Maximiliano Pereira

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Maxi Pereira

Pereira in action for Benfica
Personal information
Full nameVictorio Maximiliano Pereira Páez
Date of birth (1984-06-08) 8 June 1984
Place of birthMontevideo, Uruguay
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Playing positionRight back
Club information
Current clubBenfica
Number14
Youth career
Defensor
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
2002–2007Defensor118(25)
2007–Benfica170(7)
National team‡
2005–Uruguay87(3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 00:00, 6 February 2014 (UTC).

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 01:00, 21 November 2013 (UTC)
This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Pereira and the second or maternal family name is Páez.

Victorio Maximiliano "Maxi" Pereira Páez (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈmaksi peˈrejra]; born 8 June 1984) is an Uruguayan professional footballer who plays for S.L. Benfica in the Portuguese first division. Mainly a right defender, he can occasionally appear as a midfielder.

Pereira played with Defensor in Uruguay, joining Benfica in 2007 and going on to remain with the club for several seasons, appearing in nearly 300 official games and winning five major titles.

A Uruguayan international on more than 90 occasions, Pereira represented the nation at the 2010 World Cup and two Copa América tournaments.

Club career

Born in Montevideo, Pereira started playing professional football for Defensor Sporting as a 18-year-old, early in the 2002–03 season. He took no time to adjust to the first team, being a crucial part alongside Álvaro González and scoring a career-best 16 goals in the first division in the 2005 campaign. After 2006–07 Defensor lost both gems, as González was transferred to Boca Juniors and Pereira went to S.L. Benfica, accompanied by countryman Cristian Rodríguez;[1] the Lisbon side signed the player for €3 million and 70% of his rights.[2]

In his first year Pereira was initially played as a right midfielder, failing to adjust to that position. He did score in two consecutive home games in November 2007, in a 6–1 league thrashing of Boavista F.C. and in the season's UEFA Champions League 1–1 draw against A.C. Milan, where he netted with his left foot from outside the box.[3]

The following campaign Pereira switched to right-back, after Nélson Marcos moved to Real Betis, and became an everpresent fixture during the Reds' campaign. In 2009–10, as Benfica won the league after five years – adding the season's domestic League Cup – he appeared in a total of 40 matches, scoring five goals in 2,932 minutes of action.

Pereira netted two goals in the 2011–12 Champions League, both coming against FC Zenit Saint Petersburg in the round-of-16 (2–3 away loss, 2–0 home win, both through tap-ins)[4][5] as Benfica eventually reached the quarterfinals of the competition, where he was sent off in the first half of the second leg against Chelsea after two bookable offenses (1–1 away draw, 1–2 aggregate loss).[6]

International career

An Uruguayan international since 26 October 2005 in a friendly loss in Mexico, Pereira quickly became a regular for the country, and represented it at the 2007 Copa América.

He was selected for the squad at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, playing all the games and minutes for the eventual semfinalists: in the quarterfinals against Ghana, he missed his penalty shootout attempt but Uruguay eventually qualified for the next stage, where he scored his first goal as an international, in a 2–3 loss against Holland, finding the net in the 91st minute.[7]

Pereira was again an undisputed starter for Uruguay in the 2011 Copa América held in Argentina, with the national team winning its 15th continental tournament.

International goals

Goal Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 6 July 2010 Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town, South Africa  Netherlands 2–3 2–3 2010 FIFA World Cup
2. 10 June 2012 Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay  Peru 2–0 4–2 2014 World Cup qualification
3. 13 November 2013 Amman International Stadium, Amman, Jordan  Jordan 1–0 5–0 2014 World Cup qualification

Honours

Club

Benfica

Country

References

  1. ↑ Mantorras out for three months; BBC Sport, 27 August 2007
  2. ↑ "Comunicado" [Announcement] (in Portuguese). CMVM. 27 August 2007. Retrieved 4 October 2010. 
  3. ↑ Goals, goals, goals; UEFA.com, 14 December 2007
  4. ↑ "Zenit's Shirokov scores twice to down Benfica". UEFA.com. 15 February 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2012. 
  5. ↑ "Benfica progress at Zenit's expense". UEFA.com. 6 March 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2012. 
  6. ↑ Chelsea 2–1 Benfica; BBC Sport, 4 April 2012
  7. ↑ Bevan, Chris (6 July 2010). "Uruguay 2–3 Netherlands". BBC Sport. Retrieved 7 July 2010. 

External links

S.L. Benfica – current squad
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