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Ricardo Oliveira Biography
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Ricardo Oliveira (born May 6, 1980 in São Paulo) is a Brazilian footballer who currently plays as a striker for Serie A side A.C. Milan.
Portuguesa
Oliveira began his career at Portuguesa scoring 23 goals in 46 appearances for the club before moving on to Santos Futebol Clube.
Santos
Oliveira scored 4 goals in 14 league appearances during his brief stint at Santos before moving on to Valencia. Oliviera played 34 matches for Santos overall, scoring 22 goals, many of which came in the Copa Libertadores.
Valencia
Under the guidance of Rafael Benítez, Oliveira scored 8 La Liga goals in 21 games, including a fantastic long range effort against Barcelona. After only one season, along with UEFA Cup and La Liga medals, he moved on to Real Betis.
Real Betis
Oliveira moved to Real Betis in 2004. He scored 22 La Liga goals in 37 appearances, and also won the Copa del Rey final against Osasuna, scoring the first goal as Betis's 2-1 win. Oliveira scored his first official Champions League goal against R.S.C. Anderlecht, following two goals, including a fantastic solo effort against Monaco in the Champions League third qualifying round. Due to injury Oliveira made only 9 La Liga appearances in his second season at Betis although he did scored 4 goals.
Due to knee ligament damage sustained against Chelsea in a UEFA Champions League, Oliveira moved to São Paulo in 2006 to try and gain a place in Brazil's World Cup 2006 squad. Prolonged recovery time meant Oliveira never made it but he did continue to compete for São Paulo in the league at the Copa Libertadores until 10 August 2006.
São Paulo
Following his loan spell to São Paulo, Oliveira returned to Real Betis on 21 August, nine days later than he was requested which caused controvesy among the Betis faithful and its board. The delay was caused by an unplanned schedule change made by Conmebol, which postponed the Copa Libertadores final match in one week, and his contract was due on the day after the previous final match date. Ricardo Oliveira wanted to play on the decisive match and tried to reach an agreement with Betis, even with a special allowance from FIFA, but the Spanish team would not cooperate and he was not able to play on the biggest match of his career. Since his time with Betis, he has been fined multiple times. First, for the breach of his contract. Then, for returning to Betis late (after he played for the Brazil international team), and the last one for having a medical test with AC Milan without authorization.
A.C. Milan
Oliveira signed for A.C. Milan on 31 August 2006. Oliveira already agreed to join Milan nearly a week before, but Betis President Manuel Ruiz de Lopera upped the price and made several demands. First, the original price of 10 million pounds was upped by several million, because Oliveira had debts with the club he yet had to clear. Then, Lopera decided to fine Oliveira for leaving to Milan without permission. The final price was 18 million pounds, but Milan did not wish to spend any more money, and decided to offer their experienced midfielder Johann Vogel as an exchange for the last three million pounds. However, on hearing Milan's offer, Lopera decided that Milan should pay 18 million plus Vogel. This outraged the Milan side, but Oliveira threatened to refuse to play should Lopera not let him go. As a result, Oliveira was purchased for €15.0 million plus Vogel. In addition, Milan also have to play a match against Real Betis in 2007. Oliveira signed a five year contract.
Oliveira came on for his debut in the second half of Milan's opening game of the Serie A season 2006-07 against Lazio. He scored a header right from the goal line and made two fabulous attempts on goal, the Lazio goalkeeper, Angelo Peruzzi, just preventing his dream debut. Ricardo Oliveira then scored a goal in a Coppa Italia match against Brecia and another goal in a 3-0 away win against Udinese. His most recent goal came on 25th January, 2007 in the first leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final match against AS Roma which ended 2-2 at the San Siro.
His sister Maria Lourdes was kidnapped in Brazil in October 2006, and was released unharmed on March 12, 2007.
International Success
Oliveira made his debut for the Brazil national team against the Catalan XI on 25 May 2004, actually scoring in the match as Brazil won 5-1. However, that match was not considered an official friendly match by FIFA. He was subsequently included in Brazil's squad for Copa América 2004 and won his first cap on 8 July 2004 against Paraguay. During the event, he also scored his first goal for Brazil in a quarter-final match against Mexico on 18 July 2004. Brazil then went on to win the cup.
Since then, Oliveira became a regular in the Brazil team as a cover for Ronaldo, Adriano and Robinho. He was also included in the squad for the 2005 Confederations Cup. He was expected to be a part of Brazil's 2006 FIFA World Cup squad until he suffered knee ligament damage on 1 November 2005. He recovered early but failed to win a place on the squad.
After 1 year absence from the national team, Brazil's new coach Dunga recalled him for a friendly match against Switzerland on 15 November 2006.
source: wikipedia.org
GNU Free Documentation License
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