Simão Sabrosa. Biography
Simão Pedro Fonseca Sabrosa is a Portuguese footballer who was born on October 31, 1979 in a town Vila Real. He currently performs for RCD Espanyol in La Liga mainly on a position of a left winger.
His career took its start in a youth system of Sporting Clube de Portugal. Simão scored his first goal when Sporting encountered Gil Vicente away and gained a 3-0 victory. Sabrosa was only 17 at that time. For the first two seasons there he played 53 matches and netted twelve times and such progress couldn’t but attract the attention of bigger clubs.
As a result in the summer of 1999 Simão signed for Barcelona for a €15 million fee. Nevertheless after two relatively good seasons for Barça with 46 league appearances and three goals he was sold back to Portugal but this time to the Sporting’s worst rival Benfica on a €12 million transfer fee thus setting a record for the Portuguese championship.
During his time with Benfica he quickly became the fans’ favourite and then earned the club’s captainship. For six years at Lisbon since 2001 till 2007 he always managed to become the club’s best goal scorer. In the season 2004/05 Simão spent the full season without missing a game and without being substituted even once. This helped him to score 15 goals leading his side to the first championship title in 11 years and domestic Cup final lost to Vitória Setúbal.
During the 2005 pre-season he was targeted by Liverpool but the Merseyside team failed to render the amount required so Simão stayed at Benfica for another stunning season where the ‘Reds’ reached the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals. The following year the demand for the Portuguese increased even more with Manchester United and Liverpool seeking to sign him. Nevertheless Sabrosa remained in his homeland for another season to gain the eventual 172 league appearances with 76 goals for Benfica.
In 2007 Atlético Madrid finally managed to sign the talented winger paying out on an estimated €20 million price tag. His career for the Spanish side wasn’t as successful as in Benfica. However Simão became a historic person for Atlético netting the 4000th goal in the club’s history. When Abel Resino came to manage the ‘Colchoneros’ in the summer of 2009 he started to rebuild the side. As a result of that Sabrosa was granted captainship however the side achieved little being ‘demoted’ to the UEFA Cup having finished third in their Champions League group. Regardless of the fact that Atlético beat Fulham in the final match of the UEFA Cup obtaining the trophy the season was named unsuccessful. With only 16 appearances in his last campaign and 113 in total in the domestic league for the side from Madrid he was sold to a Turkish side Beşiktaş.
As far as the player was 31 by that time the amount paid for the player decreased to €900.000. In Turkey he spent one and a half seasons with 48 appearances and 8 goals scored. His effort helped Beşiktaş win the Turkish Cup as Simão scored the decisive penalty in the final shootout.
On August 17, 2012 Simão Sabrosa aged 32 accomplished his move to Espanyol in Barcelona penning a two-year deal.
Sabrosa has an extensive record of playing for the national squad. His path started with a game against Israel when the winger was 19. In spite of his successful performance he wasn’t capped for the 2002 World Cup, however he participated in the European Championship of 2004 where Greece beat Portugal in the final. He was also a part of the squad that finished fourth in the 2006 World Cup. After that Sabrosa was called up to participate in the European Championship of 2008 where the Portuguese reached quarterfinals. Simão’s last international tournament became the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. In his first match on the tournament, second for his side, he scored against North Korea. This goal happened to be the last for the national side as he declared leaving the national team for personal reasons.
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