| Full name | Miguel Luís Pinto Veloso | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 11 May 1986 | ||
| Place of birth | Coimbra, Portugal | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
Miguel Luís Pinto Veloso (born 11 May 1986) is a Portuguese footballer who plays for Genoa C.F.C. and the Portuguese national team.
Mainly a defensive midfielder, he can also operate as an offensive left back.
Club career
Born in Coimbra, Veloso started his football career at S.L. Benfica, but was rejected for being slightly overweight at the time. Later, at the age of 14, he entered Lisbon neighbours Sporting Clube de Portugal's youth system. There, he was promoted to the first team for the 2004–05 pre-season, which took place mainly in England; he started out as a central defender.[1]In order to give him more playing time, Sporting loaned Veloso to Clube Desportivo Olivais e Moscavide in the third level, and he helped it promote with a career-best seven goals. As a result, he was recalled by the Lions, though it appeared difficult for him to grab a spot in Sporting's starting team, because of the presence of players with much more experience, such as Ânderson Polga, Tonel, Marco Caneira or Custódio. Veloso ended up playing in 23 league matches in the season, as Sporting (again) finished second. He was equally impressive in his UEFA Champions League debut, a 1–0 home win against F.C. Internazionale Milano, where he stopped Patrick Vieira and Luís Figo from playing effectively. Before the match, much was made of Figo's homecoming, but by the end of the 90 minutes, all the talk was about Veloso, who turned in a Man of the match display.
In 2007–08, Veloso was ever-present in Sporting's central midfield, alongside another club youth graduate, João Moutinho. The club again lost the league to F.C. Porto, and the same befell in the following season, with the player being involved in some run-ins with manager Paulo Bento; in the previous off-season and following January transfer window, he attracted interest from several Premier League clubs, but nothing materialized.[2][3][4]
In the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League, Veloso helped Sporting reach the last-16, after scoring in both legs of the 4–2 aggregate win against Everton;[5][6] the club could only, however, finish fourth in the domestic league.
On 30 July 2010, Veloso was sold to Genoa C.F.C. in Italy, as Spaniard Alberto Zapater moved in the opposite direction.[7]
International career
Following his impressive performances for Portugal's under-21 side in the 2007 UEFA European Championship in June (although Portugal exited in the group stages, the skipper scored twice in three games),[8] on 14 August 2007, Veloso was called-up for the Portuguese full squad for the first time, for an Euro 2008 qualifier against Armenia. He would make his international debut against Azerbaijan on 13 October.In the tournament finals' group stage, Veloso appeared in the 2–0 loss against Switzerland, on 16 June 2008, a game in which nine out of eleven regular team starters were rested.
After a long spell out of the Portugal squad, he was recalled by coach Carlos Queiroz for a vital 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Denmark in September 2009 (1–1 draw). He netted his first international goal in the same competition, as the national side defeated Malta 4–0, in Guimarães, on October 14.
Honours
Club
- Olivais e Moscavide
- Portuguese Second Division: 2005–06
- Sporting
- Taça de Portugal: 2006–07, 2007–08
- Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 2007, 2008
- Taça da Liga: Runner-up 2007–08, 2008–09
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