Ricardo Carvalho

Ricardo Carvalho
Personal information
Full name	Ricardo Alberto Silveira Carvalho
Date of birth	May 18, 1978 (1978-05-18) (age 31)
Place of birth	Amarante, Portugal
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.82 m)[1]
Playing position	Centre Back
Club information
Current club	Chelsea
Number	6
Youth clubs
	Leca
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1998–2004 1999–2000 2000–2001 2004–	FC Porto → Vitória FC (loan) → FC Alverca (loan) Chelsea	073 (3) 025 (2) 029 (1) 107 (8)
National team2
2003–	Portugal	049 (4)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 13 September 2008. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 12:18, 14 September 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

This is a Portuguese name; the first family name is Silveira and the second is Carvalho.

Ricardo Alberto Silveira Carvalho, OIH (born 18 May 1978 in Amarante, Portugal), pronounced IPA: [ʁi'kaɾdu kɐɾ'vaʎu] is a Portuguese footballer who currently plays as a central defender for the Premier League club Chelsea.

Career

FC Porto

Carvalho's professional career began at FC Porto. In his youth he was considered to have the potential to become a great player, often being compared to Fernando Couto, a successful former player of the club with some similar physical and footballing characteristics. However, it took a couple of years and several loans to minor clubs until he became a settled player of Porto. He finally came to prominence during the 2003-04 season, gathering many plaudits for his impressive performances in the Portuguese Superliga and UEFA Champions League, both of which Porto won. He was voted the best defender in the Champions League for 2003-04.^[2] The committee that selected him cited his strength and exceptional ability to win the ball in the air.

As a result of his success with FC Porto and Portugal in 2004, Carvalho was pursued by several top European clubs, and was finally signed by English club Chelsea for £19,850,000.^[3]

Chelsea

At Stamford Bridge, Carvalho joined his former manager José Mourinho and former teammate Paulo Ferreira he signed for a fee of 10,5 million , both of whom were signed by Chelsea earlier in the pre-season. He performed well in his first season with Chelsea and helped them win the Premier League and the League Cup. He scored his first goal for Chelsea in a 3–1 victory over Norwich City.

The start of 2005–2006 was not as smooth for Carvalho, as he was publicly lambasted by Mourinho after making comments relating to his lack of match time. He later returned to favour, though, and was a near-regular in the side from September. He scored his second Chelsea goal in the 4–0 home win to Real Betis in the Champions League. Carvalho continued his scoring run in Europe by netting the second goal in Chelsea's 2–0 away victory over RSC Anderlecht of Belgium, scoring from a Hernàn Crespo flick on which he blasted into the roof of the net. Carvalho received the first red card of his Chelsea career in January 2006, in Chelsea's 3–2 victory over Fulham, and on 29 April 2006, he scored a goal in the Barclay's Premier League match against Manchester United, finishing off a move he had started on the edge of his own penalty area by smashing the ball into the net, to help Chelsea clinch the title for the second consecutive year. Carvalho scored the equalizer against Manchester United in a 1–1 draw in the following season – a header from a Frank Lampard corner that also bounced off Louis Saha's head. He scored another in April against Tottenham Hotspur, this time a long-range strike from 30 yards, to earn his team a 1–0 win.

Carvalho injured the medial ligaments of his right leg against Bolton on 28 April, 2007.^[4] The injury meant Carvalho missed the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Liverpool.^[5] He also missed the FA Cup Final against Manchester United, which Chelsea won after a goal from Didier Drogba during extra time.

