Simão Sabrosa

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Simão
Personal information
Full name Simão Pedro Fonseca Sabrosa
Date of birth October 31, 1979 (1979-10-31) (age 28)
Place of birth    Constantim, Portugal
Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Playing position Winger
Club information
Current club Atlético Madrid
Number 24
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1997–1999
1999–2001
2001–2007
2007–
Sporting Portugal
FC Barcelona
Benfica
Atlético Madrid
053 (12)
046 0(3)
230 (95)
030 0(7)   
National team2
1998– Portugal 061 (15)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of June 2nd, 2007.
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of May 31, 2008.
* Appearances (Goals)

Simão Pedro Fonseca Sabrosa, OIH, commonly known as Simão Sabrosa (pron. IPA[si'mɐ̃ũ sɐ'bɾɔzɐ]) or just Simão (born 31 October 1979 in Constantim, Portugal), is a Portuguese football winger who plays for Atlético Madrid and the Portuguese national team. His primary attributes are free kicks, penalties, and dribbling.


Contents

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[edit] Sporting Lisbon

Simão started as a professional player for Sporting in the 1996-97 season, having scored in his debut match, one minute after being substituted in. He stayed in the team for three years. In what was to be his last season for Sporting, he played 30 games, scoring 10 goals, which then attracted the attention of Spanish giants FC Barcelona

[edit] Barcelona

Simao moved to FC Barcelona in the summer of 1999 on a €15 million transfer. [1] In 2001, after a comparatively low-key tenure at the Spanish club, playing 46 times in two seasons, and only scoring 3 times. So Simão moved back to Portugal to giants Benfica, on a deal reportedly worth €12 million.

[edit] Benfica

He became an instant fan-favorite, quickly acquired the status of captain and was often acclaimed as Benfica's top player during the six years he spent at the club and also one of the Portuguese championship's best.Since he arrived at Benfica, Simão has always ended seasons as the best goalscorer of the squad. He has scored a total of 95 goals in 230 matches for Benfica, in all competitions. He has written 2 books and recently launched a DVD teaching children how to play football.

In his first four seasons, Simao netted over ten goals in each. In 2005-06 UEFA Champions League, Simão scored a free kick against Manchester United and a goal against defending champions Liverpool FC, helping to knock Liverpool out.

The summer 2005 transfer window saw Simão targeted by English Premiership club Liverpool FC in an offer worth approximately £12 million, though negotiations reportedly failed over Benfica's increase in asking price. [1] [2] Just before the 2006 summer transfer window, Simão revealed that Luis Felipe Vieira, the president of Benfica, would allow him to leave, if a suitable offer were made[3]. Chelsea emerged as possible contenders for his signature, but José Mourinho declined these rumours[4]. He was also linked with a move to Valencia, after the club cooled their interest in his Portugal teammate Cristiano Ronaldo[5]. However, Arsenal emerged as the player's latest suitors and sources claimed they bid €18 million for the player[6]. Despite all the transfer rumours, Simão said that "the soap opera to sign me is over. I'm a Benfica player and that is the end of it". This was said alongside Benfica president Luís Filipe Vieira at a UEFA meeting. During the January 2007 transfer window, he was targeted by Atlético Madrid, but denied these rumours. Liverpool also revived their interest after their chief executive, Rick Parry, confirmed that interest.

[edit] Atletico Madrid

Ultimately, on July 26, 2007 it was announced by Benfica they had agreed a fee of 20 million euros with Atlético Madrid for the sale of Sabrosa. He scored 7 goals in 30 matches in the 2007/2008 primera liga season in Spain. He scored 3 goals in 6 matches in the UEFA cup.

[edit] National team

Simão's path to the national team began when he won the European Under-16 Championship, in 1996. In the following year, he began playing for the under-18 team, moving on to become a regular in the under-21 team in 1998. Simão made his debut for the national team at the senior level at 19 years of age, on November 18, 1998, against Israel. He came on for Rui Costa and scored one of the goals in the 2-0 win.

Simão was not present in the 2002 World Cup due to injury, but he did participate in the 2004 European Championship, where Portugal finished in second place. His most notable appearance during Euro 2004 came against England in the quarter-finals. He came on as a second half substitute and assisted the equalizing goal in the late minutes of the game to bring the game into extra time. Simão also scored a penalty during the shootout which Portugal won.

In the 2006 World Cup, he scored a penalty kick on the 24th minute against Mexico. Portugal won that game 2-1. Then, on 1 July, in the quarterfinals, Portugal and England went into extra time and then a penalty shootout. Simão scored another penalty for Portugal, who emerged victorious 3-1 on penalties.

[edit] Penalty Specialist

Simão is known as one of football's best spot kick specialists. His patented stutter step method of approaching the ball on penalty situations often fools goalkeepers into deciding prematurely on what side to choose to dive towards. As a result, Simão often slots the ball into the opposing side or tucks the ball just beyond the goalkeeper's reach. Due to this method, he has successfully scored the majority of his club goals for Benfica and Portugal from the penalty spot. Despite Cristiano Ronaldo's responsibility for taking penalty kicks for Manchester United, on national duty, Simão remains the prime penalty kick specialist. He is also quite effective from other dead ball situations such as corners and free kicks.

[edit] Euro 2008 Hype

Simão was listed as the "Number One Breakout Player to Watch" for the Euro 2008 summer competition by fantasy footballing pundit Sir Mark Erickson. On VTV, Erickson mentioned, "Perhaps he will even score more goals than Deco and Ronaldo, who seem to be getting more press. He is one to watch."

[edit] Honours

Individual Honours

[edit] References

[edit] External links



Persondata
NAME Sabrosa, Simão
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sabrosa, Simao (English); Simão
SHORT DESCRIPTION Professional football player
DATE OF BIRTH October 31, 1979
PLACE OF BIRTH Constantim, Portugal
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH