Adriano Leite Ribeiro

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This article is about Adriano Leite Ribeiro. For other people named "Adriano", see Adriano.

Personal information
Adriano
Full name	Adriano Leite Ribeiro
Date of birth	February 17, 1982
Place of birth	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Height	1.89m
Nickname	L'Imperatore ("The Emperor") The Horse
Position	Striker
Club information
Current club	F.C. Internazionale Milano
Number	10
Youth clubs
1997-2000	Flamengo
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
2000-2001 2001 2002 2002-2004 2004-present	Flamengo Internazionale Fiorentina (loan) Parma A.C. Internazionale	46 (12) 8 (1) 15 (6) 37 (23) 46 (25)
National team**
2000-2006	Brazil	36 (25)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 1 July 05. ** National team caps and goals correct as of 25 November 2006.

Adriano Leite Ribeiro (born February 17, 1982 in Rio de Janeiro), known simply as Adriano, is a Brazilian footballer who plays for F.C. Internazionale Milano in the Italian Serie A.

1 Club career
- 1.1 On the Move?
2 International career
3 Trivia
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Club career

Adriano is a burly player known for his agility, strength, balance, and ball control. His kicks are strong and accurate, though sometimes lacking technical execution, he is said to have one of the most powerful left foots in football, possibly second to Roberto Carlos. He began his career in the youth squad of Flamengo, and played in the pro squad between 1999 to 2001.

Adriano entered the national youth teams as a teenager. He won the 1999 edition of the FIFA U-17 World Championship, and helped the Brazil team to the Quarter Finals of the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship; he was the top scorer for Brazil with 6 goals and won the silver boot award for the competition, with 5 goals, just behind the golden boot winner, Argentinian striker Javier Saviola.

Adriano came to international fame in his first appearance for Inter Milan, when he scored against Real Madrid in the 2001 Santiago Bernabeu Trophy with a powerful free kick. With Inter already boasting first-class strikers, they loaned him out to Fiorentina during 2002. In the summer of 2002, a 2 year co-ownership deal with Parma of the player was agreed. In Parma, he formed one of the most impressive striking duos of Serie's A last decade with Adrian Mutu. They each scored more than 15 goals with assists from each other.

He returned to the Nerazzurri in 2004 and signed 4 and a half year contract and has since been an asset to the team. He has scored a total of 15 goals in his 16 appearances during the 2004-05 season. From 11 July 2004 through 25 June 2005, Adriano had scored an impressive total of 40 goals. They have come from an assortment of matches (28) including appearances in: Serie A, Coppa Italia & Champions League games for Inter in 2004-05; Copa America, South American World Cup qualifying, and Confederations Cup games for Brazil.

Adriano's future at Inter Milan has been in doubt due to the onset of a lengthy slump; he has not scored in neither European nor domestic competition since March 29, 2006. After he was benched for Inter's 2-1 CL win over Spartak Moscow on October 18, Inter revealed that Adriano would be placed on indefinite leave, following Inter's October 22 match against Udinese. The following announcement appeared on the official Inter website: “The club, in accordance with the coach and technical staff, has decided to give Adriano a few days of complete rest." During his leave in Rio de Janeiro, local newspapers published photos of him riding on a motorcycle without a helmet. He returned to Italy the 2nd of November - the day after he was able to return to the team.

[edit] On the Move?

He had been linked with a move to Real Madrid, but this rumour was put to rest after Adriano signed a four-year contract extension in 2005 that will keep him with Inter until 2010. "It's flattering that so many prestigious clubs want him," the late Giacinto Facchetti (Inter's former club president) told journalists, "but we're keeping tight hold of him." However, after a somewhat disappointing 2005-06 season with only 13 league goals, he has again been linked with a move away to Real Madrid and Inter's city rivals, AC Milan. More recently, he has been linked with a move to English giants Manchester United, with both the English and Italian press saying that he is set to replace the void left by Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, who left for Madrid in the summer. Although Inter have denied that they have received an approach from Manchester United, for their Brazilian striker, sources close to the club say that a deal is imminent and that the player will sign for the Old Trafford outfit, before the transfer window closes. This is not the first time Adriano has been linked to England, as he was linked with a big money move to Chelsea F.C. but he has been linked with Manchester United before in a transaction which almost took place involving Ryan Giggs as part of a swap deal. Chelsea are thought to be keeping close tabs on him despite his insistence to stay at Italy.

