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Adriano Biography
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Adriano Leite Ribeiro (born February 17, 1982 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), known simply as Adriano or "The Steak" (a nickname coined by top Spanish football pundit David Harvey-(2002) due to his physical attributes) or the most widely used nickname "L'Imperatore" (The Emperor), is a Brazilian footballer who plays for F.C. Internazionale Milano in the Italian Serie A.
Club career
Adriano is a burly player known for his agility, strength, balance, and ball control. His kicks are strong and accurate, though sometimes lacking technical execution, he is said to have one of the most powerful left feet in football, possibly second to Roberto Carlos. He began his career in the youth squad of Flamengo, and played in the pro squad between 1999 to 2001.
Adriano entered the national youth teams as a teenager. He won the 1999 edition of the FIFA U-17 World Championship, and helped the Brazil team to the Quarter Finals of the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship; he was the top scorer for Brazil with 6 goals and won the silver boot award for the competition, with 5 goals, just behind the golden boot winner, Argentinian striker Javier Saviola.
Adriano came to international fame in his first appearance for Inter Milan, when he scored against Real Madrid in the 2001 Santiago Bernabeu Trophy with a powerful free kick in his first eight minutes on the pitch. With Inter already boasting first-class strikers, they loaned him out to Fiorentina during 2002. In the summer of 2002, a 2 year co-ownership deal with Parma of the player was agreed. In Parma, he formed one of the most impressive striking duos of Serie's A last decade with Adrian Mutu. They each scored more than 15 goals with assists from each other.
He returned to the Nerazzurri in 2004 and signed 4 and a half year contract and has since been an asset to the team. He has scored a total of 15 goals in his 16 appearances during the 2004-05 season. From 11 July 2004 through 25 June 2005, Adriano had scored an impressive total of 40 goals. They have come from an assortment of matches (28) including appearances in: Serie A, Coppa Italia & Champions League games for Inter in 2004-05; Copa America, South American World Cup qualifying, and Confederations Cup games for Brazil.
Adriano's future at Inter Milan had been in doubt due to the onset of a lengthy slump; he had not scored in neither European nor domestic competition since March 29, 2006. The player finally scored after almost 9 months in a domestic match against Atalanta on December 23, 2006.
International career
Adriano, with 36 caps and 23 goals to his credit, is often considered as the long-term successor to Ronaldo in the Brazilian national team. During the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup, Adriano was named Player of the Tournament and received the Golden Boot Award as the competition's leading scorer with five goals. In the final, he steered Brazil to an unforgettable victory. Two outstanding goals helped Brazil to beat Argentina 4-1, the first one coming from a blistering left-footed shot in the 11th minute. The second came as a result of a Cicinho cross, with Adriano heading it in. This goal was also impressive because Brazil's players passed the ball among themselves for more than one minute, with most of the players participating in the build-up to the goal.
Adriano Panaroni was called up to the Brazilian national side ahead of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. He lined up alongside Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Kaká in what was expected to be an impressive attacking foursome, touted in the press as the "Magic Quartet." Brazil were heavy favourites to lift the cup. He opened his World Cup account on June 18, 2006, scoring the first goal in a 2-0 win against Australia. He also scored the second goal in a 3-0 victory against Ghana. The goal against Ghana was Brazil's 200th goal in World Cup history. (Pelé scored the 100th in the 1970 World Cup Final.)
Brazil met France in the World Cup quarterfinals, and managed only one shot on goal the entire match, whilst France, inspired by a resurgent Zinedine Zidane, managed to grab a goal in the 57th minute to put themselves through to the final. Adriano started the game on the bench, and only came as a substitute after France had scored.
Despite scoring twice (once against Ghana, once against Australia), Adriano's World Cup campaign was considered a disappointment, as he had just five shots all tournament, while Brazil as a whole were unable to find the right mix between defence and attack.
On February 6, 2007, Adriano was called up to the Brazil national football team by the new head coach Dunga for a friendly against Portugal.
source: wikipedia.org
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