Rui Miguel Nereu de Branco Batista (born 4 February 1986), known as Nereu, is a Portuguese former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

Club career

Nereu was born in

Alcanena Alcanena () is a portuguese town and municipality of Ribatejo in Santarém District. The population in 2011 was 13,868, in an area of 127.33 km². The current Mayor is Rui Anastácio (Partido Social Democrata) and the president of the Munici ...

Santarém District The District of Santarém ( pt, Distrito de Santarém ) is a district of Portugal, located in Portugal's ''Centro Region''. The district capital is the city of Santarém. The district is the 3rd largest in Portugal, with an area of , and a po ...

. A product of

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904 as ''Sport Lisboa'', B ...

's youth system he made his senior debut on 18 October 2005 during a

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

group stage game at

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, ...

, after an early injury to Quim. Four days later he first appeared in the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal ...

, as the same thing happened in a 2–0 home win against

C.F. Estrela da Amadora Club Football Estrela da Amadora (), sometimes just Estrela, is a Portuguese sports club (predominantly football) based in Amadora, northwest of Lisbon. It's the successor of Clube de Futebol Estrela da Amadora, founded in 1932 and extinct in ...

; additionally, he again featured against the Spaniards in the Champions League group phase, playing the full 90 minutes in a 0–1 home loss. As habitual backup José Moreira was also injured Nereu, who had also played with the club's reserves before their extinction, went on to appear in another two matches. In 2007, he was sold to Académica de Coimbra, backing up veteran

Pedro Roma Pedro Miguel da Mota Roma (born 13 August 1970) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Having played with Académica for over 15 years, he later worked with his main club as a goalkeepers' coach. Football career Born in ...

in his first season. However, after the purchase of Slovak

Boris Peškovič Boris Peškovič (born 30 June 1976) is a Slovak former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Club career After starting out professionally with Slovan Bratislava, Peškovič went on to spend most of his career in Poland, represent ...

, he was further demoted to third choice. From January 2011-June 2012, Nereu represented

F.C. Arouca Futebol Clube de Arouca () is a football club based in Arouca, Porto Metropolitan Area, Portugal. Founded in 1951, the club plays in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at Estádio Municipal de Arouca, with a 5,000-seat capacity. History Foun ...

of the second division, playing 14 games in his only full campaign. He subsequently alternated between his country's second and third tiers.Rui Nereu: "O meu percurso poderia ter sido idêntico ao do Rui Patrício" (Rui Nereu: "My career could have been like that of Rui Patrício")
Bancada, 25 February 2018 (in Portuguese)

References

External links

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National team data
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nereu, Rui 1986 births Living people People from Alcanena Portuguese footballers Association football goalkeepers Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players S.L. Benfica B players S.L. Benfica footballers Associação Académica de Coimbra – O.A.F. players F.C. Arouca players SC Mirandela players S.C. Freamunde players C.D. Tondela players Portugal youth international footballers Sportspeople from Santarém District