Diego Cavalieri

Brazilian shot stopper Diego Cavalieri had not played any football outside of his native Brazil before he was snapped up by Premier League heavyweights Liverpool in July 2008. Sao Paulo-born Cavalieri began his career at Palmeiras in the Brazilian league.

Diego Cavalieri made his Palmeiras debut in the big win over Rio Claro on June 24, 2002. He was in goal during the game which ended in a 4-0 victory for his team.

Merseyside giants Liverpool paid an undisclosed fee said to be around £3m to sign Diego Cavalieri from Brazilian top flight club Palmeiras. With his signing, the Brazilian contingent in the team increased to three. Liverpool already had the Brazilian duo of Lucas Leiva and Fabio Aurelio on their team before Cavalieri joined on July 11, 2008. Upon his arrival, Diego Cavalieri as given the number one jersey which previously was for Polish shot stopper Jerzy Dudek, the hero of the Champions League final in Istanbul. Dudek was the penalty shootout hero as Liverpool beat AC Milan to win the 2005 Champions League final after coming from a three-goal deficit at the half-time break. The Reds scored three goals in the space of six minutes surprisingly to take the game to extra time and then penalty shootout.

Diego Cavalieri was handed his Liverpool debut during the Carabao Cup clash with Crewe Alexandra from the lower leagues at the third round stage. His Champions League debut and FA Cup debut came against PSV Eindhoven of the Netherlands and Preston North End respectively.

Cavalieri played four times for Liverpool in his second season at the club to take his total to eight appearances in a Liverpool shirt.He also started the next season at Liverpool as he made an appearance in goal as Liverpool beat Macedonian side Rabonicki 2-0 in the third qualifying round of the Europa League with goals from Frenchman David N’Gog and Steven Gerrard (penalty).