 Pauleta in 2012 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Pedro Miguel Carreiro Resendes[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1973-04-28)28 April 1973 (age 52) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Ponta Delgada,Azores, Portugal | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Striker | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1987–1989 | Santa Clara | ||||||||||||||||
| 1989–1990 | Porto | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1990–1992 | Santa Clara | 11 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1992–1994 | Operário | ||||||||||||||||
| 1994 | Angrense | ||||||||||||||||
| 1995 | Micaelense | 23 | (11) | ||||||||||||||
| 1995–1996 | Estoril | 29 | (18) | ||||||||||||||
| 1996–1998 | Salamanca | 71 | (34) | ||||||||||||||
| 1998–2000 | Deportivo La Coruña | 58 | (18) | ||||||||||||||
| 2000–2003 | Bordeaux | 98 | (65) | ||||||||||||||
| 2003–2008 | Paris Saint-Germain | 168 | (76) | ||||||||||||||
| 2010 | São Roque | 1 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 459 | (224) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1988 | Portugal U16 | 4 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1996 | Portugal U21 | 1 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1997–2006 | Portugal | 88 | (47) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Pedro Miguel Carreiro ResendesComMOIH (born 28 April 1973), known asPauleta (Portuguese pronunciation:[pawˈletɐ]), is a Portuguese former professionalfootballer who played as astriker.
During 18 years as a senior he never played in thePrimeira Liga, having spent 12 of those campaigns in Spain and France. He had his most successful spell atParis Saint-Germain, where he scored 109 goals across all competitions.[2] Three times thetop goalscorer in Ligue 1, he was also voted twice as the division'splayer of the season.
Pauleta also scored 47 goals in 88 matches forPortugal, a national record at the time of his retirement. He played for his country in twoWorld Cups and twoEuropean Championships.
Born inPonta Delgada,São Miguel Island in theAzores, Pauleta started his career with local clubs in his native region, before turning professional inthe lower leagues. He was part ofFC Porto's youth team for a brief stint yet left soon due to homesickness, signing his first professional contract withCU Micaelense in 1994 and spending one year there. He then moved tosecond division'sG.D. Estoril Praia in 1995, helping them to the 12th position inhis first and only season.[3]
The goals continued to flow following a switch toSpanish second level sideUD Salamanca in 1996, with Pauleta scoring 19 goals as it gainedpromotion toLa Liga inthe following year, adding a further 15 inhis first season in the top flight.[4] That rate earned him a move toDeportivo de La Coruña, in summer 1998.[5]
Pauleta scored his first goal inEuropean competition in the1999–2000 UEFA Cup, netting in a 3–1 home win againstMontpellier HSC[6] and repeating the feat in the second leg (2–0).[7] On 22 November 1999 he netted ahat-trick forDepor in a home fixture againstSevilla FC,[8] going on to enjoy a two-year spell with theGalicians which included 33 goals in 92 official matches, including eight from 12 starts as the club won its first league championship title in2000.[9]
On 1 September 2000, after being tracked by the likes ofNewcastle United,Aston Villa andSunderland, Pauleta joinedFC Girondins de Bordeaux in France, reportedly for financial and family reasons.[10] He scored three as his new club crushedFC Nantes 5–0 in an away match,[11][12] and some days later, on 26 September, did the same in aUEFA Cup first round match againstLierse SK, with his team qualifying for the next round;[13] he enjoyed an impressive run inhis first season, ending it as team top scorer with 26 goals in all competitions,[14] and theLigue 1's second leading scorer with 20.
In the2001–02 campaign, Pauleta was the league's top scorer with 22 goals. He also led the team charts in all competitions with 35 successful strikes – a record.[15] Subsequently, he was voted thebest player in the French League and was also awarded the 'Oscar of football' by fellow players and coaches,[16] and was named one of the 50 players shortlisted for the 2002 European Footballer of the Year award (Ballon d'Or), with only one other player from the French League in the list;[17] additionally, hewon theFrench League Cup, being instrumental to the success by netting twice in the final.[18][19] After these performances,Manchester City's managerKevin Keegan expressed an interest in the striker, but Bordeaux's chairmanJean-Louis Triaud said that, initially, they were not interested in the transfer, showing that he could be for sale only in the right circumstances.[20]
In2002–03, Pauleta proved himself another time, scoring 23 league goals and 30 overall. For the second time he won the title for the best player in the league, and was also named in its team of the year. In total, he registered 65 league goals in 98 games and 91 in 130 matches in all competitions for Bordeaux,[21] ranking third all-time upon his departure.[22]
Pauleta joinedParis Saint-Germain F.C. ahead of the2003–04 season, signing a three-year contract in a reported€12 milliontransfer deal.[23] He helped thecapital side to its first silverware in six years by scoring the only goal of the2004French Cupfinal againstLB Châteauroux, and continued with his goal scoring exploits in the league, netting 18 times in 37 contests as they finished the league in second place.