Many say Adriano is the man to replace van Nistelrooy. Any deal is likely to cost Manchester United a lot of money with figures being touted at £25-30 million. Although any deal between the two clubs is highly unlikely as Adriano has constantly been stressing throughout the summer that he wants to remain with the Italian giants, and his agent conclusively said on August 15, 2006 that Adriano "wants to remain at Inter, he does not care about the recent arrivals of Hernán Crespo and Zlatan Ibrahimović. He wants to stay where he is and I have not had any conversation with other teams.” Many times before, as well, he has categorically stated that he will not leave Inter until he has won something big there, and is firmly a fan favorite.

[edit] International career

Adriano, with 36 caps and 25 goals to his credit, is often considered as the long-term successor to Ronaldo in the Brazilian national team. During the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup, Adriano was named Player of the Tournament and received the Golden Boot Award as the competition's leading scorer with five goals. In the final, he steered Brazil to an unforgettable victory. Two outstanding goals helped Brazil to beat Argentina 4-1, the first one coming from a blistering left-footed shot in the 11th minute. The second came as a result of a Cicinho cross, with Adriano heading it in. This goal was also impressive because Brazil's players passed the ball among themselves for more than one minute, with most of the players participating in the build-up to the goal.

Adriano was called up to the Brazilian national side ahead of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. He lined up alongside Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Kaka in what was expected to be an impressive attacking foursome, touted in the press as the "Magic Quartet." Brazil were heavy favourites to lift the cup. He opened his World Cup account on June 18, 2006, scoring the first goal in a 2-0 win against Australia. He also scored the second goal in a 3-0 victory against Ghana. The goal against Ghana was Brazil's 200th goal in World Cup history. (Pelé scored the 100th in the 1970 World Cup Final.)

Brazil met France in the World Cup quarterfinals, and managed only one shot on goal the entire match, whilst France, inspired by a resurgent Zinedine Zidane, managed to grab a goal in the 57th minute to put themselves through to the final. Adriano started the game on the bench, and only came as a substitute after France had scored.

Despite scoring twice (once against Ghana, once against Australia), Adriano's World Cup campaign was considered a disappointment, as he had just five shots all tournament, while Brazil as a whole were unable to find the right mix between defence and attack.

He has not been selected by the new Brazilian manager Dunga.

[edit] Trivia

Adriano became a father in June 2006, when his son, Adriano Junior, was born in Rio de Janeiro.
He wears a size-43 boot.
Growing up, his favorite player was Zico: "I would like to be to Inter what my idol Zico was for Udinese."
Adriano's free-kicks have reached speeds as high as 129.7kph, and he has a 45in vertical leap.
When he scores a goal, he looks to the sky in memory of his deceased father.
In Italy, he is known by the nickname of L'Imperatore ("The Emperor"), referring to the Roman emperor Hadrian (Adriano in Italian and Spanish).

[edit] References

Adriano and Robbiati have been transferred to Fiorentina - Inter.it, 1/11/2002
Transfer market: Inter and Parma have reached an agreement - Inter.it, 5/23/02
Adriano returns to Inter - Inter.it, 1/21/04
Inter and Adriano together until 2010 - Inter.it, 9/26/05
Man Utd to approach Inter Milan for Adriano -Tribalfootball.com, 8/9/06
Adriano - World Cup Review - golaccio.com (not dated)
Adriano Junior born in Rio - Inter.it, 6/17/06
Inter put Adriano on leave - Football Italia, 10/20/06

[edit] External links

	Brazil squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup Quarter-finalists
1 Dida \| 2 Cafu \| 3 Lúcio \| 4 Juan \| 5 Emerson \| 6 Roberto Carlos \| 7 Adriano \| 8 Kaká \| 9 Ronaldo \| 10 Ronaldinho \| 11 Zé Roberto \| 12 Rogério Ceni \| 13 Cicinho \| 14 Luisão \| 15 Cris \| 16 Gilberto \| 17 Gilberto Silva \| 18 Mineiro \| 19 Juninho \| 20 Ricardinho \| 21 Fred \| 22 Júlio César \| 23 Robinho \| Coach: Parreira