Pauleta

Pauleta

Pauleta in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Pedro Miguel Carreiro Resendes
Date of birth	(1973-04-28) 28 April 1973
Place of birth	Ponta Delgada, Portugal
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position	Striker
Youth career
1988–1989	Santa Clara
1989–1990	Porto
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1990–1992	Santa Clara
1992–1994	Operário
1994	Angrense
1995	Micaelense	23	(11)
1995–1996	Estoril	29	(18)
1996–1998	Salamanca	71	(34)
1998–2000	Deportivo La Coruña	58	(18)
2000–2003	Bordeaux	98	(65)
2003–2008	Paris Saint-Germain	168	(76)
2010–2011	São Roque	2	(4)
Total		449	(226)
National team
1996	Portugal U21	1	(0)
1997–2006	Portugal	88	(47)
Honours Competitor for  Portugal Men's Football UEFA European Championship Portugal 2004 Team
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (goals)

Pedro Miguel Carreiro Resendes, ComM, OIH (born 28 April 1973), known as Pauleta (Portuguese pronunciation: [pawˈletɐ]), is a retired Portuguese footballer who played as a striker.

During 18 years as a senior, he never played in the Primeira Liga, having spent twelve of those campaigns in Spain and France. He had his most successful spell at Paris Saint-Germain, where he scored 109 goals across all competitions. Three times the top goalscorer in Ligue 1, he was also voted twice as the division's player of the season.

Pauleta also scored 47 goals in 88 matches for Portugal, a national record at the time of his retirement. He played for his country in two World Cups and two European Championships.

Club career

Early years / Spain

Born in Ponta Delgada, São Miguel Island in the Azores, Pauleta started his career at youth level playing for local clubs in his native island, before turning professional in the lower leagues. He was part of FC Porto's youth team for a brief stint, but left soon due to homesickness, signing his first professional contract with Clube União Micaelense in 1994 and spending one year there. He then moved to second division's G.D. Estoril Praia in 1995, helping his team to the 12th position in his first and only season.

The goals continued to flow following a switch to Spanish second level side UD Salamanca in 1996, with Pauleta scoring 19 goals as it gained promotion to La Liga in the following year, adding a further 15 in his first season in the top flight.^[1] That rate earned him a move to Deportivo de La Coruña, in the 1998 summer.

Pauleta scored his first goal in European competition in the 1999–2000 UEFA Cup, netting in a 3–1 home win against Montpellier HSC^[2] and repeating the feat in the second leg (2–0).^[3] On 22 November 1999 he netted a hat-trick for Depor in a home fixture against Sevilla FC,^[4] going on to enjoy a two-year spell with the Galicians which included 33 goals in 92 official matches, including eight from 12 starts as the club won its first league championship title in 2000.

Bordeaux

On 1 September 2000, after being tracked by the likes of Newcastle United, Aston Villa and Sunderland, Pauleta joined FC Girondins de Bordeaux in France, reportedly for financial and family reasons.^[5] He scored three as his new club crushed FC Nantes 5–0 in an away match,^[6][7] and some days later, on 26 September, did the same in a UEFA Cup first round match against Lierse SK, with his team qualifying for the next round;^[8] he enjoyed an impressive run in his first season, ending it as the club's top scorer with 26 goals in all competitions,^[9] and the Ligue 1's second leading scorer with 20.

In the 2001–02 campaign, Pauleta was the league's top scorer with 22 goals. He also was the club's leading scorer in all competitions with 35 goals – a record.^[10] Subsequently, he was voted the best player in the French first division, and was also awarded the 'Oscar of football' by fellow players and coaches,^[11] and was named one of the 50 players shortlisted for the 2002 European Footballer of the Year award (Ballon d'Or), with only another player from the French League in the list.^[12] In the same season, Pauleta also won the French League Cup, being instrumental to the success scoring two goals in the final.^[13][14] After his great performances, Manchester City's manager Kevin Keegan expressed an interest in the striker, but Bordeaux's chairman Jean-Louis Triaud said that, initially, they were not interested in the transfer, showing that Pauleta could be for sale only in the right circumstances.^[15]

In the 2002–03 season Pauleta proved himself another time, scoring 23 league goals and 30 all competitions comprised. For the second time he won the title for the best player in the top category, and was also named in the French League team of the year. In total, he registered 65 league goals in 98 games and 91 in 130 matches in all competitions for Bordeaux,^[16] ranking third all-time upon his departure.^[17]

Paris Saint-Germain

Pauleta in action for PSG at the Emirates Cup in July 2007, finding space around Denílson of Arsenal

Pauleta joined Paris Saint-Germain F.C. ahead of 2003–04, signing a three-year contract in a reported €12 million transfer deal.^[18] He helped the capital side to its first silverware in six years by scoring the only goal of the 2004 French Cup final against LB Châteauroux, and continued with his goal scoring exploits in the league, netting 18 times in 37 contests as PSG finished the league in second place.

