Nélson de Jesus Silva (born 7 October 1973 in Irará, Bahia), best known as Dida (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈdʒidɐ]), is a Brazilian goalkeeper. He currently plays for Italian Serie A club Milan, with whom he is a two-time winner of the UEFA Champions League. Club career Early life and club career Though he was born in Bahia, Dida was raised in the smaller northern state of Alagoas. His footballing role models were goalkeepers Valdir Peres and Rinat Dasaev, whom he watched on television during the 1982 FIFA World Cup.[1] A Flamengo fan,[2] he helped form an amateur team called Flamenguinho ("Little Flamengo") at thirteen, which was comprised of other boys from his neighborhood.[3] Dida's professional club career began in 1990 with Alagoas team Cruzeiro de Arapiraca (not to be confused with Cruzeiro EC). Two years later, he signed with hometown club Vitória and won the Bahia state championship in his first season. In 1993, Dida made 24 first-team appearances for Vitória after winning the Under-21 FIFA World Youth Championship as Brazil's first-choice. Dida was acquired by Cruzeiro EC in 1994, where, in a span of five seasons, he won three Minas Gerais state titles, the 1996 Copa do Brasil, and the 1997 Copa Libertadores, along with a pair of Placar Bola de Prata awards as the top goalkeeper in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. But with this success soon came a desire to ply his trade in Europe, and in January 1999, he decided to leave Cruzeiro in order to sign with Italian club A.C. Milan in a €5.5 million transfer.[4][1] A.C. Milan 2000–2002 Dida's request to opt out of the remainder of his contract with Cruzeiro in order to go to Europe kicked off a dispute with the club that lasted for five months, during which he suited up for Switzerland club FC Lugano just to keep in game shape.[1] But when the issue was finally resolved and Dida formally joined Milan, he was third on coach Alberto Zaccheroni's depth chart behind Christian Abbiati and Sebastiano Rossi. Milan loaned Dida to SC Corinthians in order to get him some regular first-team action. It was during this time that his reputation as a penalty saver came to the fore. His saving of two spot kicks in Corinthians' 3-2 victory over intrastate rivals São Paulo FC - with both penalties taken by Raí - in the semifinal of the 1999 Campeonato Brasileiro resulted in the headline "Dida is God" from sports publication Lance!.[5] In the inaugural FIFA World Club Championship (today the FIFA Club World Cup) in 2000, Dida saved a Nicolas Anelka penalty in a 2-2 draw with Real Madrid,[6] and in the final against Vasco da Gama, Corinthians won the title in a 4-3 penalty shoot-out after Edmundo's shot went wide.[7] Milan recalled Dida for the 2000–01 season, and he leapfrogged past Rossi into the starting eleven, since Abbiati was away with Italy at the 2000 Summer Olympics. A 4-1 Champions League group stage win over Beşiktaş J.K. on 13 September 2000 marked his official debut for the club, but on 19 September, in the 89th minute against Leeds United at a rain-soaked Elland Road, he accidentally dropped a Lee Bowyer shot into his own goal, causing Milan to lose the match 1-0.[8] His explanation afterward was that since the ball was slippery from the rain, he attempted to absorb the force of the shot then catch hold of it, but it dropped into a puddle and bounced into goal.[9] Despite keeping a clean sheet in Milan's 2-0 win over FC Barcelona one week later, he was promptly benched following Abbiati's return. He made his first and only Serie A start that season as well, a 2-0 November loss to Parma F.C. in which Patrick Mboma scored both goals. Meanwhile, Dida was among nearly a dozen Serie A players who were implicated in a scandal involving fraudulent European passports. In October 2000, it was reported that he had registered in Italy as an EU player with a Portuguese passport, which was discovered to be false following a routine check by Milan, who then promptly re-registered him as a non-EU player.[10] UEFA declined to take any action and instead handed the case over to FIGC, who fined Milan £314,000, and banned Dida from the league for one year, in addition to a FIFA-imposed year-long suspension from national team play. On 3 April 2003, following a court appearance in Milano, he was given a seven-month suspended prison sentence.