Fernando Luiz Roza (born 4 May 1985), known as Fernandinho, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Athletico Paranaense.

[6][7][8] Fernandinho started his career at Brazilian club Atlético Paranaense before moving to Shakhtar Donetsk in 2005, where he became one of the best foreign players to ever play in the Ukrainian Premier League.

He assumed the captaincy in the 2020–21 season and was instrumental in leading City to the 2021 Champions League final, where he earned a runners-up medal.

Fernandinho began his career at Atlético Paranaense alongside his future Shakhtar teammate Jádson and close friend Carlos.

He made 72 appearances for the club, scoring 14 goals, before moving to Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk for a fee of around £7 million.

[citation needed] In the 2007–08 season Shakhtar regained the championship with Fernandinho playing a pivotal role by scoring 11 goals, including one from the penalty spot, in 29 league appearances.

[18] On 9 December he scored a goal in Shakhtar's 3–2 away win against Spanish side Barcelona in the Champions League group stage match.

[19] On 26 February 2009, Fernandinho scored the equalising goal in Shakhtar's 1–1 away leg draw against English team Tottenham Hotspur in the UEFA Cup.

[24] He also scored a pivotal equalising goal in the first leg of the UEFA Cup semi final match against Dynamo Kyiv which finished 1–1.

[52] Fernandinho started the 2012–13 season by assisting Douglas Costa for the second goal in a 2–0 Super Cup victory over Metalurh Donetsk.

[59] Fernandinho scored the second goal in a 2–1 victory against English side Chelsea in the Champions League group stage on 23 October, shooting low with his right foot into the bottom corner.

[61] He signed a four-year deal and is understood to have waived around £4 million owed to him by Shakhtar in order to complete the transfer, as he was desperate to secure a move away from the Ukrainian club.

[65] He scored his first two goals for Manchester City on 14 December 2013 against Arsenal in a 6–3 home win and was also named man of the match after a classical display.

[68] On 2 March, Fernandinho appeared for City in the League Cup final against Sunderland, where he won his first trophy in England with a 3–1 win.

On 11 May, Fernandinho was part of the squad who secured the Premier League title in a 2–0 win against West Ham United.

[69] On 5 November 2014, in a 2014–15 Champions League group match against CSKA Moscow, Fernandinho replaced Jesús Navas at half-time with Manchester City 1–2 down at home.

[citation needed] Following the departure of Yaya Touré, Fernandinho began the season as Manchester City's only natural defensive midfielder.

Of the performance, the BBC Sport's Phil McNulty wrote, "At the heart of it all was the magnificent Fernandinho - a man seemingly irreplaceable among the City's stellar cast - as he delivered a masterclass of controlled midfield play to steady his side when required.

"[77] In February's EFL Cup final against Chelsea, Fernandinho picked up a muscle injury during extra time and, for the remainder of the season, struggled to remain fit.

[78] With Fernandinho's age becoming an area of concern for the club, Manchester City signed Rodri from Atlético Madrid over the summer.

[79] An injury to first-choice centre-half Aymeric Laporte just 4 weeks into the season, however, meant that the manager had to rely on Fernandinho to lead his defensive line.

He subsequently started nearly every Premier League match following Laporte's injury, with all of his appearances for the season being in central defence.

He started the League Cup final, as City won 1–0 against Tottenham Hotspur to win the competition for the fourth year in a row.

[92] He made his tournament debut as a half-time substitute for Paulinho in the third game of the group stage, scoring the last goal in the 4–1 victory against Cameroon.

With a powerful shot and great passing range, Fernandinho has played an important part in breaking up opposition attacks and creating goal scoring opportunities".

[99][100][101] Jonathan Wilson, when writing for The Guardian in 2013, described Fernandinho as a holding midfielder who can "make tackles," and who is "capable of regaining the ball," while also noting that he frequently functioned "as the more "creative player alongside a destroyer."

Rather he likes to make forward surges, just as Touré does, and, as he showed against Arsenal on Saturday, is more than capable of scoring goals when chances present themselves."

As such, he labelled Fernandinho as a "carrier" or "surger," namely "a player capable of making late runs or carrying the ball at his feet.

[103] Due to a series of injuries to the Manchester City first team's defensive players, Guardiola also deployed Fernandinho as a centre-back on occasion during the 2019–20 season, a position in which he received praise in the media for his performances.

[105] Based on the statistics from around that time, it was found that City won 10% more games when Fernandinho was in the starting line-up, and the main reason being his ability to both destroy a rival's attack, and create new opportunities for his team through his long-distance passes.