Tiago Mendes

Tiago Cardoso Mendes, OIH (born 2 May 1981), known simply as Tiago (Portuguese pronunciation: [tiˈaɣu kɐɾˈdozu ˈmẽdɨʃ]), is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays for Spanish club Atlético Madrid as a midfielder.

He played in four of Europe's major leagues: England, France, Italy and Spain. He notably spent six seasons with Atlético Madrid, winning five major titles including the 2014 national championship and the 2012 Europa League.

A Portuguese international on over 60 occasions, Tiago represented the nation in two World Cups and Euro 2004.

Club career

Portugal

Born in Viana do Castelo, Tiago first came to prominence at S.C. Braga, being cast into the Minho side's starting XI at the age of just 19, and helping with 27 games as it finished in fourth place in 2001, thus qualifying for the UEFA Cup.

In late December 2001, solid displays earned Tiago – and Braga teammates Armando Sá and Ricardo Rocha – a move to giants S.L. Benfica; in his first full season he scored a career-best 13 goals, helping the Eagles finish second in the Primeira Liga and, the following year, won the Portuguese Cup against FC Porto.

Atlético Madrid

Club Atlético de Madrid, SAD (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkluβ aðˈletiko ðe maˈðɾið]) commonly known as Atlético de Madrid, or simply as Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, that plays in La Liga.

In terms of importance of titles and number of followers, Atlético Madrid is the third most successful club in Spanish football, behind Real Madrid and Barcelona. In terms of the number of titles, Atlético Madrid is the fourth most successful club in Spanish football, behind Real Madrid, Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao. Atlético have won La Liga on ten occasions, including a league and cup double in 1996; the Copa del Rey on ten occasions; two Supercopas de España and one Copa Eva Duarte; in Europe, they won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1962, were runners-up in 1963 and 1986, were European Cup runners-up in 1974 and 2014, won the Europa League in 2010 and in 2012, won the UEFA Super Cup in 2010 and 2012, won the Intertoto Cup in 2007, as well as the 1974 Intercontinental Cup.

Madrid

Madrid (/məˈdrɪd/, Spanish: [maˈðɾid], locally: [maˈðɾiθ, -ˈðɾi]) is a south-western European city, the capital of Spain, and the largest municipality of the Community of Madrid. The population of the city is almost 3.2 million with a metropolitan area population of around 6.5 million. It is the third-largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third-largest in the European Union after London and Paris. The city spans a total of 604.3 km² (233.3 sq mi).

The city is located on the Manzanares River in the centre of both the country and the Community of Madrid (which comprises the city of Madrid, its conurbation and extended suburbs and villages); this community is bordered by the autonomous communities of Castile and León and Castile-La Mancha. As the capital city of Spain, seat of government, and residence of the Spanish monarch, Madrid is also the political, economic and cultural centre of Spain. The current mayor is Manuela Carmena from Ahora Madrid.

Real Madrid C.F.

Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (Spanish pronunciation: [reˈal maˈðɾið ˈkluβ ðe ˈfuðβol]; Royal Madrid Football Club), commonly known as Real Madrid, or simply as Real, is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain.

Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the team has traditionally worn a white home kit since inception. The word Real is Spanish for Royal and was bestowed to the club by King Alfonso XIII in 1920 together with the royal crown in the emblem. The team has played its home matches in the 81,044-capacity Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in downtown Madrid since 1947. Unlike most European sporting entities, Real Madrid's members (socios) have owned and operated the club throughout its history.

The club is the most valuable sports team in the world, worth €2.5 billion ($3.4 billion) and the world's highest-earning football club for 2013–14, with an annual revenue of €549.5 million. The club is one of the most widely supported teams in the world. Real Madrid is one of three founding members of the Primera División that have never been relegated from the top division, along with Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona. The club holds many long-standing rivalries, most notably El Clásico with Barcelona and the El Derbi madrileño with Atlético Madrid.

S.C. Braga

Sporting Clube de Braga (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈspɔɾtĩŋ ˈkluβ(ɨ) ðɨ ˈβɾaɣɐ]) (Euronext: SCB), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club, from the city of Braga. Its football team plays at the Estádio Municipal de Braga, also known as The Quarry and for commercial reasons the AXA Stadium, which was built for UEFA Euro 2004.

Domestically, Braga won the 1965–66 Taça de Portugal and the 2012–13 Taça da Liga. In the 2000s, the club gradually became one of Portugal's most successful clubs after the Big Three and has competed with some success in European competitions, winning the last ever UEFA Intertoto Cup (the only Portuguese club to do so) in 2008 and reaching the final of the UEFA Europa League in 2011. After finishing in second place for the only time to date in the 2009–10 Primeira Liga, Braga achieved a place in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League for the first time in its history by eliminating Celtic and Sevilla. Braga also qualified for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League in 2012–13 by eliminating Udinese.