[11] Milan sent Dida back to Corinthians for the 2001-02 campaign following the passport flap, then recalled him again for the next season, which he began on the bench until Abbiati limped off with a hip injury at halftime of a Champions League qualifying stage match against FC Slovan Liberec on 14 August 2002. Dida took his place for the second half and turned in a solid performance that would result in a new first-choice keeper for Milan. 2003–2006 Dida soon wrote his name into Milan history after the 2003 Champions League final at Old Trafford against league rivals Juventus, in which he saved penalties from David Trézéguet, Marcelo Zalayeta and Paolo Montero as Milan won the shoot-out 3-2 after the match had ended goalless. The praise poured in from his home country in addition to the Italian media; he was labeled "Saint Dida" by the Brazilian press, while Folha de São Paulo chipped in with the headline "Dida pushes Milan to the top of Europe."[12] Dida was named the Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year after conceding only 20 goals in 32 appearances during Milan's 2003-04 Scudetto-winning season,[13] making him the first and only non-Italian goalkeeper to win the award.[1][14] On 12 April 2005, with Milan leading 1-0 in the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinal derby against crosstown rival Internazionale, Inter ultras became infuriated after a second-half Esteban Cambiasso goal was nullified by referee Markus Merk – who, moments later, booked Cambiasso for dissent – due to the fact that he had just whistled Inter forward Julio Cruz for a foul on Dida in the six-yard box as players were jockeying for position inside the penalty area following an Inter corner kick. Bottles and various debris were subsequently thrown onto the pitch, but the projectiles soon escalated to lit flares. As Dida attempted to clear bottles in order to take a goal kick, a flare hurtled down from the upper deck and struck him on his right shoulder, and Merk halted the match in the 74th minute.[15] After a thirty-minute delay in which firefighters were called in to remove the burning flares from the pitch, the match was restarted. Dida, however, was unable to continue, and was substituted by Abbiati. Less than a minute later, though, Merk finally abandoned the match after more flares and debris rained down. The match was awarded as a 3-0 victory, totaling a 5-0 aggregate, to Milan.[16] Dida suffered bruising and first-degree burns to his shoulder, but did not miss any game time, as he was back between the posts for Milan's Serie A match on 17 April against A.C. Siena. Meanwhile, Inter were fined just over €200,000 – the largest fine ever imposed by UEFA – and were ordered to play their first four 2005–06 Champions League home matches behind closed doors as punishment.[17] His form began to decline thereafter, as he struggled in the semifinals against PSV Eindhoven and in the 2005 CL final loss to Liverpool F.C., in which Milan blew a 3-0 halftime lead in a span of six minutes late in the second half and the match ended 3-3 after extra time. Dida was only able to save John Arne Riise's penalty as Liverpool triumphed 3-2 in the ensuing shoot-out. He had set a CL record for consecutive clean sheets with seven, which was surpassed by Arsenal's Jens Lehmann the next season. Dida's rough patch continued as he slogged through a mistake-riddled 2005–06 season, leading to Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira declaring that his starting position for the upcoming World Cup was not secure.[18] Though Milan's drive to return to the Champions League final fell short after a 1-0 semifinal aggregate loss to Barcelona, that series began a revival of his form with stops against Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o and Henrik Larsson over the course of both legs. 2006–2008 Dida in a home match against ACF Fiorentina on May 6, 2007 Dida got off to a strong start in 2006–07; following a strike by Lazio's Stephen Makinwa in Milan's 2-1 season-opener victory on 10 September, he did not allow a Serie A goal for the next 446 minutes of play,[19] and he conceded only two goals in five of Milan's six Champions League group stage matches. He made his 200th appearance for Milan in a 1-0 defeat of Ascoli Calcio on 20 September, and on 28 January 2007, he played his 150th career Serie A match in a 1-0 win over Parma. Dida also signed a three-year contract extension with Milan on 10 March, and said afterwards in a Milan Channel interview, "It took six months to reach this agreement and now it's finally done. I'm extremely happy."