Ricardo Sá Pinto

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Personal information
Ricardo Sá Pinto
Full name	Ricardo Manuel Silva Sá Pinto
Date of birth	October 10, 1972 (age 34)
Place of birth	Porto, Portugal
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Standard Liège
Number	76
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1992-94 1994-97 1997-2000 2000-2006 2006-	Salgueiros Sporting Real Sociedad Sporting Standard Liège	57 (17) 77 (20) 66 (6) 97 (14) 11 (2)
National team²
1994-2001	Portugal	45 (10)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of December 10, 2006. ² National team caps and goals correct as of December 10, 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Ricardo Manuel Silva Sá Pinto (born Porto, 10 October 1972) is a Portuguese footballer, one of the best forwards of his generation. He announced previously that he was leaving football at the end of the 2005/2006 season, but changed his mind in May 2006, and decided to sign for the following season with walloon club Standard Liège (Jupiler League, Belgian first division).

He first debuted at Salgueiros, where he played at the U-23 Portuguese National Team that lost in the Euro Cup final in 1994. In the season of 1994/95, he was a member of Sporting. He also played for Real Sociedad before returning to Sporting.

He had 45 caps for Portugal National Team, 25 as a Sporting player and 20 as a Real Sociedad player, scoring 10 goals. His first game was at 7 September 1994, in Belfast, a 2-1 win over Northern Ireland, in which he scored the second goal. He played at the Euro 1996 finals, scoring the equalizing goal with Denmark (1-1), in the first game, and at the Euro 2000 finals. His last game was at the 6-0 win over Cyprus, on 6 June 2001. An injury prevented him from being present at the World Cup 2002 finals.

Sá Pinto most famous incident occurred in 26 March 1997, when the then portuguese national coach Artur Jorge did not call the player to join the national team. Sá Pinto travelled to the Estádio Nacional, in Lisbon, where the national team was practicing and punched him in the face. This aggression banned the player from all national and international competitions.

[edit] External link

Player profile - vi.nl

	Portugal squad - 1996 European Football Championship Quarter-finalists
1 Baía \| 2 Secretário \| 3 Paulinho Santos \| 4 Oceano \| 5 F. Couto \| 6 J. Tavares \| 7 Paneira \| 8 João Pinto \| 9 Sá Pinto \| 10 Rui Costa \| 11 Cadete \| 12 Alfredo \| 13 Dimas \| 14 P. Barbosa \| 15 Domingos \| 16 Hélder \| 17 Porfírio \| 18 Folha \| 19 Paulo Sousa \| 20 Figo \| 21 P. Madeira \| 22 Rui Correia \| Coach: António Oliveira

	Portugal squad - 2000 European Football Championship Semi-finalists
1 Baía \| 2 J. Costa \| 3 Rui Jorge \| 4 Vidigal \| 5 F. Couto \| 6 Paulo Sousa \| 7 Figo \| 8 João Pinto \| 9 Sá Pinto \| 10 Rui Costa \| 11 S. Conceição \| 12 P. Espinha \| 13 Dimas \| 14 Abel Xavier \| 15 Costinha \| 16 Beto \| 17 P. Bento \| 18 Pauleta \| 19 Capucho \| 20 Secretário \| 21 Nuno Gomes \| 22 Quim \| Coach: Humberto Coelho