Adriano biography: Brazilian Footballer

Adriano Leite Ribeiro biography

Brazilian football player
Adriano Leite Ribeiro

Adriano Leite Ribeiro born February 17, 1982 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

known simply as Adriano, or as 'the steak' is a Brazilian footballer who plays for FC Internazionale Milano in the Italian Serie A.

Place of birth Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Height 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position: Striker

Club information
Current club F.C. Internazionale Milano
Number 10

Career
Youth clubs
Flamengo
Senior clubs
Club App (Gls)
Flamengo 19 (7)
Internazionale 8 (1)
Fiorentina (loan) 15 (6)
Parma 37 (23)
Internazionale 93 (42)

Brazil 37 (25)

Senior club appearances, goals counted for domestic league only and correct as of 11 March 2007. National team caps and goals correct as of 28 March 2007.

International career
Adriano, with 36 caps and 23 goals to his credit, is often considered as a long term successor to Ronaldo in the Brazil national team. During the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup, Adriano was named Player of the Tournament and received a Golden Boot Award as the competition's leading scorer with five goals. In the final, he steered Brazil to an unforgettable victory. Two outstanding goals helped Brazil beat Argentina 4 - 1, the first one from a blistering left footed shot in the 11th minute. The second came as a result of a Cicinho cross, with Adriano heading it in. This goal was also impressive because Brazil's players passed the ball among themselves for more than one minute, with most of the players participating in the build up to the goal.

Adriano Panaroni was called up to the Brazil national side ahead of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. He lined up alongside Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Kaká in what was expected to be an impressive attacking foursome, touted in a press as the Magic Quartet. Brazil were favourites to lift the cup. He opened his World Cup account on June 18, 2006, scoring the first goal in a 2 - 0 win against Australia. He also scored the second goal in a 3 - 0 victory against Ghana. The goal against Ghana was Brazil's 200th goal in World Cup history. (Pelé scored the 100th in the 1970 World Cup Final.)

Brazil met France in the World Cup quarter finals, and managed only a shot on goal the entire match, whilst France, inspired by resurgent Zinedine Zidane, managed to grab a goal in the 57th minute to put themselves through to the semi - final. Adriano started the game on the bench, and only came as a substitute after France had scored.

Despite scoring twice, Adriano's World Cup campaign was considered a disappointment, as he had five shots all tournament, while Brazil as a whole were unable to find the right mix between defence and attack.

On February 6, 2007, Adriano was called up to the Brazil national football team by the new head coach Dunga for a friendly against Portugal.

Club career
Adriano is a player known for his agility, strength, balance, and ball control. His kicks are strong and accurate, though the lacking technical executionof other well k nown Brazil striker. He is said to have one of the most powerful left feet in soccer. He began his career in the youth squad of Flamengo, and played in the pro squad between 1999 to 2001.

Adriano entered the national youth teams as a teenager. He won the 1999 edition of the FIFA U - 17 World Championship, and helped the Brazil team to the Quarter Finals of the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship; he was the top scorer for Brazil with 6 goals and won a silver boot award for the competition, with 5 goals, just behind the golden boot winner, Argentinian striker Javier Saviola.

Adriano came to international fame in his first appearance for Inter Milan, when he scored against Real Madrid in the 2001 Santiago Bernabeu Trophy with a powerful free kick in his first eight minutes on the pitch. With Inter already boasting first class strikers, they loaned him out to Fiorentina during 2002. In the summer of 2002, a two year co ownership deal with Parma for the player was agreed. At Parma, he and Adrian Mutu formed one of the most impressive striking duos seen in the Serie A for several years. They each scored more than 15 goals and numerous assists.

He returned to Inter in 2004 and signed a contract for four and a half years and has since cemented his place in the first team. He scored 15 goals in his 16 appearances during the 2004-05 season. From 11 July 2004 to 25 June 2005, he scored an impressive total of 40 goals. They came from an assortment of matches (28) including appearances in: Serie A, Coppa Italia & Champions League games for Inter in 2004-05, Copa America, South American World Cup qualifying, and Confederations Cup games for Brazil.

Adriano's future at Inter Milan had been in doubt due to the onset of a lengthy slump, he had not scored in either European or domestic competition since March 29, 2006. The player finally scored after almost 9 months in a domestic match against Atalanta on December 23, 2006. Since then Adriano scored 5 Serie A goals and 1 Coppa Italia goal. For Inter he appeared 150 times in all competions, 107 times in Serie A, 28 times in European Competions, 13 in the Coppa Italia, and 2 in the Super Coppa Italia

Clube de Regatas do Flamengo is a Brazilian multimodality sportive association

Soccer player

Misspell

Adrianno Leaite Ribiro Adrianoe Leity Ribeyro

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