 Patrício in action for Sporting | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Rui Pedro dos Santos Patrício | ||
| Date of birth | 15 February 1988 | ||
| Place of birth | Marrazes, Portugal | ||
| Height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Sporting CP | ||
| Number | 1 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1998–1999 | Leiria Marrazes | ||
| 1999–2006 | Sporting CP | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2006– | Sporting CP | 175 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2006–2007 | Portugal U19 | 10 | (0) |
| 2007–2008 | Portugal U20 | 8 | (0) |
| 2007–2010 | Portugal U21 | 12 | (0) |
| 2009 | Portugal U23 | 1 | (0) |
| 2010– | Portugal | 29 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 04:05, 28 November 2013 (UTC).
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 04:05, 28 November 2013 (UTC) | |||
Rui Pedro dos Santos Patrício (born 15 February 1988) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays forSporting Clube de Portugal as a goalkeeper.
Club career
Born in Marrazes, Leiria, Patrício played as a striker at a young age. Reportedly, a Sporting Clube de Portugalscout was in the area and saw him play in goal, being impressed enough to sign the 11-year-old to the club's youth academy. He made his first division debut on 19 November 2006, in a 1–0 away win against C.S. Marítimo in the 10th round: standing in for habitual club and country first-choice Ricardo, he saved a penalty kick 15 minutes before the end of the game.[1]
In the 2007–08 season, after Ricardo's departure to Real Betis, Patrício beat competition from Sporting veteranTiago and new signing Vladimir Stojković to become the undisputed starter. On 27 November 2007 he made hisUEFA Champions League debut, in a 1–2 group stage loss at Manchester United.
During the 2008 off-season, Patrício was the subject of a rumored transfer to Italian giants Inter Milan.[2]However, nothing came of it and, in that year's Portuguese Supercup final, against F.C. Porto, he stopped aLucho González penalty in a 2–0 final win,[3] also being an everpresent fixture in the league.
In the qualifying rounds of the 2009–10 Champions League, at FC Twente, Sporting were trailing 0–1 in the 94th minute, after a 0–0 tie in the first leg: Patrício rushed to the opposing area for a corner kick, he went up for a header with Nikita Rukavytsya, both players seemed to make contact with the ball, and it was helped into the net for an own goal via the boot of Peter Wisgerhof, as Sporting eventually qualified for the last games prior to the group stage.[4]
On 20 December 2012, Patrício was awarded Sporting's Footballer of the Year award for a second consecutive year.[5][6]
International career[
From 2007, Patrício started appearing for the under-21 side. On 29 January of the following year, senior teamcoach Luiz Felipe Scolari called him for a 1–3 friendly defeat against Italy in Zürich,[7] although he did not leave the bench; on 12 May he was picked to the national squad for UEFA Euro 2008, but did not play in the tournament.
Although not part of the provisional 24-player list for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa,[8][9] Patrício was named in a backup list of six players.[10] He made his debut on 17 November 2010, playing the second half of a 4–0 friendly win with Spain.
After Eduardo was relegated to the bench at his new club, S.L. Benfica, Patrício became the starter under national team boss Paulo Bento, and both players finished the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign with five games (450 minutes) as Portugal qualified for the final stages. He was the starter in the finals in Poland and Ukraine, conceding four goals in five matches in an eventual semifinal exit.