On 2 April 2006, Pauleta scored his first hat-trick for Paris Saint-Germain against former club Bordeaux, as the hosts won 3–1.[24] Despite reported interest from defending championsOlympique Lyonnais, he stayed put to help clinch the2006 French Cup; he netted his 99th and 100th overall goals for the side in heroic fashion, off a fantastic volley and a textbook header respectively.[25]
Pauleta scored one of PSG's goals as they won the2008 Coupe de la Ligue Final 2–1 againstRC Lens.[26] After the2007–08 campaign, as PSG faced relegation until the very last matchday (eventually reaching safety at 16th), Pauleta retired from football after his last match on 17 May 2008, with the possible exception being if any of theBig three (S.L. Benfica,Sporting CP and Porto) in Portugal came calling, which they did not.[27] He retired at 35 without having played one game in Portugal'sPrimeira Liga, subsequently staying at PSG but in an ambassadorial role;[28] he remained the club's top scorer of all time with 109 goals in 211 matches, until the record was broken byZlatan Ibrahimović in October 2015.[29]
In late May 2009, Pauleta played hisfarewell match at theParc des Princes, playing one half each with a team of friends and PSG – former and current – players. His son André, 13, replaced him at the end of the game and scored the final two goals.[30]
Pauleta returned to football at the age of 37, joining amateurs Grupo Desportivo São Roque in the Azores' regional leagues and retiring shortly after arriving.[31]
Pauleta was the firstPortugal national team player to never have played in the Portuguese top level when he made his international debut againstArmenia, in August 1997. He would have to wait 18 months for his first start, against theNetherlands. His first goals came a month later, when he scored two in a 7–0 rout ofAzerbaijan in aUEFA Euro 2000qualifier on 26 March 1999.[32]
A substitute at the Euro 2000 tournament, Pauleta led the Portuguese attack at the2002 FIFA World Cup, scoring three times againstPoland[33] and ending with that tally in as many games, as the nation was ousted in the group stage. On 19 November 2003, he scored four goals in an 8–0friendly win overKuwait inLeiria.[34]
Although he played all but one game on the road tothe final ofEuro 2004, Pauleta did not score in that tournament finals. After the competition, with the international retirements ofFernando Couto,Luís Figo andRui Costa, he was madecaptain,[35] a role he held until Figo's return; however, he sporadically played as captain in the latter's absence, including a 2–0 win overEgypt at theEstádio de São Miguel in his hometown on 17 August 2005.[36] On 12 October, againstLatvia, he netted twice to become the national team's all-time goal scoring leader at the time, surpassingEusébio's previous record of 41.[37][38]
During the2006 World Cup qualifying campaign, Pauleta was the European zone's top scorer and, in afriendly match againstCape Verde in May 2006 preluding the final stages, he showed great form as he netted a hat-trick in a 4–1 win.[39] However, after scoring the side's first goal in the group stage match againstAngola,[40] he failed to find the net again during the tournament; after Portugal's defeat toGermany in the third place play-off, he announced his international retirement.[41]
A prolific goalscorer in his prime, Pauleta was considered one of the best strikers in Europe. He usually operated as a lone striker or alongside another forward, and combined mobility, pace and athleticism with good technique, two-footedness and strength in the air.[42][43][44][45]
Pauleta's nickname was passed down from generation to generation in the family of his father's maternal grandmother,[46] while his goal celebration of spreading his arms like wings earned him the additional monikerThe Eagle of the Azores.[47]
In November 2005, he signed to become aFIFA ambassador for theSOS Children's Villages, the first Portuguese to do so.[48]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | League cup[b] | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Estoril | 1995–96 | Segunda Liga | 29 | 18 | 4 | 5 | – | – | – | 33 | 23 | |||
| Salamanca | 1996–97 | Segunda División | 37 | 19 | 3 | 0 | – | – | – | 40 | 19 | |||
| 1997–98 | La Liga | 34 | 15 | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | 35 | 15 | ||||
| Total | 71 | 34 | 4 | 0 | – | – | – | 75 | 34 | |||||
| Deportivo | 1998–99 | La Liga | 28 | 10 | 9 | 1 | – | – | – | 37 | 11 | |||
| 1999–2000 | 30 | 8 | 3 | 0 | – | 7[c] | 3 | – | 40 | 11 | ||||
| 2000–01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 1[d] | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 58 | 18 | 12 | 1 | – | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 78 | 22 | |||
| Bordeaux | 2000–01 | Ligue 1 | 28 | 20 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 7[c] | 3 | – | 37 | 26 | |
| 2001–02 | 33 | 22 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6[c] | 5 | – | 45 | 35 | |||
| 2002–03 | 37 | 23 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 4[c] | 1 | – | 48 | 30 | |||
| Total | 98 | 65 | 8 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 17 | 9 | – | 130 | 91 | |||
| Paris Saint-Germain | 2003–04 | Ligue 1 | 37 | 18 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 42 | 23 | ||
| 2004–05 | 35 | 14 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6[e] | 1 | 1[f] | 0 | 44 | 19 | ||
| 2005–06 | 36 | 21 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 2 | – | – | 44 | 28 | ||||
| 2006–07 | 33 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 9[c] | 6 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 24 | ||
| 2007–08 | 27 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | – | – | 34 | 15 | ||||
| Total | 168 | 76 | 18 | 16 | 9 | 10 | 15 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 212 | 109 | ||
| Career total | 424 | 211 | 46 | 34 | 16 | 15 | 39 | 19 | 2 | 0 | 526 | 279 | ||
| National Team | Year | Friendlies | International Competition | Total | Goals per match | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | |||
| Portugal | 1997 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 1998 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1999 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 0.429 | |
| 2000 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 0.222 | |
| 2001 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 7 | 0.7 | |
| 2002 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 7 | 0.636 | |
| 2003 | 12 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 8 | 0.667 | |
| 2004 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 6 | 14 | 9 | 0.643 | |
| 2005 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 12 | 7 | 0.583 | |
| 2006 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 0.444 | |
| Total | 43 | 22 | 45 | 25 | 88 | 47 | 0.534 | |
Deportivo
Bordeaux
Paris Saint-Germain
Portugal
Individual
Orders
Commander of theOrder of Merit[52]
Officer of theOrder of Prince Henry[52]
Medal of Merit,Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa (House of Braganza)
Portugal squads | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| International | |
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| National | |
