Rui Patrício

Rui Pedro dos Santos Patrício, ComM (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈʁuj pɐˈtɾisju]; born 15 February 1988) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Sporting Clube de Portugal and the Portugal national team.
He spent most of his career with Sporting, making his debut with the first team at only 18 and going on to appear in more than 350 official games.
Patrício gained his first cap for Portugal in 2010, after Paulo Bento's appointment as head coach. He represented the nation at the 2014 World Cup and three European Championships, winning the 2016 edition of the latter tournament.

Club career

Born in Marrazes, Leiria, Patrício played as a striker at a young age. Reportedly, a Sporting Clube de Portugal scout was in the area and saw him play in goal, being impressed enough to sign the 12-year-old to the club's youth academy. He made his Primeira Liga debut on 19 November 2006, in a 1–0 away win against C.S. Marítimo in the tenth round: standing in for habitual club and country first-choice Ricardo, he saved a penalty kick 15 minutes before the end of the game.

In the 2007–08 season, 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 1–2 group stage loss at Manchester United.

During the 2008 off-season, Patrício was the subject of a rumored transfer to Italian giants Inter Milan. Nothing came of it, however, and in that year's Portuguese Supercup final, against FC Porto, he stopped a Lucho González penalty in a 2–0 final success, also being an everpresent fixture in the league.

In the qualifying rounds of the 2009–10 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, where 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 the latter side eventually qualified for the last games prior to the group stage.

On 20 December 2012, Patrício was awarded Sporting's Footballer of the Year award for a second consecutive year. On 18 October 2014, with the score at 2–1 for Sporting, he saved a penalty by Jackson Martínez to help oust Porto from the Portuguese Cup with a 3–1 win at the Estádio do Dragão.

On 24 October 2016, Patrício was one of 30 players nominated for the 2016 Ballon d'Or award alongside Portugal teammates Pepe and Cristiano Ronaldo.

International career

From 2007, Patrício started appearing for the Portuguese under-21 side. On 29 January of the following year, senior team coach Luiz Felipe Scolari called him up for a 1–3 friendly defeat against Italy in Zürich, although he did not leave the bench; on 12 May he was picked to the national squad for UEFA Euro 2008, but did not play in the tournament.

Although not part of the provisional 24-player list for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Patrício was named in a backup list of six players. He made his debut on 17 November 2010, playing the second half of a 4–0 friendly win with Spain.

After Eduardo was relegated to the bench at his new club, S.L. Benfica, Patrício became the starter under national team boss Paulo Bento, and both players finished the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign with five games (450 minutes) as Portugal qualified for the final stages. He was the starter in the finals in Poland and Ukraine, conceding four goals in five matches in an eventual semifinal exit.

Patrício was included in Bento's 23-man squad for the 2014 World Cup as first-choice, and made his debut in the competition in the first encounter against Germany, which ended with a 0–4 loss. He missed the second game against the United States, due to injury.

Patrício appeared in his 50th international on 30 June 2016, during Euro 2016: after the 1–1 draw to Poland at the Stade Vélodrome during the first 120 minutes, he saved Jakub Błaszczykowski's attempt in a 5–3 penalty shootout win that qualified to the semi-finals.

Career statistics

Club

As of 3 November 2016

International

As of 13 November 2016

Honours

Club

Sporting CP

• Taça de Portugal: 2007–08, 2014–15
• Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 2007, 2008, 2015

International

Portugal

• UEFA European Championship: 2016

Individual

• SJPF Player of the Month: April 2011
• SJPF Young Player of the Month: January 2008, April 2009, November 2010, March 2011, April 2011
• LPFP Primeira Liga Goalkeeper of the Year: 2011–12, 2015–16
• Sporting CP Footballer of the Year: 2011, 2012
• UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament: 2016

• "Rui Patrício – Trophies". Soccerway. Retrieved 19 March 2014. 
• "UEFA EURO 2016 Team of the Tournament revealed". UEFA.com. 11 July 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2016.