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Deco joins Chelsea for £8m

July 1st 2008 05:00

Deco shakes hands with Peter Kenyon

Portugal midfielder Deco has joined Chelsea from Spanish giants Barcelona after he was told he did not feature in Barcelona's future plans by new coach Pep Guardiola.

Despite suffering injuries and a loss of form for Barca last season, Deco was still one of Portugal's best players in their failed Euro 2008 campaign and is still regarded as one of Europe's most highly-rated playmakers. The 30-year-old has joined the Stamford Bridge outfit on a two-year deal for a fee of about £8m and will once again team up with coach Luiz Felipe Scolari who he played under for the national team.

The Brazilian-born midfielder has a bulging trophy cabinet which includes two Champion's League medals, a Uefa cup winner's medal, and two La Liga titles from his time at FC Porto and Barcelona.

Deco spoke to Chelsea TV after officially signing and said that winning the Champion's League was a top priority for him and the club: "It is good for me to be here and first of all I am very happy to be here.

"I am sure I have come at the right time to do great things and be able to help Chelsea go back to the way it was and come back to being the first one, not only in England but also to win the Champions League that has been their dream for so long."

The arrival of the Portugese star adds a new dimension for the Chelsea midfield which currently includes Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack, Michael Essien, Jon Mikel Obi and Claude Makelele although some would argue that his arrival has only hastened the departure of Frank Lampard who is rumoured to be a transfer target for former boss Jose Mourinho who is now at Inter Milan.

[Source: ChelseaFC]

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Posted By: charles - Category: English football news, Chelsea, Barcelona

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Mighty Reds down Barcelona

February 22nd 2007 04:33

The second batch of Champion's League first round knock-out matches took place overnight with the highly anticipated clash between the two most recent Champion's League winning teams Liverpool and Barcelona taking centre stage.

Barcelona vs Liverpool Goals

After a traumatic week for Liverpool when reports of a training ground bust-up between bad-boy Craig Bellamy and John Arne Riise made the headlines, the two players settled their differences on the pitch by scoring a goal apiece to down Barcelona 2-1 away from home.

Liverpool made a confident start but found themselves a goal down in the 14th minute when Barcelona's Portguese midfielder Deco headed in the first goal for the home side.

Shell-shocked but refusing to buckle under the sustained pressure of Barcelona's fabulous attacking game, the Reds found an equaliser through "golf-club swinging" bad-boy Craig Bellamy when the Welshman powered in a header which keeper Victor Valdes was unable to keep hold of.

Proving that he can make assists as well as score goals, Bellamy went on to play a loose ball across goal for the unmarked Riise to blast right-footed into the roof of the net in the 74th minute to give the mighty Reds a commanding lead ahead of the return fixture in a fortnight's time.

This morale boosting victory ensured that Liverpool's class of 07' became the only side to win at the Nou camp since the 1975-76 Liverpool team, which downed Barca 1-0 in the UEFA Cup semi-finals before going on to win the final.

Elsewhere, Andriy Shevchenko added to his wonderful goal scoring record in Europe by scoring Chelsea's only goal of the match in a one-all draw with Portguese side Porto.

The result, in Chelsea's favour by virtue of the away goals rule, was soured by the news of an ankle ligament injury sustained by England captain John Terry who will now be out for a few weeks.

The two other Champion's League matches also resulted in a draw: the match between Roma and Lyon remained scoreless after 90 minutes and the Inter Milan - Valencia ended at two goals a piece.

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