Anderson Luís de Abreu Oliveira

Infobox Football biography
playername = Anderson


fullname = Anderson Luís de Abreu Oliveira
height = 5 ft 9 in (1.76m) [cite book |last=Hugman |first=Barry J. |title=The PFA Footballers Who's Who 2008-09 |year=2008 |publisher=Mainstream Publishing |location=Edinburgh |isbn=978-1-84596-324-8 |pages=p.31 ] [cite web |url=http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/BIO/Athlete/0/243150.shtml|title=Anderson 08 Olympics Profile ]
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1988|4|13|df=y
cityofbirth = Porto Alegre
countryofbirth = Brazil
currentclub = Manchester United
clubnumber = 8
position = Attacking midfielder
Left winger
youthyears = 1993–2004
youthclubs = Grêmio
years = 2004–2005
2005–2007
2007–
clubs = Grêmio
Porto
Manchester United
caps(goals) = 06 (1)
18 (2)
27 (0)
nationalyears = 2007–
nationalteam = Brazil
nationalcaps(goals) = 07 (0)
pcupdate = 20:07, 27 September 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate = 19:40, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

Anderson Luís de Abreu Oliveira (born 13 April 1988 in Porto Alegre, Brazil), best known as Anderson, is a Brazilian footballer, currently playing for Manchester United. His regular position is as an attacking midfielder, but he can also operate on the left wing.

Club career

Grêmio

Anderson joined Grêmio as a youth player and in 2005 he made his first appearance for the team, playing 5 Brazilian Série B games in the second half of the year, as well as playing in the 2005 Gaúcho State Championship in the first half. He earned himself iconic status by scoring the goal that lifted Grêmio back into Serie A in a promotion playoff against Nautico. This goal was particularly memorable because Grêmio only had seven players on the pitch at the time and had just seen the opposition have a penalty saved. The goal gave Grêmio a 1-0 victory in the most unlikely of circumstances.

Porto

He joined Porto in December 2005 after only five first team appearances at a national level with Gremio, and made his league debut on 5 March 2006, playing a part in helping the team seal the Portuguese Championship that season. The following season, he made his UEFA Champions League debut in Porto's first group game against CSKA Moscow. [cite web |url=http://www.uefa.com/competitions/ucl/fixturesresults/round=2357/match=1116326/index.html |title=Porto frustrated in CSKA stalemate |accessdate=2007-06-20 |author=Graham Hunter |date=2006-09-13 |publisher=UEFA.com ] However, Anderson was forced to miss five months of the 2006-07 season due to a broken leg. [cite web |url=http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/article1050349.ece |title=Anderson's Leg Break Hell |accessdate=2008-04-16 |author=ANTONY KASTRINAKIS |date=2008-04-16 |publisher=thesun.co.uk ]

Manchester United

On 30 May 2007, the Manchester United website confirmed that the club had agreed in principle to sign Anderson from Porto for an undisclosed fee, reported to be approximately £18 million. [cite news |title=Transferts |url=http://www.lequipe.fr/Portfolio/Football/PORTFOLIO_20062007_TRANSFERTS.html |publisher=L'Équipe |date=2007-07-10 |accessdate=2007-07-13 ] On 29 June 2007, he was granted a work permit to play in the United Kingdom, and the move was completed on 2 July, with Anderson signing a five-year contract to become United's second Brazilian player after the disappointing Kléberson. [cite web |url=http://www.manutd.com/default.sps?pagegid={B4CEE8FA-9A47-47BC-B069-3F7A2F35DB70}&newsid=440998 |title=Reds complete triple signing |accessdate=2007-07-02 |author=Steve Bartram |date=2007-07-02 |publisher=ManUtd.com ]

Anderson was friends with Portuguese-speaking team mates, Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani prior to joining the club. [cite news |author=Ben Hibbs |title=United to sign Brazilian starlet |url=http://www.manutd.com/default.sps?pagegid={B4CEE8FA-9A47-47BC-B069-3F7A2F35DB70}&newsid=431940 |publisher=ManUtd.com |date=2007-05-30 |accessdate=2007-05-30 ] He was handed the number 8 shirt previously worn by Wayne Rooney and made his Manchester United debut on 3 August 2007, playing 45 minutes of a pre-season friendly against Doncaster Rovers, which United won 2-0.

