Players - Fábio Aurélio

Fábio Aurélio
Birthdate: 24 September 1979
Birthplace: São Carlos, Brazil
Other clubs: São Paolo (1997-2000), Valencia (2000-06), Gremio (2012-14)
Signed from: Bosman / Free Transfer
Signed for LFC: 05.07.2006 / 31.07.2010
Liverpool debut: 13.08.2006
Last appearance: 01.05.2012
Debut goal: 02.03.2008
Last goal: 14.04.2009
Contract expiry: 01.06.2010 / 01.06.2012
Win ratio: 58.96% W:79 D:29 L:26
Games/assists ratio: 9.57
League games / goals / assists: 87 / 3 / 9
Total games / goals / assists: 134 / 4 / 14

Player Profile

Aurélio started his career with São Paolo in Brazil in 1997. He joined Valencia in the summer of 2000 after featuring for Brazil's u-23 team in the Sidney Olympics. A certain Rafa Benítez took over as coach of Valencia and Aurélio twice celebrated winning the Spanish championship in 2002 and 2004 as well as winning the UEFA Cup. However, Aurélio didn't make as many appearances as he would have liked because of injuries, only making two appearances in the successful 2003/04 season after starring for Valencia on the left flank in the previous season, playing 35 games and scoring ten goals. Aurélio's injuries, unfortunately, did not desert him when he arrived at Liverpool. Just when he had started to hit peak form he ruptured his Achilles against PSV Eindhoven in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final in the 2006/07 season. Thirteen of his 29 appearances in 2007/08 came in cup matches and Benítez seemed particularly keen to use him in the Champions League. Aurélio had his best season at Liverpool in the 2008/09 season, making 27 starts and making five substitute appearances despite being six weeks on the sidelines with injury from November through January. He showed quick thinking when he scored from a wonderful free-kick at Chelsea in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final. His goal even earned a celebration from Rafa Benítez on the touchline! He also scored from a free-kick which was the highlight of Liverpool's tremendous 4-1 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford. Aurélio seemed to have finally nailed a regular spot in the Liverpool line-up, but injured his knee in a freak accident playing with his son in the garden in the summer.

The 2009/10 season was, on the whole, a disappointment for the Brazilian who celebrated his thirtieth birthday a month after the season started having just recovered from his freak injury. Aurélio had little else to celebrate, making just 14 League and nine cup appearances with Emiliano Insúa establishing himself as first-choice left-back. Even the sale of Andrea Dossena to Napoli in January 2010 did not significantly improve Aurélio's chances of regular first-team football because the manager, who had a surfeit of central defenders to try and keep happy, used Daniel Agger as his left-back on occasion. Aurélio injured his thigh against Blackburn Rovers on 28 February which ended his season. Aurélio's contract was due to run out in the summer of 2010 and Liverpool were only ready to offer him a pay-as-you-play deal. He wanted more security and left Liverpool when his contract expired.

Before the 2010/11 League season began, Aurélio re-signed for Liverpool on a two-year deal. New manager Roy Hodgson recognised that left-back was a position he needed to fill adequately and offered the Brazilian a second chance. The chances of poor Aurélio getting through an entire season without being injured were pretty slim, and so it proved. He picked up an Achilles injury and after he had recovered Hodgson used him sparingly but he was more of a regular after Dalglish succeeded the Englishman. But when picked to start at the Emirates in the middle of April, Aurélio got a hamstring injury and had to be substituted for Jack Robinson with less than a third of the match played. Dalglish picked him to start in the final League match of the season away to Aston Villa and amazingly the Brazilian got through the whole match unscathed! Aurélio only played in three first-team matches in 2011/12 partly due to the good form of Jose Enrique and partly because of injuries. Only 134 appearances in six seasons show how often he was unavailable for selection. Leaving Liverpool at the age of 32, Aurélio hoped Fortune would smile on him more favourably at Gremio in his native Brazil. However, he has effectively been ruled out for the season after suffering a knee ligament rupture.

