João Lucas

João Nuno Silva Cardoso Lucas or simply Lucas (born October 25, 1979 in Caldas da Rainha, Portugal) is a Portuguese footballer who currently plays for Red Star Belgrade. Before joining Red Star, Lucas played for Académica de Coimbra and Boavista FC Lucas usually plays as a defensive-midfielder or center-midfielder. Lucas began his career at Academica in 1999 where he played until 2004. He was influential in the center of the pitch and after five impressive years at the club, he signed for Boavista FC. At the time Boavista were regulars in the UEFA Champions League. Lucas showed great qualities for his team in this competition and soon gained attention from bigger clubs such as Benfica, Sevilla FC and Newcastle United but opted to stay with Boavista FC. He had strong showings in the UEFA Cup and in his first season he was an important starter as the team reached the semifinals of the UEFA Cup. In the summer transfer season, Serbian giants Red Star Belgrade signed him. Lucas stated that he was proud and anxious to return to the UEFA Champions League competition and quickly said that he truly believes Red Star is a great football club with a great tradition. He concluded by stating that he came to show Europe his heart and talent assured that he will not let anybody down, but that first, the team has to go through the qualifiers. He is known for his aggressive style of play. Prior to joining Red Star, several clubs such as Racing Santander, Celta Vigo, Tottenham Hotspur and Reading FC were interested in him.