Nemanja Vidić ~ Celebrity

Nemanja Vidić (Serbian Cyrillic: Немања Видић, Serbian pronunciation: [ˈnɛmaɲa ˈʋiditɕ]; born 21 October 1981 in Titovo Užice, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia) is a Serbian footballer who currently plays for the English Premier League club Manchester United and for the Serbian national team.
After establishing himself at Red Star Belgrade during the early 2000s, Vidić moved to Spartak Moscow in the summer of 2004. He further increased his reputation when he was part of the "Famous Four" Serbian national team defence that conceded just one goal during the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign. He would later sign for Manchester United for around £7m in January 2006 before establishing a prominent defensive partnership with Rio Ferdinand the following season and earning a reputation for his no-nonsense defending.
^[1] He has collected a host of honours in his United career including 3 consecutive Premier League titles, the UEFA Champions League, the FIFA World Club Cup, three League Cup medals, as well as being included in three consecutive PFA Team of the Year sides from 2007 to 2009. In the 2008–09 season, he helped United to a record-breaking run of 14 consecutive clean sheets and was awarded the Barclays Player of the Season. He also collected both the club's Fans' and Players' Player of the Year awards. At the start of the 2010–11 season Vidić was selected as the new club captain of Manchester United.

Club career

Early years

Nemanja Vidić was born to Dragoljub, a now-retired copper factory worker, and Zora, a bank clerk. Vidić took up football at seven years of age, alongside his older brother Dušan, with local side Jedinstvo Užice. He progressed quickly, and moved to Sloboda Užice at the age of 12.^[3]^[4]

Red Star and Spartak Moscow

Two and a half years later, before his 15th birthday, Red Star Belgrade signed Vidić to their youth system. He started his senior career on a season-long loan deal at Spartak Subotica in 2000. He moved back to Red Star Belgrade after the loan deal ended, playing regularly in the top-flight Yugoslav League with coach Zoran Filipović. He won the 2001–02 Yugoslav Cup with Red Star.^[5] Vidić quickly gained the captain's armband, and during his three years as captain, he scored 12 goals in 67 matches, and ended his Red Star Belgrade career on a high note by leading the club to a domestic double. He won the 2004 Serbia and Montenegro League and Serbia and Montenegro Cup trophies with Red Star Belgrade, and in July 2004, he joined Russian Premier League side Spartak Moscow. The details of the transfer were not revealed although it was reported that Vidić became the most expensive defender in the history of the Russian Premier League.^[6]

Manchester United

After playing two seasons at Spartak Moscow, Vidić signed for Manchester United for a reported fee of around £7 million on 5 January 2006;^[7] two and a half years after Manchester United's reported interest in him.^[8] On this occasion Manchester beat out stiff competition for Vidić's signature as his transfer to ACF Fiorentina had already been agreed with the club's sporting director Pantaleo Corvino. Since Fiorentina had to wait in order to complete the signing due to not having any free non-EU spots on its roster at the moment, United stepped in and got Vidić in the meantime.^[9] He was assigned the number 15 shirt and on 25 January 2006 he made his debut for Manchester United as a substitute for Ruud van Nistelrooy in the dying minutes of a 2–1 win in the Carling Cup semi-final second leg against Blackburn Rovers.^[10] On 16 February 2006, Vidić won his first trophy with United, coming on in the 83rd minute for Wes Brown in the 2006 Carling Cup final win against Wigan Athletic.^[11]
During the 2006–07 Premier league season, Vidić formed a partnership with Rio Ferdinand in the centre of defence, which has since become one of the most prominent partnerships in English football, and has become an established first team player.^[12] In his first full season playing for Manchester United, he made 25 appearances in the Premier League and ended the season winning his first league medal.^[13]^[14]
Vidić scored his first ever goal for Manchester United on 14 October 2006 against Wigan Athletic; United won 3–1.^[15] He scored his second goal in a 3–0 win over Portsmouth on 4 November, his first goal at Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium.^[16] He scored his first Champions League goal for Manchester United against Benfica on 6 December in the group stages, a match which Manchester United won 3–1.^[17]
On 8 November 2007, Vidić signed a two-year contract extension, keeping him at Manchester United until 2012.^[18] At the end of the 2007–08 season, he earned his second consecutive Premier League medal.^[19] He was also a part of the squad which won the 2008 UEFA Champions League Final versus Chelsea^[20]—his first European medal. During United's 2007–08 season, he made 32 league appearances and scored one goal.^[21]
During the 2008–09 season, Vidić has been a pivotal part of the United defence in the absence of a number of other defenders during various parts of the season. He started every match in the British Football League-record run of 14 consecutive clean sheets in Premier League matches.^[22]^[23] Towards the end of the 2008–09 season, Vidić was shortlisted for the PFA Player of the Year award, along with another four Manchester United players; he was considered the favourite to receive the accolade that was later awarded to his team-mate Ryan Giggs.^[24] Vidić was later named as the Manchester United fans' player of the year and players' player of the year, taking over from Cristiano Ronaldo, who won both awards in 2007–08.^[25]
Praised for his aggressive no-nonsense defensive style by Manutd.com by his Manchester United teammates, he is highly regarded for bravery.^[26]^[27] Because of this, he enjoys a cult status among United faithful^[28]^[29] and is often compared to former Manchester United defender Steve Bruce for having similar characteristics.
On 25 October 2009, Vidić was again sent off against Liverpool in a 2–0 defeat, marking the third consecutive game against their fiercest rivals in which he had been shown a red card. However, on 21 March 2010 he managed to play a full 90 minutes in a 2–1 win against Liverpool at Old Trafford and again on 19 September 2010 this time a 3–2 victory.^[30]
On 23 July 2010, it was reported that Vidić has extended his contract with Manchester United by agreeing to a new long-term contract, ending long-running speculation of a move to Real Madrid.^[31] The new four-year contract was signed on 20 August.^[32] Vidić scored his first goal of the season on 11 September away to Everton to put his side 2–1 up, the game ending with a dramatic finish with the final score 3–3.^[33] After captaining Manchester United for the first five matches of the 2010–11 season, Sir Alex Ferguson later confirmed that Vidić had taken over from Gary Neville as team captain on a permanent basis, while Neville would remain as club captain.^[2] On 30 October, Vidić scored his first home goal of the season in a 2–0 league win against Tottenham Hotspur,^[34] his goal was the 1000th to be scored at Old Trafford in the Premier League. On 13 November 2010 Vidić scored his third goal of the season in a 2–2 away draw against Aston Villa in the 85th minute to grab United a point from a 2–0 deficit.^[35]

International career

A Yugoslavian youth international, he made his senior debut on 12 October 2002 against Italy in UEFA Euro 2004 qualification.^[3]^[36] Vidić was part of the Serbian and Montenegrin national team's "Famous Four" defence,^[37] alongside Mladen Krstajić, Ivica Dragutinović and Goran Gavrančić, that conceded just one goal during the ten 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification matches, setting a new record for the fewest goals conceded. Vidić played a major part in the last qualification game, against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Serbia and Montenegro won 1–0 and secured qualification, despite Vidić picking up a red card five minutes before the end.^[3] Vidić missed out on Serbia and Montenegro's opening group stage match against the Netherlands through suspension from his red card in last qualifying game,^[38] and on 12 June 2006 he injured his left knee ligaments during training and he did not play any games at the 2006 World Cup.^[39] After the 2006 World Cup, Vidić went on to represent the national team, now independent as the Serbian national team. He was a regular during 2010 World Cup qualifying when fit and was instrumental as Serbia finished top of their group ahead of the likes of France and Romania with the best defensive record.