Deco`s decision to quit was his own: Fluminense

Last Updated: Tuesday, August 27, 2013, 11:42  

Rio de Janeiro: Fluminense have denied that former Portugal midfielder Deco was pushed into retirement.

Deco Monday ended his decorated career, admitting his body could no longer cope with playing.

Fluminense`s football vice president Sandro Lima said the club had no influence on the decision.

"It was a personal decision," Lima said.

"It`s always difficult for a player at the highest level to stop playing but we respect his decision and lament it due to everything that he has done for Fluminense."

The announcement followed a string of injuries that reduced Deco to just five appearances in the Campeonato Brasileiro this season.

He has also been the subject of controversy after testing positive to a banned diuretic earlier this year.

Deco faces a retrial before a Rio sports tribunal next month after prosecutors appealed a 30-day ban already served by the 36-year-old.

In the original sentence, a panel accepted that Deco had unwittingly taken the substance in a vitamin supplement.

Deco expressed his gratitude to Fluminense, where he won two Brazilian league titles after joining the club from Chelsea in August 2010.

"It was a very happy period for me at Fluminense and I would like to have helped the club more this season, but my body would not let me," the former playmaker said in a written statement.

Deco, who was capped 75 times for Portugal, is one of only nine players to have won the UEFA Champions League with two different clubs -- Porto (2004) and Barcelona (2006).

IANS ------------------------- ZEENEWS.com