Serie A-Player Profile: Alexandre Pato
Rodriguez Da Silva, who is more commonly known as Alexandre Pato was born in Pato Branco in Brazil. The young Brazilian forward is called Pato as a tribute to his birth place. His best position on the field is as a striker but the youngster is also known to play in a midfield role behind the forward striker. Sometimes he has been deployed as a winger as well for his present club side A.C Milan.
Pato is also sometimes called the Duck, which is due to the word “Pato’s” literal translation from Portuguese into English. Da Silva played indoor footballer in his younger days. His talents which allowed him to dribble the ball perfectly and score goals as well, caught eyes of scouts all around the southern Brazilian state of Parana. When Pato was in his teens, he went to Gremio to try out for the legendary Brazilian club, where stars such as Romario have played.
Unfortunately, Gremio turned Pato down much to his dismay as he had been supporting Gremio since his childhood. He then went to Internacional for trials and was accepted by them. Internacional are Gremio’s fierce rivals but Pato’s parents convinced him to switch his allegiance once and for all. When the young footballer was only eleven years old, he broke his arm and when he went to the hospital for a checkup, doctors there found a tumor in his arm.
Fears surrounded his family that his arm might be amputated to stop the tumor from spreading to the rest of his body but doctor’s conducted a successful operation to get rid of the tumor and save the Brazilian’s life. When Pato was only 16 he signed his first professional contract of his footballing career with Internacional. He played with Internacional in Campeonato Brasileiro and soon became the top scorer in the tournament despite playing against defenders who were around four to five years older than him.
Pato also featured during Internacional’s match against his childhood club Gremio, a game that Inter won by four goals to nil. His aggressive performances in front of goal allowed Pato to break through the ranks into Inter’s first team in November of 2006. His debut for Inters first team took place during their match against Palmeiras. The teenage sensation broke all expectations and fears as he impressed and scored his first professional goal for Inter within the first minute of the match.
He also made two assists during the same match as Internacional destroyed Palmeiras by four goals to one.
Alexandre kept on astonishing his fans due to his amazing displays for Internacional, his performances also caught attention of several European clubs such as A.C Milan and their rivals Inter Milan also known as Internazionale. In the transfer window that preceded the 2007-2008 season, Internacional accepted a fourteen million pound bid from Italian giants A.C Milan. Pato’s new club declared his signing on 2nd of August, 2007.
However due to FIFA regulations, Pato could not make his competitive debut for Milan until 13th of January 2008. Pato scored in his Serie A debut match against Napoli in a 5-2 victory for the Italian football’s second most successful team. Alexandre’s finished his first season at Milan with nine goals in twenty appearances, eighteen of which were in the Italian league Serie A.
In the 2008-2009 season, Pato was on fire for Milan as he consistently scored in vital games for them. He scored against Roma, Fiorentina and Inter Milan in Italian league matches. Alexandre ended the season with 18 goals, in doing so he also became concluded the season as their leading goal scorer.
2009-2010 season was blighted with injuries for the young Brazilian, he rarely played in the UEFA Champions League for Milan, as they crashed out of the competition after two consecutive defeats to Manchester United during the round of sixteen. Nonetheless, the 21 year old managed to score 14 goals in 25 appearances for the Italian club.
Tags: