Player profile: Simao

Simao

Name: Simão Pedro da Fonseca Sabrosa

Position: Forward

Date of Birth: 30 October 1979

Birthplace: Constantim, Portugal


Simao Pedro Fonseca Sabrosa, known to the football world simply as Simao, has been one of Portugal’s finest wingers over the past decade, and continues to produce outstanding performances on a remarkably consistent basis.

Simao is a product of Sporting’s youth academy that also spawned world-renowned flankers Luis Figo, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ricardo Quaresma. The goal he scored on his debut for Sporting in 1996/97, one minute after being brought on as a substitute, signalled the start of a brilliant career.

However, it is at Sporting’s great city rivals Benfica, that Simao has truly blossomed. He moved to Benfica after one relatively subdued season at Spanish giants Barcelona.

He soon established himself as Benfica’s star player, and it was not long before he became the natural choice of club captain. Since arriving in 2001, he has always ended the season as the club’s top goalscorer, and boasts a superb record of 72 goals in 172 matches for Benfica.

Simao’s main assets are his speed, a lightning fast dribble and a powerful and accurate shot, making him unerringly lethal when taking penalties and free-kicks around the box.

Inspirational captain

After scoring the winning goal as Benfica beat Porto in the 2003/04 Portuguese Cup final, the captain inspired Benfica to their first Portuguese championship in eleven years the following season. He scored 15 goals despite struggling with a hernia injury for much of the second half of the season.

Inevitably giants from Europe’s top leagues began to target Simao, and he reportedly got as far as strapping on his seat belt on a plane bound for England to sign for Liverpool when Benfica’s president Luis Filipe Vieira pulled the plug on the deal.

Ironically, just months later, as Benfica enjoyed their best Champions League run for years, Simao scored a brilliant individual goal as the Portuguese champions beat Liverpool 2-0 at Anfield to complete a 3-0 aggregate win.

International career

Although a regular in Portugal’s squad, Simao’s international career is yet to hit the same heights as his exploits at club level, largely because of Portugal’s plethora of talented wingers barring his place in the team, such as Luis Figo, Sergio Conceicao, and more recently Cristiano Ronaldo. Simao also had the misfortune of getting injured just before the 2002 World Cup.

However, playing at his home ground, Simao played a key role in helping Portugal beat England in the 2004 European Championships, when his pinpoint cross was headed into the net by Helder Positga in the 2-2 draw. Simao subsequently converted his spot-kick as Portugal won the penalty shootout.

With potentially his best seasons still ahead of him, Simao is sure to remain one of Portuguese football’s biggest stars for many years to come.

by Tom Kundert (10/02/2007)

2006/07 end-of-season update

What would become Simao’s final season neatly encapsulated his time at Benfica. Another year replete with fine displays saw the captain finish top scorer yet again, but the rest of the team could not match his level of quality and Benfica stumbled to another ultimately dissapointing and trophyless campaign. After literally years of speculation linking Simao with a move abroad the Portugal winger signed for Atletico Madrid in July 2007.

CLUB APPEARANCES* GOALS
Sporting 53 12
Barcelona 46 3
Benfica** 230 95
     
PORTUGAL*** 54 13

* League only
** Up to July 2007
*** Up to 7 February 2007

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