Andre Almeida

Andre Gomes Magalhaes de Almeida (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɐ̃ˈdɾɛ ɑɫˈmɐjðɐ]; born 10 September 1990) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays for Benfica mainly as a right-back but also as a midfielder, also serving as team captain. He earned 8 caps for the Portugal national team from 2013 to 2015.

Club Career

Belenenses

After playing for three other youth clubs in his hometown of Lisbon, Almeida finished his formation with Belenenses. He made his top division debut on 11 January 2009 by playing one minute in a 0–1 loss against Rio Ave, and finished his first full season with 20 games and one goal as the club suffered relegation.

Almeida appeared in 18 matches in the 2010–11 campaign and scored twice, but Belenenses could only rank in 13th position in the second level.

Benfica

Almeida signed for S.L. Benfica in the 2011 summer, being immediately loaned to fellow top flight side U.D. Leiria. In December, however, he was recalled by the parent club, going on to make four official appearances for the first team until the end of the season, including 90 minutes in a 2–0 home win over C.D. Santa Clara for the domestic league cup, which Benfica won for the fourth time in a row.

Almeida started 2012–13 with Benfica B in division two. However, following the sales of Javi Garcia and Axel Witsel in the last minutes of the summer transfer window, he started being called regularly to the main squad, either as a backup to Maxi Pereira at right back or in centre midfield.

Almeida made his UEFA Champions League debut on 19 September 2012 in a 0–0 draw at Celtic. He also played the full 90 minutes in the second group stage game between the two teams, a 2–1 home success; on both occasions, he starred in the right side of defense.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Андре Алмейда (russian)