Ricardo Quaresma
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Ricardo Andrade Quaresma Bernardo (born September 26, 1983, in Lisbon, Portugal) is a Portuguese footballer, usually positioned as an attacking winger. His style of play can be defined as one with speed, grace, toughness, and often plays a free role on the pitch. He currently plays for Inter in the Italian Serie A and the Portugal national football team. Ricardo Quaresma is of full Gypsy descent. ^[1][2] His nickname in Portuguese is "Cigano" which literally translates into "Gypsy".

Initially nicknamed Mustang by former Sporting Clube de Portugal coach Laszlo Bölöni. He's regularly compared to fellow Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo for the similarities both possess in terms of their speed and dribbling abilities, as well as their style of play. He also specialized the "Trivela" shooting technique, which is his ability to swerve, bend the ball perfectly with the outside of his boot when executing crosses, free kicks and long shots.

Quaresma was at the height of much transfer speculation over the summer of 2008. When Jose Mourinho was appointed as manager of Inter Milan in early 2008, he had asked team directors to pursue Ricardo Quaresma. FC Porto had reportedly been asking too much in the transfer price of their "golden boy" and the speculation of this transfer fizzle out by mid summer. However on transfer on deadline day Inter Milan signed Quaresma for €18.6 million plus the young Portuguese midfielder Pele.

Club career

Sporting

While a trainee at Sporting's famed academy, he made his professional debut during the 2000-2001 season playing 15 games for the B Team. The next season, he was promoted to the senior squad by then club manager Laszlo Bölöni, playing 28 matches and scoring three goals and was a key player in Sporting's league and cup double triumph. Quaresma's made his league debut for Sporting against 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 on five occasions. Sporting's poor results during the season were partially attributed to Bölöni, who rarely opted to play Cristiano Ronaldo and Quaresma at the same time.

Barcelona

Quaresma was sold to FC Barcelona for 6 million euros. His stint with the Catalan side could be best described as luckless. He made his debut for Barça in a friendly against AC Milan, scoring his first goal for the club. In his debut season at Barça, Quaresma made ten starts and eleven substitute appearances, scoring only one goal. In the final weeks of the season he injured his right foot badly, forcing him to miss the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.

During the Euro 2004, he announced his refusal to play for Barça as long as Frank Rijkaard was in charge, incurring the interest of many other clubs. However, it was Sporting's rivals FC Porto that had the ace up their sleeve: 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 subsequently signed by Porto for a fee of €6 million, with Deco going the other way.

Porto

He started his campaign with Porto on a high note, scoring in his debut in the 2004 UEFA Super Cup and netting the only goal in Porto's triumph against SL Benfica in the Portuguese Super Cup. He went on to score five goals in 32 league matches, and was ever-present in Porto's run to the first knockout round of the 2004-05 UEFA Champions League. He also contributed to Porto's dramatic win against Once Caldas in the 2004 FIFA Intercontinental Cup, scoring in a thrilling penalty shoot-out which ended 8-7 in Porto's favour.

Regarded as one of the best players in the Portuguese League, he managed to score five more goals. However Porto's title dreams in the 2004-05 season was derailed by the team's lack of cohesion, losing out to Benfica. Quaresma was however influential in Porto's 2005-06 title success. He was the number one assist provider in that season, but was controversially omitted from Portugal's 2006 FIFA World Cup squad by Luiz Felipe Scolari. Quaresma has also often been criticized by the Portuguese media for his lack of defensive skills, seldom helping the team out in defensive duties. Throughout the summer of 2008 Quaresma was repeatedly linked with a transfer to Italian giants Inter Milan, after Jose Mourinho declared interest in him.^[3]

Internazionale

On September 1, 2008 Quaresma signed for Inter Milan on a reported cash/player exchange fee of €18.6m with young Portugese midfielder Pelé joining F.C. Porto.^[4] He played his first game for the club in a friendly against Locarno, playing on the left wing. Inter fell 2-0 behind, but a Quaresma assist (cross via trivela), headed in by Ivan Cordoba, cut the lead to one. Minutes later, an exact same trivela cross into the box resulted in a handball and a penalty rewarded to Inter. Julio Cruz converted the penalty to tie the game. The game ended 2-2, and Quaresma was voted Man of the Match, following an impressive performance. He scored on his Serie A debut against Catania with his trademark shooting skill, the trivela.

Statistics

Last updated March 20, 2008

National team

A UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship winner with Portugal in 2000, he made his full international debut for the Portuguese national football team in June 2003, in a friendly against Bolivia.

Poor form during his time with Barcelona and an injury prevented Quaresma from taking part in the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, UEFA Euro 2004 and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. However, sparkling displays with Porto won him a role in Portugal's 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign and the winger helped his country to a vital 2-0 win against Slovakia. However, Quaresma was left out of the 23-man squad named by coach Scolari to represent Portugal in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

He was later called up to play in a friendly game against Brazil at the Emirates Stadium where Portugal won 2-0. Quaresma provided two assists and was named Man of the Match. On March 24, 2007, Quaresma scored his first goal for the national team in Portugal's 4-0 win in a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier against Belgium. He is also a member of the 23 man squad for Portugal in Euro 2008. Ricardo appeared sparingly for Scolari's Portugal during the tournament, but he did start in the 3rd group stage match, a 2-0 loss to host nation Switzerland.

International goals

Ricardo Quaresma: International Goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	March 24, 2007	Lisbon, Portugal	Belgium	4-0	Win	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
2.	February 6, 2008	Zürich, Switzerland	Italy	1-3	Loss	Friendly
3.	June 11, 2008	Genève, Switzerland	Czech Republic	3-1	Win	UEFA Euro 2008

Honours

• International

UEFA European Under-17 Championship (1): 2000

• Clubs

Intercontinental Cup (1): 2004

Portuguese League (4): 2001/02, 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08

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

Portuguese SuperCup (3): 2002, 2004, 2006

• Individual

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

Portuguese Golden Ball (1): 2007

References

External links

• Cigano7online Website of Ricardo Quaresma
• Ricardo Quaresma's profile, career timeline and detailed statistics
• Ricardo Quaresma career stats at Soccerbase
• Compilation with the best skills, all the assists and all the goals of Ricardo Quaresma
• Website of Ricardo Quaresma

v • d • e Portugal squad – UEFA Euro 2008 1 Ricardo • 2 P. Ferreira • 3 B. Alves • 4 Bosingwa • 5 F. Meira • 6 R. Meireles • 7 Ronaldo • 8 Petit • 9 H. Almeida • 10 Moutinho • 11 Simão • 12 Nuno • 13 Miguel • 14 J. Ribeiro • 15 Pepe • 16 R. Carvalho • 17 Quaresma • 18 Veloso • 19 Nani • 20 Deco • 21 N. Gomes • 22 R. Patrício • 23 H. Postiga • Coach: Scolari