Anderson made his competitive debut for Manchester United against Sunderland on 1 September 2007, before he was substituted at half time and replaced by Louis Saha. Anderson made his Champions League debut against Sporting CP on 19 September 2007, coming on as a substitute for Ryan Giggs in the 76th minute. He played the full 90 minutes in the League Cup match against Coventry City on 26 September 2007, in a team consisting almost entirely of youth and reserve team players.

In the 2008 UEFA Champions League Final in Moscow, Russia, Anderson was brought on as a substitute in the final minute of extra time to replace Wes Brown, and converted United's sixth attempt in the penalty shootout. He followed it up by kicking the ball back into the net, an act which Alex Ferguson credited with returning the momentum to Manchester United. [cite news |title=Fergie looks to build on win |url=http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11667_3601368,00.html |publisher=Sky Sports |date=2008-05-23 |accessdate=2008-05-23 ]

International career

In April 2005, he played for Brazil in the South American U-17 Championship, and the following October he won the "Adidas Golden Ball" with his national team at the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship.cite web |url=http://www.fifa.com/tournaments/archive/tournament=102/edition=9095/awards/index.html |title=FIFA U17 World Championship Peru 2005 |accessdate=2007-06-20 |year=2005 |publisher=FIFA.com ]

Anderson made his international debut for the Brazil national football team on 27 June 2007 in their 2-0 loss against against Mexico in Copa América, coming on as a substitute. [Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/6252368.stm|title=Anderson gets Man Utd work permit
Publisher=BBC|Date=2007-06-29|Accessdate=2008-06-25] He made his first start for Brazil on 1 July 2007 against Chile in a 3-0 victory.

In July 2008, Brazil coach Dunga named Anderson to the 18-man squad for the 2008 Summer Olympics. [cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics/football/7494600.stm |publisher=BBC Sport |title=Ronaldinho gets Olympics go-ahead |date=16 July 2008] He scored Brazil's first goal in its second group match against New Zealand, a match it went on to win 5-0. [cite news|url=http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hcGBBL66lEJEBHoy3LvL5K3wy1og |title=Ronaldinho doubles up as Brazil whip N.Zealand| date=August 10 2008 |publisher=Agence France-Presse] On 22 August 2008, Brazil won the bronze medal as they defeated Belgium 3-0.

Honours

Club

Grêmio

*Campeonato Brasileiro Série B:
**Winner (1): 2005

Porto

*Portuguese Liga:
**Winner (2): 2005-06, 2006-07
*Taça de Portugal:
**Winner (1): 2005-06
*Portuguese SuperCup:
**Winner (1): 2005-06

Manchester United

*Premier League:
**Winner (1): 2007-08
*UEFA Champions League
**Winner (1): 2007-08
*UEFA Super Cup
** Runner-up (1): 2008

International

*Copa America:
**Winner (1): 2007
*2005 FIFA U-17 World Cup: Best Player of Tournament
*Summer Olympics:
**Bronze (1): 2008

Career statistics

"Statistics accurate as of match played 4 October 2008" [cite web |url=http://www.stretfordend.co.uk/playermenu/anderson.html |title=Anderson |accessdate=2008-10-05 |last=Endlar |first=Andrew |publisher=StretfordEnd.co.uk ]

References

External links

*soccerbase|id=46565|name=Anderson
* [http://www.manutd.com/default.sps?pagegid={FE60904B-C2A8-4E60-9B05-700DBBC29BBC}&section=playerProfile&teamid=458&bioid=92679 Profile] at ManUtd.com