 Benfica's youth system at the age of 9, and completed his development in 2001 by winning the under-19 championship.He was subsequently promoted to the reserves in the third division, making his debut on 2 September 2001 against A.D. Camacha.Despite being called up for the training sessions of the first team on several occasions in his first two seasons, he only played once for the main squad in official matches, on 1 June 2003.