Victorio Maximiliano "Maxi" Pereira Páez (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈmaksi peˈrejra]; born 8 June 1984) is a Uruguayan former professional footballer who played as a right-back.

In 2009–10, as Benfica won the league after five years – adding the Taça da Liga – he appeared in 40 competitive matches, scoring five goals in 2,932 minutes of action.

[12][13] He netted two goals in the 2011–12 Champions League, both coming against FC Zenit Saint Petersburg in the round-of-16 (2–3 away loss, 2–0 home win, both through tap-ins)[14][15] as his team eventually reached the quarter-finals of the competition, where he was sent off in the first half of the second leg against Chelsea after two bookable offences (1–1 away draw, 1–2 aggregate defeat).

[23] On 22 May 2016, in the final of the Taça de Portugal, also against Braga, Pereira's attempt in the penalty shootout was saved by José Marafona, in an eventual 2–4 defeat (2–2 after 120 minutes).

[24] The following 14 March, in the away leg of the last 16 of the Champions League against Juventus FC, he received a straight red card for handling Gonzalo Higuaín's goal-bound shot, conceding a penalty from which Paulo Dybala scored the only goal to eliminate the Portuguese 3–0 on aggregate.

[37] A Uruguayan international since making his debut on 26 October 2005 in a friendly loss, away against Mexico, Pereira quickly became a regular for his country, and represented it at the 2007 Copa América.

In the quarter-finals against Ghana, he missed his penalty shootout attempt but the side eventually qualified for the next stage, where he scored his first goal as an international in a 2–3 loss against the Netherlands, finding the net in the 91st minute.

[41] Pereira was the first player sent off in the finals in Brazil, receiving his marching orders in injury time of the 1–3 defeat to Costa Rica in Fortaleza after kicking Joel Campbell.

[43][44] He played every minute of the campaign at that year's Copa América,[45][46][47][48] captaining the team in their final group fixture against Paraguay in place of the suspended Diego Godín.

[49] On 9 June 2016, Pereira surpassed Forlán as Uruguay's most capped player by earning his 113th in the team's final group game at the Copa América Centenario in the United States;[50] the 1–0 loss to Venezuela eliminated the nation.