Clubs: CR Vasco da Gama, FC Shakhtar Donetsk

• Born in Duque de Caxias, Alex Teixeira joined Vasco da Gama as a schoolboy and was capped by Brazil at youth level before graduating to the first-team squad in January 2008.

• Played for Brazil at the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup before starring for his country at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt two years later; missed the decisive penalty in the final shoot-out against Ghana but scored three goals and was voted second-best player at the tournament (behind Ghana's Dominic Adiyiah).

• Relegated with Vasco in his first season, he won promotion with the same club a year later as champions before joining Shakhtar in January 2010 for €6m after over 50 league appearances for the Rio de Janeiro club.

• Made only three league outings in his first half-season in Ukraine but became more conspicuous during first half of 2010/11, scoring in three successive league games in October, the first of them in a 2-0 home win over eternal rivals FC Dynamo Kyiv.

• Made his UEFA Champions League debut as a substitute in a 1-0 home win against FK Partizan, and his first start in a 5-1 defeat by Arsenal FC in London.