Ricardo Quaresma

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Ricardo Quaresma
Personal information
Full name	Ricardo Andrade Quaresma Bernardo
Date of birth	September 26, 1983 (age 23)
Place of birth	Lisbon, Portugal
Height	173 cm
Nickname	Mustang, Harry Pottrer, RQ7
Playing position	Wing forward
Club information
Current club	FC Porto
Number	7
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2001-2003 2003-2004 2004-	Sporting CP FC Barcelona FC Porto	59 (8) 22 (7) 81 (16)
National team2
2003-	Portugal	9 (1)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of March 26, 2007. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of March 28, 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Ricardo Andrade Quaresma Bernardo, born 26 September 1983 in Lisbon, Portugal is a professional footballer; nicknamed "Mustang" by former coach Laszlo Bölöni because, similar to the horses, he possesses boldness, grace, speed, and independence; or Harry Potter, for being a young magician on the field; and also O Cigano due to Quaresma's Roma (Gypsey) decent. He is said to be one of the greatest Portuguese footballers currently, due to his dazzling moves, strength, passing ability, and shooting with the outside of his foot.

Contents 1 Sporting years 2 Barcelona 3 FC Porto 4 National team 4.1 International goals 5 Honours 6 External links

[edit] Sporting years

A Sporting trainee, he debuted as a professional during the 2000-2001 season in the B side, playing 15 games. In the next season he was selected by Laszlo Bölöni to play in the main squad, where he played 28 matches, scored three goals and was a key player in Sporting's title. Quaresma's SuperLiga debut for Sporting came against his current employers, FC Porto.

During the 2002-2003 season he was Sporting's "lone star", coming second in total minutes played (2216), played in 31 matches, and scoring in five occasions. The poor results during the season were partially attributed to Bölöni, who rarely played Cristiano Ronaldo and Quaresma at the same time.

[edit] Barcelona

Quaresma was sold to FC Barcelona for €6,000,000 (approximately £4,100,000 GBP), plus playing rights for Fábio Rochemback, but failed to make his mark with the Catalan side. He first played for FC Barcelona in a friendly in the USA versus AC Milan. In the game he scored his first goal for Barcelona (Ronaldinho did the same). During the season, he started ten times, came off the bench eleven times, and scored only one goal. In the final weeks of the season he injured his right foot badly, missing both the 2004 UEFA U-21 Championship and Euro 2004, although it was highly unlikely that he would have been called up for the latter.

During Euro 2004 he announced his refusal to play for Barcelona as long as Frank Rijkaard was in charge, and several teams began inquiring about the talented player. However, Sporting rivals FC Porto had an advantage: a transfer for Deco was being negotiated, and Quaresma could be used as part of the transfer fee. At first uninterested in returning to Portugal, he changed his mind quickly and was presented as a Porto signing on 6 July.

The value of his transfer was around €6M.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] FC Porto

He started with a bang, scoring in the European Super Cup and netting the only goal in Porto's triumph against SL Benfica in the Portuguese Super Cup/SuperCup Cândido de Oliveira. Went on to score five goals in 32 league matches, and was ever-present in Porto's run to the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League. He also contributed to the dramatic win against CD Once Caldas in the 2004 European/South American Cup, scoring in a thrilling penalty shoot-out victory.

Regarded as one of the best players of the Portuguese Liga,^{[weasel words]} he managed to score 5 more goals. However Porto's team lacked cohesion, and the championship was lost to Benfica. Quaresma's influence was critical in Porto's 2005/06 title win. He was the assists leader in the Portuguese Liga, but was omitted from the Portugal 2006 FIFA World Cup squad by Luis Felipe Scolari.

Quaresma was seen as a talented player with a major short-coming: lack of defensive skills. This shortcoming has now been corrected - and is seen as one of Co Adriaanse's main achievements - and Quaresma is a real team player, helping both in defense whenever needed, and in offense, with his stunning dribbling skills and magical passes and crosses. He has become famous for his amazing technique in which he crosses the ball with the outer part of his right foot, in order to achieve a curve in which the ball is "pulled" away from the keeper right to the feet of the striker.

Real Madrid, AC Milan and Manchester United have been said to be after Quaresma but FC Porto are demanding close to 20 million Euros for the Portugese.

[edit] National team

A UEFA European Under-16 Championship winner in 2000, he made his full international debut in a June 2003 friendly against Bolivia. Poor form and injury, however, prevented Quaresma from taking part in the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, UEFA EURO 2004™, and the Olympic Games in Athens. However, sparkling displays with FC Porto won a role in Portugal's quest for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and the winger helped his country to a vital 2-0 win against Slovakia. He wasn't chosen to play for Portugal on FIFA's 2006 World Cup, which attracted huge criticism by Portuguese people, particularly FC Porto fans. Scolari believed in "club Portugal" and that the players which helped the team qualify for the World Cup should be picked ahead of Ricardo. Other people suggest that since Luis Boa Morte took his place in the final squad having rarely played in the qualifiers, that Scolari felt that Quaresma's personality and attitude wasn't good for the team. Quaresma was also voted Portuguese player of the year.

Scolari then called him up to play a friendly against Brazil at the Emirates Stadium where Portugal won 2-0. Quaresma got two assists and was named man of the match.

On March 24, 2007, Quaresma scored an amazing goal in a 4-0 win over Belgium, his first for Portugal, in the Euro 2008 qualifiers. After Cristiano Ronaldo had squared it for him in the outside right position, he used his heel to cut into the penalty box and then shot with the outside of his right foot, curling the ball past Belgian goalkeeper Stijn Stijnen.

[edit] International goals

Ricardo Quaresma: International Goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	March 24, 2007	Lisbon, Portugal	Belgium	4-0	Win	Euro 2008 qualifying

[edit] Honours

• International

UEFA European Under-16 Championship (1): 2000

• Clubs

Intercontinental Cup (1): 2004

Portuguese League (2): 2001/02, 2005/06

Portuguese Cup (2): 2001/2002, 2005/06

Portuguese SuperCup (3): 2002/03, 2004/05, 2006/07

• Individual

Portuguese Footballer of the Year (2): 2005, 2006

[edit] External links

• Ricardo Quaresma Tactical Formations at Football-Lineups.com

• Ricardo Quaresma's profile, career timeline and detailed statistics
• Ricardo Quaresma's fan website
• Ricardo Quaresma career stats at Soccerbase

FC Porto - Current Squad
1 Helton | 2 R. Costa | 3 Pepe | 4 P. Emanuel | 5 Čech | 6 Ibson | 7 Quaresma | 8 Lucho | 9 Lisandro | 10 Anderson | 11 T. Sektioui | 12 Bosingwa | 13 Fucile | 14 B. Alves | 16 R. Meireles | 17 Vieirinha | 18 P. Assunção | 19 Šokota | 20 Jorginho | 21 Alan | 22 Rentería | 23 Postiga | 24 P. Ribeiro | 25 Lucas | 26 J. Paulo | 28 Adriano | 29 B. Moraes | 99 Baía | Manager: J. Ferreira