 Pereira in action for Benfica | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Victorio Maximiliano Pereira Páez | ||
| Date of birth | 8 June 1984 | ||
| Place of birth | Montevideo, Uruguay | ||
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||
| Playing position | Right back | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Benfica | ||
| Number | 14 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Defensor | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2002–2007 | Defensor | 118 | (25) |
| 2007– | Benfica | 163 | (7) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2005– | Uruguay | 87 | (3) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 00:00, 4 November 2013 (UTC).
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 01:00, 21 November 2013 (UTC) | |||
Victorio Maximiliano "Maxi" Pereira Páez (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈmaksi peˈrejra]; born 8 June 1984) is anUruguayan 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 Cupand 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 Petersburgin 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 the2007 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
- Portuguese League: 2009–10
- Portuguese League Cup: 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12
- UEFA Europa League: Runner-up 2012–13
- Portuguese Cup: Runner-up 2012–13
