Rui Pedro dos Santos Patrício (born 15 February 1988 in Marrazes) is a Portuguese footballer who currently plays for Sporting Clube de Portugal, as a goalkeeper.

[edit] Club career

Patrício played as a striker at a young age. Reportedly, a Sporting Clube de Portugal scout was in the area and saw the youngster play in goal; the scout was very impressed and signed him to the Sporting youth academy. He made his first division debut on November 19, 2006, in a 1–0 away win against C.S. Marítimo in the 10th round; subbing in for habitual club and country first-choice Ricardo, he saved a penalty kick 15 minutes before the end of the game.

In 2007–08, after Ricardo's departure to Real Betis, Patrício beat competition from Sporting veteran Tiago and new signing Vladimir Stojković to become the undisputed starter. On 27 November 2007, he made his UEFA Champions League debut, in a 2–1 loss at Manchester United.

During the 2008 off-season, Patrício was the subject of a rumored transfer to Italian giants Internazionale Milan.^[1]However, nothing came of it and, in the 2008 Portuguese Supercup final, against Futebol Clube do Porto, he stopped a Lucho González penalty in a 2–0 final win, also being an everpresent fixture in the league.

In the qualifying rounds of the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League, at FC Twente, Sporting were trailing 0-1 in the 94th minute, after a 0-0 tie in the first leg. Patrício rushed to the opposing area for a corner kick, he went up for a header with Nikita Rukavytsya, both players seemed to make contact with the ball, and it was helped into the net for an own goal via the boot of Peter Wisgerhof, as Sporting eventually qualified for the last games prior to the group stage.^[2]

[edit] International career

On 29 January 2008, national coach Luiz Felipe Scolari called Patrício for a 3–1 friendly defeat against Italy in Zürich, although he did not leave the bench. On 12 May, he was picked to the national squad for the 2008 European Championship, but did not play in the tournament.

From 2007, Patrício started appearing for the under-21 side.

[edit] Honours

• Portuguese Cup: 2006–07, 2007–08
• Portuguese Supercup: 2007, 2008

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• PortuGOAL profile
• Stats and profile at Zerozero
• Stats at ForaDeJogo (Portuguese)

v • d • e Portugal squad – UEFA Euro 2008 1 Ricardo • 2 Ferreira • 3 Bruno Alves • 4 Bosingwa • 5 Meira • 6 R. Meireles • 7 Ronaldo • 8 Petit • 9 H. Almeida • 10 J. Moutinho • 11 Simão • 12 Nuno • 13 Miguel • 14 Ribeiro • 15 Pepe • 16 R. Carvalho • 17 Quaresma • 18 M. Veloso • 19 Nani • 20 Deco • 21 Nuno Gomes • 22 Patrício • 23 H. Postiga • Coach: Scolari

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