Aurelio called time on his playing-career on 4 April 2014 after realising that the many injuries he had received with different clubs would not allow him to continue playing at the age of thirty-four. He has now returned to live in Sao Carlo, his childhood home and is a football agent.
Appearances per season
Season League FA LC Europe Other Total
Totals 87 6 5 35 1 134
2006-2007 17 1 1 5 1 25
2007-2008 16 1 3 9 0 29
2008-2009 24 1 0 8 0 33
2009-2010 14 1 1 7 0 23
2010-2011 14 1 0 6 0 21
2011-2012 2 1 0 0 0 3
A more detailed look at the player's appearances
Apps Minutes Opponent
11 680 Chelsea
8 592 Arsenal
8 513 Manchester United
7 394 Aston Villa
5 386 Wigan Athletic
5 281 Everton
5 268 Manchester City
5 264 Fulham
5 256 West Ham United
4 275 Bolton Wanderers
4 245 Blackburn Rovers
4 216 Portsmouth
4 198 Tottenham
4 101 Wolves
3 246 PSV Eindhoven
3 243 Stoke City
3 237 Reading
3 195 Middlesbrough
3 146 Sunderland
3 139 Marseille
2 180 Newcastle United
2 180 Inter Milan
2 180 Real Madrid
2 167 Trabzonspor
2 102 Unirea Urziceni
2 94 Fiorentina
2 90 Watford
2 89 Debrecen VSC
1 120 Standard Liege
1 90 WBA
1 90 Galatasaray
1 90 Leeds United
1 90 Derby
1 90 Cardiff City
1 90 Sheffield United
1 90 Atletico Madrid
1 90 Steaua Bucharest
1 90 Utrecht
1 71 Oldham Athletic
1 65 Lyon
1 63 Besiktas
1 62 Maccabi Haifa
1 37 Sparta Prague
1 25 Napoli
1 17 Luton Town
1 13 Charlton Athletic
1 13 Barcelona
1 8 Preston North End
1 6 Porto
Total Started/substitutions
92 Started
22 On the bench
42 Substitute
26 Substituted
Total Venue
71 Home
62 Away
1 Neutral
Total Competition
87 Premier League
27 Champions League
8 Europa League
6 FA Cup
5 League Cup
1 Community Shield
Total W D L Win % Manager
110 66 23 21 60% Rafa Benítez
14 8 3 3 57.1% Kenny Dalglish
10 5 3 2 50% Roy Hodgson
Goals per season
Season League FA LC Europe Other Total
Totals 3 0 0 1 0 4
2006-2007 0 0 0 0 0 0
2007-2008 1 0 0 0 0 1
2008-2009 2 0 0 1 0 3
2009-2010 0 0 0 0 0 0
2010-2011 0 0 0 0 0 0
2011-2012 0 0 0 0 0 0
A more detailed look at the player's goalscoring
Total Started/substitutions
4 Started
0 Substitute
Total Competition
3 Premier League
1 Champions League
Total Goal minute period
1 16-30 minutes
2 61-75 minutes
1 76-90 minutes
Total Goal origin
1 Open play
3 Direct freekick
Assists per season
Season League FA LC Europe Other Total
Totals 9 0 0 5 0 14
2006-2007 3 0 0 1 0 4
2007-2008 1 0 0 2 0 3
2008-2009 4 0 0 2 0 6
2009-2010 1 0 0 0 0 1
2010-2011 0 0 0 0 0 0
2011-2012 0 0 0 0 0 0
A more detailed look at the player's assists
Milestone Appearances
# Date Against Stadium Competition
1 13.08.2006 Chelsea Millennium Stadium Other
50 02.04.2008 Arsenal Emirates Stadium Europe
100 13.12.2009 Arsenal Anfield League
Milestone Goals
# Minute Date Against Stadium Competition
1 75 02.03.2008 Bolton Wanderers Reebok Stadium League
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Related Quotes

"Aurelio is a left full back or a left winger with a lot of quality. He can cross the ball superbly and he is maybe a better passer of the ball than Xabi Alonso. People will say 'oh really?' But you will see the quality of his crosses and passes with his left foot. He is also fantastic at set pieces."

Rafa Benítez on new signing Fabio Aurelio

Other Clubs
Club Season Club rank League apps League goals Total apps Total goals
São Paulo 1997-2000 Brasileirão 54 3 79 4
Valencia 2000-2001 Spain 1 7 0 8 0
Valencia 2001-2002 Spain 1 15 1 19 1
Valencia 2002-2003 Spain 1 27 8 35 10
Valencia 2003-2004 Spain 1 2 0 4 0
Valencia 2004-2005 Spain 1 21 0 22 0
Valencia 2005-2006 Spain 1 24 2 24 2
Gremio 2012-2013 Brasileirão 5 0 5 0
Gremio 2013-2014 Brasileirao 0 0 0 0
Total 155 14 196 17