a central midfielder for Heart of Midlothian in the Scottish Premier League.

Career

Benfica

Aguiar started his career with Portuguese giants SL Benfica at the age of 9, eventually graduating through their youth system to the B side in 1998. To continue his development, he was then loaned to several smaller Portuguese clubs, firstly Gil Vicente, then FC Alverca and finally SC Beira-Mar.

In 2004, Giovanni Trapattoni was appointed as Benfica's new coach and the Italian recalled Aguiar to the Estádio da Luz. Aguiar soon made his Benfica debut against RSC Anderlecht in a UEFA Champions League qualifier and would make an important contribution to the "Eagles" successful 2004-05 campaign, in which they won the League and reached the Portuguese Cup final.

The following season Ronald Koeman replaced Trapattoni as Benfica head coach and, as he re-modelled the side, Aguiar fell from favour.

Heart of Midlothian

In January 2006 Aguiar signed for FBK Kaunas, who then immediately loaned him to Heart of Midlothian [ [http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport.cfm?id=163902006 Romanov delivers big style] , "Scotsman.com Sport", 1 February 2006.] , both clubs being owned by Vladimir Romanov. He made his debut for Hearts in a 2-1 defeat by Aberdeen in February 2006 and made a further 11 appearances before the end of the season, helping the side to finish in second place in the Scottish Premier League and victory in the Scottish Cup [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_cups/4764967.stm Hearts 1-1 Gretna (4-2 on pens)] , "BBC Sport", 13 May 2006.] .

The 2006-07 season did not start so well for Aguiar, as he was sent off in the first leg of Hearts' Champions League Third Round Qualifying match against AEK Athens. He was dismissed in the 66th minute of the game after receiving a second yellow card for throwing the ball away, at a stage when Hearts were leading 1-0. AEK Athens utilised their subsequent one man advantage to eventually win 2-1. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/5255984.stm Hearts 1-2 AEK Athens] , "BBC Sport", 9 August 2006.]

Honours

*Portuguese Liga: 2004-05
*Scottish Cup: 2006

References

External links

*soccerbase|id=40887|name=Bruno Aguiar
* [http://www.londonhearts.com/scores/players/aguiarbruno.html Appearance stats] at londonhearts.com
* [http://www.uefa.com/competitions/UCL/Players/Player=48226/index.html Profile] at uefa.com

Persondata
NAME=Aguiar, Bruno
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Portuguese footballer
DATE OF BIRTH=February 23, 1981
PLACE OF BIRTH=Lisbon, Portugal
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=