[20] However, '06–07 represented the first injury-plagued season of his career, and he missed eleven Serie A matches due to knee and shoulder problems; he had missed ten league games in the previous three seasons combined. His play had consequently suffered again by the start of 2007 and he was renowned for being very inconsistent; Dida was heavily criticized for his performance in the CL quarter-final first leg against Bayern, which ended 2-2 after Milan led twice. However, Dida turned in a man of the match performance in the second leg as Milan shut out Bayern 2-0. Then Dida was criticized for his blunder in the CL semi-final first leg against Manchester United as Milan lost 2-3. Once again, Dida bounced back and played a role in Milan's second leg 3-0 victory over United. His form then subsequently rebounded again and it continued into the rematch with Liverpool on May 23, where he exorcised his Istanbul ghosts with three saves from Jermaine Pennant, Steven Gerrard, and Peter Crouch as Milan won 2-1 and raised its seventh Champions League trophy.[21] On 3 October 2007, during Milan's CL group stage match against Celtic FC in Glasgow, Celtic striker Scott McDonald scored the match-winner in the 90th minute to seal a 2-1 victory. As McDonald and his teammates celebrated near the corner flag, 27-year-old Celtic fan Robert McHendry entered the pitch and tapped Dida on the shoulder as he ran past the Milan penalty area. Dida attempted to give chase but after a few steps he collapsed to the ground, holding the side of his face; he was stretchered off the pitch and substituted.[22] Although McHendry later turned himself in to police and was given a lifetime ban from Celtic Park, Dida was charged by UEFA with breaching rules upholding "loyalty, integrity and sportsmanship", as it was deemed that his injury was feigned. Dida was consequently punished with a two-match suspension, which Milan promptly appealed.[23][24] Prior to Milan's Serie A match against Empoli at the San Siro on 21 October, he offered a gesture of apology to the fans by pausing to bow to each section of the crowd during warmups, and received a round of applause in response.[25] The next day, UEFA reduced his ban to one match, and he sat out Milan's 4-1 victory over FC Shakhtar Donetsk on October 24.[26] Dida joined Milan teammates Cafu, Kaká, Ronaldo and Paolo Maldini for the fifth annual Match Against Poverty in Málaga, Spain on 19 November, but he missed Milan's group stage rematch against Celtic on 4 December due to illness.[27] In December, he became the first two-time winner of the FIFA Club World Cup after Milan defeated Boca Juniors.[28] Ongoing injury problems and an overall drop in form limited Dida to just thirteen league appearances for the season. His participation in the Goal4Africa charity match on 12 July 2008 marked his first on-pitch action in six months.[29] 2009–present With the return of Abbiati as Milan's first choice for the 2008–09 Serie A season, Dida was the starter for Milan's UEFA Cup campaign, which ended with their elimination at the hands of Werder Bremen on February 27, 2009. He made his season Serie A debut on March 15 against A.C. Siena when Abbiati was carted off with a serious knee injury in the 13th minute,[30] after which Dida was named as the starting keeper for the remainder of the term. He made a total of ten league appearances (his fewest with Milan since the 2000-01 season), six of which ended in clean sheets. However, Dida was unable to compete for the 2009-10 starting spot after missing the entire preseason due to injury, and consequently lost his starting position to Marco Storari, who was called back to Milan following a loan spell with Fiorentina. He made his seasonal league debut on October 18, 2009 in a 2-1 home win over Roma after Storari was a late scratch for the game. Dida started for AC Milan against Real Madrid in the champions league on 21 October 2009, where he dropped a tame shot and fumbled his rebound catch straight to Raul, who finished easily. Fortunately the error was not a costly one, as his opposite number Iker Casillas made two poor errors of his own[citation needed] to help Milan win 3-2 at the Bernabeu. On 25 October 2009 he put the memory of the error behind him in a Scudetto match against Chievo where he made a remarkable save from Pablo Granoche near the end of the match. Not long afterwards Alessandro Nesta scored the winning goal as Milan gained an important 2-1 victory. In the match versus Napoli, Dida was one of the best players in the match with four excellent