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'Adriano Leite Ribeiro' (born February 17, 1982 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), known simply as 'Adriano', is a Brazilian footballer who plays for Inter Milan.

Contents

Club career

International career

Personal life

Honours

References

External links

Club career

Adriano started off his career in Flamengo's youth teams in 1999. He caught the eye of the teams management, and in 2000 he was promoted into the first team. His big break came in 2001 when he secured a move to Internazionale, and on his debut as a substiute he scored his first Inter goal,against Real Madrid.^[1] In 2002 he was loaned out to ACF Fiorentina.^[2] In the summer of 2002, a 2-year co-ownership deal with Parma F.C. of the player was agreed.^[3] At Parma, he formed one of the most impressive striking duos of Serie A's last decade with Adrian Mutu, scoring 22 goals in 36 appearances.
He returned to the San Siro in 2004 and signed 4 and a half year contract^[4] and scored a total of 15 goals in his 16 appearances during the 2004-05 season. From 11 July 2004 through 25 June 2005, Adriano scored an impressive total of 40 goals in all competitions, including international commitments. This led to him signing an improved contract with Inter Milan running until 30 June 2010.^[5]
Adriano's future at Inter has been in doubt due to poor performances in both 2006 and 2007, fueled by questions regarding his work ethic, which was called into question when he was twice caught partying at nightclubs during the 2006/07 season. The first incident happened in October 2006, and caused Brazilian coach Dunga to leave him out of the national team and called for him to "change his behavior" and "focus on football".^[6] The second happened in February 2007, and led to Inter Milan manager Roberto Mancini leaving him on the bench for games including the UEFA Champions League game against Valencia CF and a Serie A game against Catania.^[7].

International career

Adriano, with 36 caps and 25 goals to his credit, was 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 victory, scoring two goals in a 4-1 victory over Argentina.^[8]
Adriano was called up to the Brazilian national side ahead of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. 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 upstart Ghana. Despite scoring twice 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.^[9]

Personal life

On 16 June 2006 Adriano became a father, when his son, Adriano Junior was born in Rio de Janeiro.^[10]

Honours

'Club'
With Flamengo

★ Rio State Championship : 2000, 2001

★ Brazilian Champions' Cup : 2001
With Internazionale

★ Serie A: 2006, 2007

★ Coppa Italia: 2005, 2006

★ Italian Super Cup: 2005, 2006
'International'

★ Copa América: 2004

★ Confederations Cup: 2005

★ FIFA U-17 World Cup: 1999

★ South American Youth Championship: 2001
'Individual'

★ Copa América 2004: Top Scorer

★ Confederations Cup: 2005 - Golden Ball for The Best Player of the Tournament and The Golden Shoe For Top Scorer

References

1. Adriano - Inter Milan and Brazil
2. Adriano and Robbiati have been transfered to Fiorentina
3. Transfer market, Inter and Parma have reached an agreement
4. Adriano returns to Inter
5. Inter, Adriano together until 2010
6. Dunga raps Inter Milan's Adriano
7. Mancini fed-up with Inter Milan partygoer Adriano
8. Germany 2005: Wonderful tournament whets appetite for the main event
9. Adriano - His World Cup
10. Adriano Junior born in Rio

External links

★ Adriano Italian Web Site

★ Official Inter profile

★ FootballDatabase

★ 2006 profile on UEFA.com

★ Midfield Dynamo's 10 Heroes of the Copa América Adriano listed in the top 10