Pedro Filipe Teodósio Mendes (born 1 October 1990) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a central defender for

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

club

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

Club career

Sporting CP

Born in

Neuchâtel , neighboring_municipalities= Auvernier, Boudry, Chabrey (VD), Colombier, Cressier, Cudrefin (VD), Delley-Portalban (FR), Enges, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Hauterive, Saint-Blaise, Savagnier , twintowns = Aarau (Switzerland), Besançon (France), ...

, Switzerland, to Portuguese parents, Mendes reached Sporting CP's youth system in 2005, aged nearly 15. In his first two senior seasons he played with Real SC (

third division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

) and

Servette FC Servette FC is a Swiss football club based in Geneva, founded in March 1890 with rugby as its first sporting activity, and named after the Geneva district of the same name. The football section was created on 17 January 1900. They play in the S ...

(

Swiss Challenge League The Challenge League is the second-highest tier of the Swiss football league system and lower of two professional leagues in the country. Ten teams play in the Challenge League; the winners of the league are promoted to the Super League, while the ...

), in both cases on loan, helping the latter club to promotion. In the summer of 2011, still owned by Sporting, Mendes joined

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

, being assigned to the

B team B, or b, is the second letter of the Latin-script alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''bee'' (pronounced ), plural ''bees''. It re ...

. He made his debut with the main squad on 7 December, coming on as a substitute for Álvaro Arbeloa midway through the second half of a 3–0 away win against AFC Ajax in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League; during his spell at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, several of his Castilla teammates expressed their dissatisfaction over what they saw as a preferential treatment by first-team manager

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix GOIH (; born 26 January 1963), is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Italian Serie A club Roma. Once dubbed "The Special One" by the British ...

, the player's compatriot. Mendes played his first match in the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

with Sporting on 27 January 2013, when he replaced the injured

Khalid Boulahrouz Khalid Boulahrouz (born 28 December 1981) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a defender. His nickname is "The Cannibal" for his ability to "eat up" the opposition. He was noted for his tackling and versatility at the back. ...

at half-time of the 1–1 home draw with Vitória de Guimarães.

Parma

Returning to Sporting for the 2012–13 campaign, Mendes was made

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the reserves who competed in the Segunda Liga, also appearing sporadically for the main squad. On 28 May 2013, he signed a five-year contract with Parma F.C. in Serie A as a free agent. On 21 January 2014, Mendes moved to fellow league club U.S. Sassuolo Calcio in a co-ownership deal with Parma. In June he was bought by the latter, who sold Raman Chibsah and Nicola Sansone to the former on the same day.

Rennes

Mendes joined Stade Rennais F.C. of France on 6 July 2015, after agreeing to a four-year contract. He made his debut in

on 8 August, in a 2–1 away loss to SC Bastia.

Montpellier

On 18 July 2017, Mendes signed with Montpellier HSC of the same league. He first appeared for them on 5 August, playing the entire 1–0 home victory over

Stade Malherbe Caen Stade Malherbe Caen (; commonly known as SM Caen, SMC, or simply Caen) is a French professional football team, based in the city of Caen in Normandy, that competes in the Ligue 2. The club was founded on 17 November 1913 by the merger of ''C ...

, and scored his first goal on 16 September by heading from the corner kick as the visitors defeated ES Troyes AC by the same score. Mendes became a key part of Michel Der Zakarian's resolute Montpellier side over the following seasons, partnering veterans

Daniel Congré Daniel Congré (born 5 April 1985) is a French professional footballer who plays as a defender for Ligue 2 club Dijon. He can operate all across defence, although he is most adept at centre-back. He is noted for his pace. Club career Born in T ...

and

Hilton Hilton or Hylton may refer to: Companies * Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Inc., a global hospitality company based in the United States that owns several hotel chains and subsidiary companies containing the Hilton name ** Hilton Hotels & Resorts, fla ...

in a three-man central defence. In October 2018, he extended his contract for two more years up to 2023.

International career

Mendes won exactly 50 caps for Portugal at youth level, including 13 for the under-21 team for whom he scored in a 1–1 home draw against Poland for the 2013 UEFA European Championship qualifiers. His maiden full appearance occurred on 14 October 2018, when he replaced S.L. Benfica's Rúben Dias in the 56th minute of the 3–1

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

win over Scotland at

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Real Madrid Castilla *

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

: 2011–12

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendes, Pedro 1990 births Living people Swiss people of Portuguese descent Citizens of Portugal through descent Portuguese footballers Association football defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Sporting CP footballers Real S.C. players Sporting CP B players Swiss Challenge League players Servette FC players Segunda División B players Real Madrid Castilla footballers Real Madrid CF players Serie A players Parma Calcio 1913 players U.S. Sassuolo Calcio players Ligue 1 players Stade Rennais F.C. players Montpellier HSC players Portugal youth international footballers Portugal under-21 international footballers Portugal international footballers Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in France Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Italy Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in France