Gustavo Manduca

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Gustavo Manduca (born on June 8, 1980 in Urussanga - SC) is a Brazilian football player. Manduca is an attack-oriented striker. Manduca began his career at Grêmio Football Portoalegrence before he moved to Finnish champions HJK Helsinki in spring of 1998.

However, young Manduca didn't get to play much in Finnish top league Veikkausliiga. He wore HJK's shirt in only two league matches, and was loaned to a club called Atlantis FC of Finnish second highest league Ykkönen. In Atlantis Manduca played in 10 matches and scored twice. His loan to Atlantis ended in autumn 1998 and Manduca rejoined HJK to be a part of club's UEFA Champions League squad of 1998/1999. In November 1998 Manduca was named to HJK's Champions League match squad against SL Benfica in Estadio da Luz, but he didn't get to play in the 2-2 tie. The next month Manduca left HJK and headed to Portugal.

Manduca soon joined FC Felgueiras where he spent 18 months. He then switched to Portuguese second division's AD Esposende and again to GD Chaves in summer 2000. He spent two seasons at Chaves, scoring goals regularly.

In 2003 Manduca moved to FC Paços de Ferreira in Portuguese Liga. CS Marítimo signed him in 2004 and after 18 months and 46 appearances he switched to SL Benfica where he played 10 games. On the 3rd of August 2006 Manduca was loaned from Benfica to AEK Athens FC for 2006/07.

[edit] Marítimo

Gustavo Manduca was a pivotal part of Maritimo's roster. During a UEFA Cup match, Gustavo scored a smooth goal against Scottish giants Rangers FC. The game resulted in a tie when Dado Prso scored an equalizer to the aggregate score where the game ended in Penalties.

Gustavo quickly excelled where many clubs where offering Gustavo contracts but in the end Gustavo signed with Benfica Lisbon in the 2006 transfer window after having offers from English and La Liga clubs.