A prolific goalscorer for Portugal at various youth levels and a key man in the country's second-place finish at the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup, Nélson Oliveira is a dynamic young striker still finding his way at SL Benfica but with the quality and ambition to be a joker in the pack at UEFA EURO 2012.

• Enjoyed a promising youth career with SC Braga and Benfica, but it was with Rio Ave FC, during a half-season spell on loan in 2009/10, that he made his senior debut, on 7 February 2010 against Leixões SC.

• Sent out by Benfica on a season-long loan to FC Paços de Ferreira in 2010/11 and helped the club to a seventh-place finish in the Portuguese Liga, scoring four goals, including one on his debut against CS Marítimo.

• Having successfully represented Portugal at Under-16, U17 and U19 level, he enhanced his profile considerably by scoring four goals at the 2011 U20 FIFA World Cup in Colombia, the last of them in the final against Brazil; won the Silver Ball as the tournament's second-best player.

• Spent the 2011/12 season back at Benfica, chiefly on the bench, but made an impact with a goal on his UEFA Champions League debut, sealing the Lisbon club's passage into the quarter-finals with a late strike against FC Zenit St Petersburg.

• Made his senior international debut as an 82nd-minute substitute against Poland in Warsaw on 29 February 2012 and was subsequently handed a place in Portugal's UEFA EURO 2012 squad.