saves. International career Olympic medal record Competitor for Brazil Men's Football Bronze 1996 Atlanta Team Competition With 91 appearances in 11 years,[31] Dida is Brazil's fourth-highest capped goalie, behind Émerson Leão (107 caps), Cláudio Taffarel (101), and Gilmar (94). The only Brazilian keeper to be known by his nickname, he made his Canarinho debut at the 1993 Under-21 FIFA World Youth Championship, where Brazil won the championship for a third time. His first cap for the Seleção came in a 1-0 defeat of Ecuador on 7 July 1995. Dida was the starting keeper for Brazil at the 1996 Summer Olympics, but an error-laden campaign from Brazil, which included a penalty-area collision involving him and teammate Aldair, played a role in defeats to Nigeria and Japan and left Brazil with the bronze medal.[1] Two years later, coach Mário Zagallo, who had helmed the team at the Olympics, lured 1994 World Cup hero Taffarel out of retirement and back into the #1 jersey for the 1998 World Cup in France, which Dida would watch in its entirety from the bench. He did his part in Brazil's 1999 Copa América victory by conceding only twice in six matches, in addition to saving a Roberto Ayala penalty that preserved a 2-1 win over arch rivals Argentina in the quarterfinals.[32] Despite Dida's run of good form with Corinthians at the time of the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, Luiz Felipe Scolari, who had replaced the fired Wanderley Luxemburgo following Brazil's lackluster qualification, made Marcos his number one. Dida, along with third-choice keeper Rogério Ceni, never played a minute in Brazil's winning campaign, thus setting a team record with fourteen consecutive WC final matches on the bench in 1998 and 2002 combined. Dida played four out of five matches in the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup (Marcos made one appearance due to squad rotation), conceding four goals and ranking second in total saves behind Mexico's Oswaldo Sánchez. One memorable moment of the competition was during Brazil's 1-0 group-stage loss to Mexico, when he saved a Jared Borgetti spot kick that had to be retaken twice due to repeated player encroachment into the penalty area.[33] Brazil have taken home the trophy twice, in 1997 and 2005, and Dida was the first-choice keeper on both occasions. Overall, he participated in five consecutive Confederations Cups from 1997 to 2005, becoming only the third player to accomplish this feat (Antonio Carbajal and Lothar Matthäus),[34][dead link] and was also the lone goalie to save a penalty in the 2005 edition. 2006 World Cup Despite never playing a match during his brief tenure at FC Lugano, Dida received a warm reception from the local supporters during Brazil's training sessions in Weggis, Switzerland prior to the 2006 World Cup finals. During the team's two-week stay in Weggis, he also organized a Ping-Pong tournament in which many of his teammates, such as Lúcio, Robinho, Fred, Ronaldinho, and Ronaldo, participated. He was defeated by Juninho Pernambucano in the championship match, and the winner's trophy was even named after him.[35][dead link] He conceded only two goals in five matches as Brazil defeated Croatia, Australia, Japan, and Ghana before being eliminated by France in the quarterfinals, a match which saw the Verdeamarela manage only one shot on goal in the entire contest and led to Parreira's resignation two weeks after the conclusion of the tournament. Due to his consistent play in goal, Dida was one of few Seleção players to avoid the wrath of the fans and Brazilian media after the team's elimination. He was also the first Afro-Brazilian goalkeeper to start in the World Cup finals since Moacyr Barbosa in the 1950 competition; for this accomplishment, he was hailed as Dida, o homem que quebrou o tabu ("Dida, the man who broke the taboo").[36][dead link] He assumed the role of captain against Japan when regular skipper Cafu was rested for that match, thus becoming only the second Brazilian goalie ever to wear the armband since Emerson Leão in the 1978 World Cup. Brazil's beat France ultimately became Dida's swan song. On 1 October 2006, Brazil coach Dunga announced during a television interview, "Dida told me that the Seleção is no longer a priority in his career."[37] Despite his World Cup heroics, he had not been called up for national team play since the July 2006 inception of Dunga, who had eschewed many of the veterans in favor of a predominantly younger roster for Brazil's post-World Cup matches.