On 18 May 2007, his 29th birthday, Carvalho signed a five-year contract extension with Chelsea, keeping him at the club through the 2011/12 season.^[6]

For playing so well during the 2006-07 season, Carvalho has been recognized by a number of organizations. Sky Sports listed him as one of seven candidates for the Premiership's "Defender of the Year". ^[7] He was also one of three Chelsea players nominated for the club's "Player of the Year" honour, which was won by Michael Essien. ^[8]

Carvalho continued his excellent form into the following campaign. Following the departure of manager José Mourinho, Carvalho was one of the most consistent performers at the club and his efforts were rewarded when he scored his first goal of the season in a 1-0 win over Middlesbrough in the Premier League. He has recently played his 100th appearance for the club against Manchester United, despite Chelsea's 2-1 win, he marred his centenery mark with an error that allowed Wayne Rooney to equalise. On 8th May 2008, Carvalho was voted by his fellow Chelsea colleagues as Chelseas Players Player Of The Year for 2008, whilst finishing in the top 3 for Chelsea's Player Of The Year award voted by Chelsea fans along with Michael Ballack and Joe Cole.

Carvalho opened his account for the 2008-09 season against Manchester City on September 13, 2008.

International career

During this 2003-04 season, Carvalho also had his debut for Portugal at 11 October 2003 in a 5–3 friendly match win over Albania. He established himself as a key member of the national team starting eleven during the Euro 2004 Championship, a tournament in which he was considered to be one of the best defenders. Carvalho formed a strong partnership with Jorge Andrade in the Portuguese defence as his country reached the final, though they lost 1–0 to Greece.

Carvalho represented Portugal in a major tournament for the second time, at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. During the quarter-final game against England, Wayne Rooney was controversially adjudged to have stomped Carvalho's groin, right in front of the referee, and was sent off for violent conduct. In the following semi-final game vs France in Munich on 5 July 2006, Carvalho was whistled for a foul against France's Thierry Henry in the penalty area resulting in a penalty kick. Zinedine Zidane converted the spot kick to give France a 1–0 win over Portugal. Also in the same game, Carvalho was booked with his second yellow card of the knockout phase, and was forced to miss the third place game vs Germany on 8 July in Stuttgart. He played all other preceding matches in the cup on the starting lineup, and as a result of his exhibitions he was one of the 23 players nominated for the All Star Team of the tournament.

On 6 February 2007, Carvalho scored his fourth goal for his country in Portugal's 2–0 victory over Brazil in a friendly game staged at the Emirates Stadium in London.

Carvalho was named in the Portguese Squad for the Euro 2008 Championship and was a starter in 3 out of their 4 matches.

Career statistics

^[9]

Honours

Porto

• Portuguese SuperLiga: 1999, 2003, 2004
• Portuguese Cup: 2003
• UEFA Champions League: 2004
• UEFA Cup: 2003

Chelsea

• Premier League: 2005, 2006
• FA Cup: 2007
• FA Community Shield: 2005
• Carling Cup: 2005, 2007

Individual

• Portuguese Footballer of the Year: 2003
• UEFA Best Defender of the Year: 2004
• UEFA Euro Team of the Tournament: 2004

References

External links

• Ricardo Carvalho career stats at Soccerbase
• BBC profile
• Chelsea FC website

Ricardo Carvalho - Navigation boxes Portugal squad – UEFA Euro 2004 Runners-up 1 Ricardo • 2 Ferreira • 3 Rui Jorge • 4 Andrade • 5 Couto • 6 Costinha • 7 Figo • 8 Petit • 9 Pauleta • 10 R. Costa • 11 Simão • 12 Quim • 13 Miguel • 14 Valente • 15 Beto • 16 Carvalho • 17 Ronaldo • 18 Maniche • 19 Tiago • 20 Deco • 21 Nuno Gomes • 22 Moreira • 23 Postiga • Coach: Scolari Portugal squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup Fourth Place 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 Portugal squad – UEFA Euro 2008 1 Ricardo • 2 Ferreira • 3 Alves • 4 Bosingwa • 5 Meira • 6 Meireles • 7 Ronaldo • 8 Petit • 9 Almeida • 10 Moutinho • 11 Simão • 12 Nuno • 13 Miguel • 14 Ribeiro • 15 Pepe • 16 Carvalho • 17 Quaresma • 18 Veloso • 19 Nani • 20 Deco • 21 Nuno Gomes • 22 Patrício • 23 Postiga • Coach: Scolari