Maniche

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Maniche
Maniche
Personal information
Full name Nuno Ricardo Oliveira Ribeiro
Date of birth 11 November 1977
Place of birth Lisbon, Portugal
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.79 m)[1]
Nickname Maniche
Position Midfielder
Club information
Current club Atlético Madrid
Number 20
Professional clubs*
Years Club Apps (goals)
1995 – 1996
1996 - 1999
1999 - 2002
2002 - 2005
2005-2006
2006
2006-		 Benfica
Alverca
Benfica
Porto
Dynamo Moscow
Chelsea (loan)
Atlético Madrid		 0 (0)
78 (10)
54 (11)
80 (15)
13 (2)
8 (0)
12 (2)
National team**
2003 – present Portugal 40 (6)

* Professional club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 8 July 2006.
** National team caps and goals correct
as of 11 October 2006.

Maniche (pron. IPA: [ma'niʃɨ] or less usually [ma'nik(ɨ)]; real name: Nuno Ricardo Oliveira Ribeiro, OIH, born on 11 November 1977 in Lisbon, Portugal) is a midfielder who currently plays for Atlético Madrid and the Portuguese national team. His nickname 'Maniche' was given after Benfica's 1980's legendary Danish forward Michael Manniche.

Maniche began his career in the junior team of Benfica. His intermediate stops were Alverca and the A-team of Benfica, where he played as a winger. He played for his country in their second-place finish at Euro 2004. He has scored 6 goals in 35 caps for Portugal.

However, after Maniche had disciplinary problems at Benfica, Futebol Clube do Porto's new manager at the time, José Mourinho, managed to "steal" him away to his squad, where he rediscovered the Portugueses player and turned the mediocre winger into a wonderful midfielder. At Futebol Clube do Porto, his ability to pass and shoot from outside the area made him an absolute cornerstone. After playing very successful seasons for FC Porto from 2002 to 2005, winning both the UEFA Cup in 2003 and the UEFA Champions League in 2004, Maniche was sold to Dynamo Moscow for 16 million Euros. In January 2006 he joined the Premier League club Chelsea on a six-month loan deal, where he would once again link up with former coach and close friend José Mourinho. Chelsea had the option of making the transfer permanent, which would cost the club £5m ($9m). However, Chelsea at the end of the season, chose not to make his loan deal permanent and as a result left the club to return to Dynamo Moscow.

Maniche played a significant role in Chelsea's most memorable game of the 2005-06 season, though it was not the sort of involvement he would have hoped for. Making his first start for Chelsea in a home game against West Ham United, Maniche failed to stop West Ham's James Collins from putting the Hammers ahead on 14 minutes, had an opportunity to score an equaliser but smashed his shot against the crossbar, and was then shown an immediate red card three minutes later for a challenge on West Ham's Lionel Scaloni. Left to play the remaining seventy-odd minutes of the game with one player less than their opponents, Chelsea mustered an astonishing fightback, overcoming their numerical deficit to score four goals (through Didier Drogba, Hernán Crespo, John Terry, and William Gallas) and secure an improbable 4-1 victory. The game has since been credited as the spur Chelsea needed to snap out of their ongoing slump and storm to their second consecutive English Premier League championship title.

Maniche was part of the Chelsea team that won the 2005/2006 English Premier League championship title, the second successive title for the club, though he did not make enough appearances to earn a Winners' Medal. Following Chelsea's purchase of the German international midfielder Michael Ballack from Bayern Munich in May 2006, it was announced on May 20, 2006 that he had left the club [2]. He then was picked up by Atlético Madrid.

On June 21 in 2006 FIFA World Cup, Portugal played Mexico, in Portugal's final group game. Maniche scored in the 6th minute, and Portugal went on to win by two goals to one, to progress as group-winners. On June 25 in the Round of 16, the Portuguese played the Netherlands. He scored the only goal in the game.

He is the only Portuguese to feature on adidas Golden Ball shortlist [3].

[edit] 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa

It has been rumoured that Maniche is to be the next Captain for the Portuguese National team in South Africa, due to Figo's retirement of the national team. These are just speculations, however, the speculations make sense and many fans believe that Maniche is very able to take the role of Captain, especially with his amazing display at the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

[edit] Honours

Portugal Portugal squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup Fourth Place Portugal

1 Ricardo | 2 Ferreira | 3 Caneira | 4 Costa | 5 Meira | 6 Costinha | 7 Figo | 8 Petit | 9 Pauleta | 10 Viana | 11 Simão | 12 Quim | 13 Miguel | 14 Valente | 15 Boa Morte | 16 Carvalho | 17 Ronaldo | 18 Maniche | 19 Tiago | 20 Deco | 21 Nuno Gomes | 22 Santos | 23 Postiga | Coach: Scolari
Atlético Madrid - Current Squad

1 Cuéllar | 2 Seitaridis | 3 Antonio López | 4 Pernía | 5 Luccin | 6 Costinha | 7 Galletti | 8 Gabi | 9 Torres | 10 Agüero | 11 Maxi | 13 Falcón | 14 Zé Castro | 15 Jurado | 17 Petrov | 18 Valera | 19 Miguel | 20 Maniche | 21 Perea | 22 Pablo | 23 Mista | 25 Franco | Coach Aguirre
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