Pauleta Biography

Pedro Miguel Carreiro Resendes (born April 28, 1973 in Ponta Delgada, Azores), nicknamed Pauleta (pron. IPA: [pau'letɐ]), is a Portuguese football player. He is a striker who plays for the French club Paris Saint-Germain and the Portuguese national team.

Pauleta started his career at youth level playing for local clubs in the Azores, before turning professional with lower league clubs and working his way up the ranks. Pauleta joined Girondins de Bordeaux in the top French division, Ligue 1, in September 2000 from the Spanish top flight club Deportivo de La Coruña, and enjoyed an impressive run with Girondins Bordeaux in his first season. He became Ligue 1's leading scorer with 21 goals in the 2001/2002. Subsequently, Pauleta was voted the best player in Ligue 1 in the 2001/2002 season by fellow players and coaches.
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Pauleta is the first Portuguese international to never have played in Portugal's top division, the SuperLiga. He has been one of the most prolific goal scorers in the Portuguese national team, and on 12 October 2005, against Latvia, he became the national team's all-time goal scoring leader, surpassing Eusébio's previous record of 41 goals. Pauleta played for his country in Euro 2000, the 2002 World Cup, and Euro 2004, and helped Portugal qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. On April 2, 2006 Pauleta scored a first half hat-trick for Paris Saint-Germain against former club Girondins de Bordeaux and Paris Saint-Germain won 3-1, suggesting that Pauleta will be a force to be reckoned with at the World Cup.

The striker's killer instinct is married to a deft touch with either foot, impressive aerial ability and excellent mobility. "Pauleta is a fighter, very strong and completely unpredictable," said his coach at Paris Saint-Germain FC, Vahid Halihodzic.

Pauleta's Portugal debut came against Armenia in August 1997, but he had to wait 18 months for his first start against the Netherlands. His first goals arrived a month later, two in a 7-0 rout of Azerbaijan. A squad player at Euro 2000, he led the line at the 2002 World Cup, scoring three times in as many games. However, although he played all but one game on the road to the Euro 2004 final, he did not score in the tournament. Pauleta has also showed great form in the 2002 world cup as Pauleta scored a Hat-Trick against Poland. In the 2006 Qualifers Pauleta became Europes top scorer and he also came second in the world. In a freindly against Cape Verde in May 2006, Pauleta found the net three times as Portugal won the game 4-1. Due to Pedro Pauleta's great form French giants Lyon where in the hunt for Pauleta's servicebut Pauleta stayed loyal and stayed at Paris-Saint Germain as he helped Paris clinch the French Cup. He scored the first and only goal for Portugal in 2006 World Cup against Angola

Club Pauleta signed his first professional contract with CU Micaelense, spending a season there and the next at CD Estoril-Praia, registering 19 goals.

1996: The goals continued to flow following a switch to UD Salamanca. Pauleta struck 19 times as the Spanish club gained promotion in 1998, and 15 times in his first season in the top flight.

1998: That scoring rate earned a move to RC Deportivo La Coruña. Pauleta enjoyed a two-year spell with the Galician team, hitting 33 goals in 92 matches, including eight from 12 starts as Deportivo won their first league title in 1999/00.

2000: Pauleta transferred to FC Girondins de Bordeaux in 2000. He scored a debut hat-trick as Bordeaux crushed FC Nantes Atlantique 5-0. In total he registered 65 league goals in 98 games for Bordeaux and was twice named France's Footballer of the Year.

2003/04: Joined Paris Saint-Germain FC ahead of the season, signing a three-year contract for a reported €12m, and helped the Parisians to their first silverware in six years by scoring the only goal of the French Cup final against LB Châteauroux. Pauleta was his usual prolific self in Ligue 1, registering 18 goals in 37 games as PSG finished second.

He is the first player from the Azores to represent Portugal at senior level, although he has never played a match in Portugal's top division.

PAULETA PICTURES

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PAULETA BIOGRAPHY