On 2 April 2006, Pauleta scored his first hat-trick for Paris Saint-Germain against former club Bordeaux, as the home side won 3–1.^[19] Despite reported interest from defending French champions Olympique Lyonnais, Pauleta stayed at Paris-Saint Germain to help them clinch the 2006 French Cup. He scored his 99th and 100th overall goals for PSG in heroic fashion, off a fantastic volley and a textbook header respectively.^[20]

After the 2007–08 season, as PSG faced relegation until the very last matchday (eventually reaching safety at 16th), Pauleta retired from football after his last match on 17 May 2008, with the possible exception being if any of the Big three (S.L. Benfica, Sporting Clube de Portugal and Porto) in Portugal came calling, which they did not.^[21] He retired at 35 without having played one game in Portugal's main division, subsequently staying at PSG but in an ambassadorial role;^[22] he remained the team's top scorer of all time with 109 goals in 211 matches, until the record was broken by Zlatan Ibrahimović in October 2015.^[23]

In late May 2009 Pauleta played his farewell match, at the Parc des Princes, playing one half each with a team of friends and PSG – former and current – players. His son André, 13, replaced him at the end of the game and scored the final two goals.^[24]

Pauleta returned to football at the age of 37, joining amateurs Grupo Desportivo São Roque in the Azores' regional leagues. He retired for good in June 2011.

International career

Pauleta was the first Portuguese national team player to never have played in the Portuguese first division when he made his international debut against Armenia, in August 1997. He would have to wait 18 months for his first national team start, against the Netherlands. His first goals came a month later, when he scored two in a 7–0 rout of Azerbaijan in a UEFA Euro 2000 qualifier, on 26 March 1999.^[25]

A substitute at the Euro 2000 tournament, Pauleta led the Portuguese attack at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, scoring a hat-trick against Poland^[26] and ending with that tally in as many games, as the nation was ousted in the group stage. On 19 November 2003, he scored four goals in an 8–0 friendly win over Kuwait in Leiria.^[27]

Although he played all but one game on the road to the final of Euro 2004, Pauleta did not score in that tournament finals. After the competition, with the international retirements of Fernando Couto, Luís Figo and Rui Costa, Pauleta was made captain,^[28] a role he held until Figo's return. However, he sporadically played as skipper in the latter's absence, including a 2–0 win over Egypt at the Estádio de São Miguel in his hometown on 17 August 2005.^[29] On 12 October, against Latvia, he netted twice to became the national team's all-time goal scoring leader, surpassing Eusébio's previous record of 41.^[30][31]

During the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign, Pauleta was the European zone's top scorer and, in a friendly match against Cape Verde in May 2006 preluding the final stages, he showed great form as he netted three times in a 4–1 win. However, after scoring the side's first goal in the group stage match against Angola,^[32] he failed to find the net again during the tournament; after Portugal's defeat to Germany in the third place play-off, he announced his international retirement.

Personal life

Pauleta's goal celebration of spreading his arms like wings earned him the nickname The Birdman of the Açores. In November 2005, he signed to become a FIFA ambassador for the SOS Children's Villages, the first Portuguese to do so.^[33]

Statistics

^[34]

Club

International

^[25]

Honours

Club

Deportivo

• La Liga: 1999–00

Bordeaux

• Coupe de la Ligue: 2001–02

Paris Saint-Germain

• Coupe de France: 2003–04, 2005–06
• Coupe de la Ligue: 2007–08

Country

Portugal

• UEFA European Championship: Runner-up 2004

Individual

• Portuguese Second Division: Top scorer 1995–96
• Spanish Second Division: Top scorer 1996–97
• French League Top scorer: 2001–02, 2005–06, 2006–07
• French League Footballer of the Year: 2001–02, 2002–03
• French League Team of the Year: 2002–03, 2005–06

Orders

• Commander of the Order of Merit^[35]
• Officer of the Order of Prince Henry^[35]
• Medal of Merit, Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa (House of Braganza)^[36]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pedro Pauleta.

• Pauleta at footballzz.co.uk
• Pauleta profile at ForaDeJogo
• Pauleta profile at BDFutbol
• Paris SG official profile (French)
• L'Équipe stats (French)
• Pauleta at National-Football-Teams.com
• Pauleta – FIFA competition record

Portugal squads Portugal squad – UEFA Euro 2000 semi-finalists 1 Vítor Baía (c) 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 Espinha 13 Dimas 14 Xavier 15 Costinha 16 Beto 17 Bento 18 Pauleta 19 Capucho 20 Secretário 21 Nuno Gomes 22 Quim Coach: Coelho Portugal squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 V. Baía 2 J. Costa 3 Xavier 4 Caneira 5 F. Couto (c) 6 P. Sousa 7 Figo 8 João Pinto 9 Pauleta 10 Rui Costa 11 S. Conceição 12 Viana 13 Andrade 14 Barbosa 15 Nélson 16 Ricardo 17 Bento 18 Frechaut 19 Capucho 20 Petit 21 Nuno Gomes 22 Beto 23 Rui Jorge Coach: Oliveira Portugal squad – UEFA Euro 2004 Runners-up 1 Ricardo 2 Ferreira 3 Rui Jorge 4 Andrade 5 F. Couto (c) 6 Costinha 7 Figo 8 Petit 9 Pauleta 10 Rui Costa 11 Simão 12 Quim 13 Miguel 14 N. Valente 15 Beto 16 Carvalho 17 C. Ronaldo 18 Maniche 19 Tiago 20 Deco 21 Nuno Gomes 22 Moreira 23 H. 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 (c) 8 Petit 9 Pauleta 10 H. Viana 11 Simão 12 Quim 13 Miguel 14 N. Valente 15 Boa Morte 16 Carvalho 17 C. Ronaldo 18 Maniche 19 Tiago 20 Deco 21 Nuno Gomes 22 Santos 23 H. Postiga Coach: Scolari