At the age of 37, ex-Barça keeper Vitor Baia has decided to retire. Baia’s time at Barça was not the happiest period of his career and he will be remembered for a couple of shocking performances against Atletico Madrid and Dinamo Kiev. He signed for Barça from Porto in the summer of 1996 as Bobby Robson’s choice to replace Carles Busquets, and returned to Porto in January 1999 as Louis van Gaal preferred Ruud Hesp in goal. In his one season as first choice goalie, Barça won the European Cup Winners Cup, the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Supercopa.

Baia enjoyed tremendous success for Porto, winning a total of ten leagues, five Portuguese Cups, seven Supercopas, one Champions League, one Uefa Cup and one Intercontinental Cup. He appeared in two European Championships and the World Cup in 2002, playing a total of 80 times for Portugal. He maintains a record in Portugal for once going 1191 minutes without conceding a goal. In his career he played a total of 708 first class games. Vitor will continue to work for Porto as a spokesman and in public relations.