Ricardo Sá Pinto

Football player infobox
playername= Ricardo Sá Pinto
fullname = Ricardo Manuel Andrade e Silva Sá Pinto
nickname =


dateofbirth = birth date and age|1972|10|10
cityofbirth = Porto
countryofbirth = Portugal
height = height|m=1.78
currentclub =
clubnumber = Retired
position = Striker
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1991-1994
1994-1997
1997-2000
2000-2006
2006-2007
clubs = SC Salgueiros
Sporting Lisbon
Real Sociedad
Sporting Lisbon
Standard Liège
caps(goals) = 57 (17)
77 (20)
70 (6)
97 (14)
21 (2)
nationalyears = 1994-2001
nationalteam = Portugal
nationalcaps(goals) = 45 (10)
pcupdate =
ntupdate =

Ricardo Manuel Andrade e Silva Sá Pinto (born October 10, 1972 in Porto) is a former Portuguese footballer. He was known for his fighting spirit, best displayed in his Sporting CP stints.

Football career

Sá Pinto debuted at SC Salgueiros, and soon represented the Portuguese under-21s, helping the side reach the 1994 Under-21 Euro final.

In 1994-95, Pinto joined "Portuguese Liga" powerhouse Sporting Clube de Portugal. After some solid performances, he attracted the attention of La Liga's Real Sociedad. On 26 March 1997, Sá Pinto assaulted then-national team coach Artur Jorge, upon hearing the news of not having been picked up for a match. The player travelled to "Estádio Nacional" in Lisbon, where the national team was practicing, and punched Jorge in the face, being banned for one year from all national and international competitions. After 70 matches and 6 goals (only two seasons of action) in Spain, Sá Pinto returned to Sporting, where he played six further seasons, and eventually gained club captaincy. In 2006-07, he joined fellow Portuguese international Sérgio Conceição at Standard Liége (with Jorge Costa having retired at the club in the summer) in the Jupiler League, and retired at almost 35.

Sá Pinto received 45 caps for Portugal, 25 with Sporting and 20 for Real Sociedad, scoring 10 goals. His first game was on 7 September 1994 in Belfast, in a 2-1 win over Northern Ireland, in which he scored the second goal. He played at the Euro 1996 finals, scoring the equalizing goal with Denmark (1-1), in the first game, and at the Euro 2000 finals.

His last game was in the 6-0 win over Cyprus, on 6 June 2001. An injury prevented him from being present at the World Cup 2002 finals.

Honours

*Portuguese League 2001-02
*Portuguese Cup 1994-95, 2001-02

External links

* [http://www.zerozero.eu/uk/jogador.php?id=296&search=1 Stats and profile at zerozero.pt]