Eduardo

Eduardo Alves da Silva (, ; born 25 February 1983), commonly known as Eduardo and sometimes nicknamed Dudu, is a former professional footballer who played as a forward.

He began his career with his hometown club in Brazil, Bangu Atlético Clube.

He later joined Dinamo Zagreb's youth team.

He spent a period on loan at Inter Zaprešić, scoring ten goals in 15 matches.

He was later noticed by Dinamo Zagreb's scouts and joined the club's youth squad in September 1999.

Eduardo stayed at Dinamo on trial until December 1999 and returned to the club in February 2000, starting to play regularly for their under-17 squad.

Eduardo found his way to the first team in the summer of 2001, despite suffering some injuries early in his career.

After making his first-team debut with Dinamo in the 2001–02 season, Eduardo was loaned for one season to Croatian second division side Inker Zaprešić (now Inter Zaprešić) in 2002–03 to see more first-team action, scoring ten goals in 15 league appearances for the club.

Coming back from loan at Inter Zaprešić for the 2003–04 season, Eduardo quickly established himself as a regular in Dinamo Zagreb's first team.

Eduardo took up Croatian citizenship in 2002 and made his international debut for the Croatia national team as a second-half substitute in a friendly match against Ireland on 16 November 2004 at the age of 21.

He was subsequently named the best player of the Croatian league in 2004 as well as in 2006 and 2007, when he was one of the key players in Dinamo Zagreb's team that won two consecutive titles in the Croatian league as well as one title in the Croatian Cup.

In 2006, he also helped Dinamo winning the Croatian Supercup, scoring two goals in their 4–1 victory over Rijeka.

In the 2006–07 season, he scored five goals in six matches for Dinamo Zagreb in two qualifying rounds for the Champions League and in the first round of the UEFA Cup.

After netting a brace in Dinamo Zagreb's 4–1 away win at Ekranas, he went on to score the first European goal at Arsenal's new Emirates Stadium in London on 23 August 2006 as Dinamo Zagreb suffered a 5–1 aggregate defeat in the third qualifying round for the Champions League.

He also scored both goals in Dinamo's 5–2 aggregate defeat to Auxerre in the first round of the UEFA Cup on 14 September 2006.

Eduardo performed best for Dinamo Zagreb in the Croatian championship, netting 18 goals in 18 matches until the winter break of the 2006–07 season, including three braces and a hat-trick, and adding another seven assists to his tally.

In addition to this, he was the only player who appeared in all of the club's 18 matches before the winter break, also being in the starting lineup in each of the 18 matches.

In mid-November 2006, he scored two hat-tricks in two consecutive matches he played for Croatia and Dinamo Zagreb in a period of four days.

His prolific scoring at Dinamo Zagreb, where he scored 73 times in 109 league appearances, attracted the interest of Arsenal who signed him for a fee of £7.5 million in 2007.

In Dinamo's 4–0 derby win over Zagreb on 12 May 2007, Eduardo scored his 30th and 31st league goals of the 2006–07 season and became the most successful Croatian league goalscorer of all time, breaking a 13-year-old record set by former Dinamo Zagreb striker Goran Vlaović with 29 goals scored for the club in the 1993–94 season.

He finished the league season with 34 goals in 32 appearances.

In the final league match of the season on 19 May 2007, he became the first player ever to score a hat-trick in the Eternal derby between Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split, netting all three goals as Dinamo won the match 3–0.

On 3 July 2007, Arsenal confirmed that terms had been agreed with Dinamo Zagreb for the transfer of Eduardo for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around £7.5 million, subject to receiving a work permit.

The initial work permit application was turned down by the Home Office, but the appeal hearing on 2 August reversed the decision.

Eduardo made his Premier League debut on 19 August 2007 in Arsenal's 1–1 draw at Blackburn Rovers.

Ten days later, he netted his first competitive goal for the Gunners in their Champions League qualifier against Sparta Prague, which Arsenal won 3–0.

Eduardo scored his first group-stage goal in the Champions League on 19 September 2007 against Sevilla.

While still fighting to find his place as a regular in the Premier League for Arsenal, Eduardo continued to display his goalscoring abilities in the League Cup, scoring two braces in two consecutive matches for the club, against Sheffield United and Blackburn Rovers, and helping them to reach the semi-finals of the competition.

Eduardo found more playing time in all competitions due to Robin van Persie's lengthy injury and found himself partnering Emmanuel Adebayor more often.

Eduardo finally managed to establish his place in Arsenal's starting line-up in the Premier League over Christmas and New Year period, scoring his first two Premier League goals in a 4–1 win at Everton on 29 December 2007, first leveling the score and then putting Arsenal 2–1 up in the opening 15 minutes of the second half.

On New Year's Day 2008, he opened the scoring after only 72 seconds of the match against West Ham United; Arsenal went on to win 2–0.

On the first weekend of the new year, he had a successful FA Cup debut as Arsenal faced Championship side Burnley on the road, first scoring the opening goal early on, and then setting up a second for Nicklas Bendtner midway through the second half.

In the following three matches in January, he set up three more goals, providing two assists and winning a penalty.

He went on to help Arsenal to return to the top of the Premier League in early February, scoring a skillful over-the-shoulder flick in a 3–1 away victory over Manchester City and assisting Philippe Senderos for an early goal in a 2–0 win over Blackburn Rovers at the Emirates.

On 23 February 2008, Eduardo suffered a broken left fibula and an open dislocation of his left ankle in a match against Birmingham City, following a tackle by Martin Taylor, for which Taylor was sent off.

Eduardo was immediately taken to Selly Oak Hospital, where he underwent surgery.

A serious leg injury hampered his time with Arsenal and, after three seasons with the club, he moved to Shakhtar Donetsk in 2010.

He was selected by the national team's coach Slaven Bilić for the UEFA Euro 2012 tournament and again by Niko Kovač for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

With 29 goals scored for Croatia, Eduardo is Croatia's fourth most prolific striker on record.

Eduardo grew up in the Rio de Janeiro neighbourhood of Bangu and made his first steps in club football with CBF Nova Kennedy and Bangu Atlético Clube, although he did not play regularly in the youth categories.