Football Player's Biography 7: Simão Sabrosa

Full name	Simão Pedro Fonseca Sabrosa
Date of birth	31 October 1979 (1979-10-31) (age 31)
Place of birth	Vila Real, Portugal
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 7¹⁄₂ in)
Playing position	Winger

Simão Pedro Fonseca Sabrosa, OIH (born 31 October 1979), commonly known as Simão (Portuguese pronunciation: [siˈməũ]), is a Portuguese footballer who plays for Beşiktaş J.K. in Turkey, mainly as a left winger - he can also play as a forward - with dribbling and set piece skills as primary attributes.
Having played in his country for two of the three biggest teams in the nation, Benfica and Sporting, he also spent several years of his career in Spain, notably with Atlético Madrid.
Internationally, Sabrosa represented Portugal in two FIFA World Cups, and as many UEFA European Football Championships, appearing in almost 90 matches for the senior side.

Club career

Sporting

Born in the village of Constantim in Vila Real, Simão started his career at Sporting Clube de Portugal, whose prolific youth system had just produced Luís Figo – and later Cristiano Ronaldo. During his two-year career he played 53 games and scored 12 goals with the first team, the first coming in his debut at only 17, a 3–0 win at Gil Vicente FC.^[1]

Barcelona

Simão moved to FC Barcelona in the summer of 1999, on a €15 million transfer,^[2] partnering with Figo in his first year, as Barça finished second to Deportivo de La Coruña. In 2001, after a comparatively low-key tenure at the Spanish club,^[3] he moved back to his country, signing with S.L. Benfica for a Portuguese Liga record transfer 12 million euro.^[4]

Benfica

Simão instantly became a fan-favorite, quickly acquiring the status of captain; also, during his six-year stint, he always finished as the club's topscorer, also ranking high in the global league charts.
In the 2004–05 season, as the Reds won the national championship after a 11-year wait,^[5] he played in all the matches and minutes, scoring 15 goals. Benfica also reached the domestic cup final in a 1–2 loss against Vitória de Setubal, with the winger scoring the losing side's goal, through a four-minute penalty. In European competition, Simão also appeared in all the matches, scoring four goals, including two against Dukla Banská Bystrica, in a 3–0 away triumph,^[6] with Benfica eventually reaching the round of 32.
Simão continued his excellent form into 2005–06, helping his team in the UEFA Champions League campaign, where it reached the quarterfinals. He played in eight of Benfica's ten matches in the tournament, including the 1–2 away loss against Manchester United in the group stage, firing his team level shortly before the hour with an exquisite free-kick, after he himself had been fouled by Alan Smith.^[7] In the knockout stages he helped stun title holders Liverpool, unleashing an unstoppable shot into the top left-hand corner of Pepe Reina's goal, as the Portuguese won 2–0 at Anfield and 3–0 overall.^[8]
The summer 2005 transfer window saw Simão targeted by Liverpool,^[9] in an offer worth approximately £12 million, though negotiations reportedly failed over Benfica's increase in asking price.^[10]
The following year several clubs, such as Manchester United and again Liverpool also revealed interest in Simão,^[11]^[12] but he decided to stay in Benfica.

Atlético Madrid

Finally, on 20 July 2007, Atlético Madrid reached an agreement to sign Simão from for a fee of €20 million.^[13] During his first two seasons, in which he was an undisputed starter, he scored seven goals apiece, as the club finished fourth in La Liga on both occasions.
On April 12, 2009, Simão entered in the hundred-year history of the capital club, by scoring its 4000th goal in the league, with a left-footed diagonal shot against Deportivo.^[14]
In the 2009 summer, Sabrosa become one of Atlético's captains for the new campaign, receiving that role from coach Abel Resino after a reshuffle.^[15] As the Colchoneros underachieved overall, he scored in the Champions League at APOEL F.C. in a 1–1 away draw, a goal that secured the club's place in the season's UEFA Europa League.^[16]
On January 14, 2010, Simão scored twice to lead Atlético to a 5–1 home victory over Recreativo de Huelva and into the domestic cup's last-eight (5–4 aggregate win), including a late goal that decided the tie from a superbly taken freekick. He also scored an important goal in the Europa League against Galatasaray SK, as the team eventually won the competition, with the player appearing in the final against Fulham.
After a disappointing previous campaign, Simão began the 2010–11 season on a high note, scoring three goals in the first eight games - notably in a 1–1 draw at Valencia CF, on 22 September 2010 - and starting in 15 out of the 16 matches he appeared in. He also captained the side more frequently due to the absence of Antonio López, most notably in the UEFA Super Cup's 2–0 defeat of F.C. Internazionale Milano, where he set up a goal for Sergio Agüero.

Besiktas

On 22 December 2010, aged 31, Sabrosa signed with Süper Lig team Beşiktaş JK,^[17]^[18] reuniting with countrymen Hugo Almeida (national teammate) and Ricardo Quaresma (youth level teammate in Sporting).

International career

Simão's path to the national team began when he won the UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship in 1996. The following year, he began playing for the under-18, being a regular in the under-21 team two years later.
Simão made his full debut for the national team at only 19 years of age, on 18 November 1998, against Israel. Sabrosa did not make the list for the 2002 FIFA World Cup due to injury,^[2] but he did participate in the UEFA Euro 2004, where hosts Portugal finished in second place. In this tournament he played in three of Portugal's six matches in the tournament. His most notable appearance during the tournament came against England in the quarter-finals where Portugal eventually overcame the English team on penalties to advance to the last four. Simão came on as a second-half substitute and seized on Frank Lampard's wayward pass and crossed for Hélder Postiga, who headed in unmarked scoring the equalizing goal in the late minutes of the game, bringing it to extra time and an eventual successful penalty shootout, where Sabrosa scored on his attempt.^[19]
Simão was named again in the Portuguese squad for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, finishing fourth overall. He played in all of Portugal's matches in the tournament, scoring only one goal on the 24th minute against Mexico, in a 2–1 group stage win.^[20] On 1 July, in the quarter-finals, Portugal and England met again in a penalty shootout (0–0 after 120 minutes) and Simão helped to another victory, netting his attempt for the final 3–1 win.^[21]
In Euro 2008, Simão played in three of Portugal's matches and did not find the net, as the nation was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Germany.^[22]
While many looked at Ronaldo as the star of the national side, it was Simão who proved to be the matchwinner in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, finishing as Portugal's top scorer^[2] with four goals, including two in a 3–0 home win against Hungary.^[23]
Simão was selected for the finals in South Africa; a starter from the second group stage match, he scored precisely in that game, a 7–0 routing of North Korea on June 21, 2010. On August 27, he stepped out from the national squad, citing personal reasons