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Players: Abel Freddy Adu H. Almeida Bruno Alves Anderson J. Andrade N. Assis Vitor Baia Boa Morte Bosingwa M. Caneira Cardozo R. Carvalho Ze Castro Jorge Costa Rui Costa Conceicao Costinha F. Couto M. da Costa Dady Deco Di Maria Y. Djalo Duda M. Fernandes P. Ferreira Luis Figo Luis Filipe Nuno Gomes L. Gonzalez Helton Izmailov Karagounis Katsouranis Liedson L. Lopez Luisao David Luiz Makukula Maniche Mantorras F. Meira R. Meireles P. Mendes Miguel Miguelito Moreira J. Moutinho Nani Nelson Pauleta C. Peixoto Pepe Petit Pereirinha Joao Pinto H. Postiga Polga Quaresma Quim Ricardo R. Rocha C. Rodriguez Ronaldo Romagnoli P. Sousa Simao Tarik Tiago J. Tomas Tonel Miguel Veloso Hugo Viana Vukcevic Abel Xavier Select player

Player profile: Bruno Alves

Full name: Bruno Eduardo Regufe Alves

Position: Defender

Date of Birth: 27 November 1981

Birthplace: Porto, Portugal

Not too long ago Bruno Alves was in danger of seeing his career nosedive into a nondescript story of a promising defender who was let down by an inability to control his temperament.

The potential of the tall and solidly built centre-half, a product of FC Porto’s youth system and son of a professional footballer was there for all to see. At 1.87m he is almost invincible in the air, and as well as a fearsome defender Alves is more than happy to add his considerable weight to the attack where he is a potent weapon at corners and set-pieces.

However, the massive Alves achieved notoriety in his early years more for his often violent conduct on the pitch, with a series of red cards stunting his progress. He infamously head-butted Nuno Gomes in 2005/06 as FC Porto fell to a rare home defeat against bitter rivals Benfica.


Curiosity
Bruno Alves’ brother, Geraldo, is also a high-quality centre-half who currently plays for AEK Athens, a club Bruno represented in 2004/05.


After being loaned out by the Dragons to Farense and Guimaraes in Portugal, then AEK Athens in Greece, Alves returned to Portugal a more mature player and gradually began to make his mark in a more positive manner.

Turning point

The arrival of Jesualdo Ferreira at the helm of FC Porto would signal the turning point in Alves’ career. He beat off the stiff competition for a starting berth in the team alongside Pepe and formed a rock solid partnership with the Brazilian.

A superb season saw the player, now in his mid twenties, finally come of age. Alves was a virtual ever-present as Porto won another Portuguese Championship, and while the likes of Ricardo Quaresma, Anderson, Lucho Gonzalez and Pepe picked up most of the plaudits, Alves’ key role in the success did not go unnoticed.

Luiz Filipe Scolari gave the defender his full Portugal debut in June 2007 against Kuwait, and over the summer rumours emerged that Premiership club Aston Villa were chasing his signature.

But Alves was quick to pledge his loyalty to Porto, and following the sale of Pepe to Real Madrid the commanding centre-back looks set to become the boss of the Dragons’ defence. It would be no surprise to see him wearing the captain’s armband in the not-too-distant future.

CLUB APPEARANCES* GOALS Farense 46 3 Guimaraes 25 1 AEK Athens 27 0 FC Porto** 31 2       PORTUGAL*** 1 0

* League only
** Up to May 2007
*** Up to June 2007