5 July 2007, by Sean Gillen

Portuguese Abroad season review:
Fernando Meira

Meira captains Stuttgart to historic achievements

Of all the successes of the various Portuguese players playing their football abroad in the 2006/07 season, Fernando Meira’s Bundesliga title triumph with Stuttgart was by far the most unexpected.

Having finished 9th in the German top flight the previous year, few expected Stuttgart to challenge the likes of Bayern Munich, Werder Bremen and Schalke for the title, especially after a disastrous 3-0 home defeat to Nurnberg on the opening day of the season.

Meira, who had not taken part in the loss, scored on his first appearance of the season in the following game, a 3-2 win at Arminia Bielefeld. However, the Portuguese’s return failed to stop the team’s inconsistent form, with the team winning just three of their first eight games.

A home victory over Schalke in October sparked a four-game winning run, and Meira’s men briefly found themselves top of the table, although the Portuguese missed five games in Oct/Nov with injury. A 2-1 loss at Bayern saw the team slip down into the Champions League places, and they frittered between 2nd and 3rd for much of the season, while Schalke led the way at the top.

Backbone of defence

As has become common since his move to Germany, Meira was impressing in central defence, and was key as Die Roten went into the winter break with four consecutive clean sheets.

Stuttgart returned in late January with a 4-1 loss, again against Nurnberg. The team reacted well to the setback, though, winning the next four games and beginning to look strong candidates for a Champions League place.

Meira struggled with injury as the spring saw Stuttgart struggle for consistency. The inspirational skipper was in and out of the side as two defeats to Leverkusen and Schalke came in a four-game winless run, which also included two 0-0 draws.

With eight games left to play, Stuttgart found themselves in third, hoping to fend off competition from Bayern for the third and final Champions League place. Meira then returned for the match that would prove the turning point in the team’s season, a 3-1 home win over Alemannia Aachen, and then scored in a 4-2 win at Hamburg as the team began to hit form.

Sensational winning run

The run continued with wins over Hannover and Bayern, before victory over Gladbach put Stuttgart second and just one point off leaders Schalke with three games remaining. Meira scored his third goal of the season as Mainz were swept aside at home. The Portuguese picked up a suspension in the match, but the team coped without him to beat Bochum 3-2 on the penultimate day of the season.

The win at Bochum would prove crucial as Schalke, who had led the league since November, showed signs of faltering under pressure from Stuttgart’s seven-match winning run. Schalke lost at Dortmund, allowing Meira’s side to go top heading into the last day of the campaign.

The title was sealed after Stuttgart, captained by Meira, came from behind to beat Energie Cottbus 2-1 at home, giving them a two-point advantage over Schalke and securing their first championship for 15 years.

Stuttgart’s season did not end there, as the club also made their first German Cup final appearance for ten years. However, once again they came unstuck against Nurnberg, losing 3-2 after extra time, although the defeat could not take the gloss off an exceptional season.

                          Season stats - Fernando Meira

                        Substitute appearances in brackets