Alexandre Pato's life and career journey in football

Alexandre Rodrigues da Silva, or better known as Alexandre Pato, was born on September 2, 1989 in Brazil. The nickname Alexandre Pato or "Alex the Duck" comes from the name of his hometown, Pato Branco, which is a city in Brazil which if translated means "White Duck".

Before becoming a footballer, Pato first started his career as a futsal player. Pato has been fond of playing futsal in his village since he was three years old.

When he was ten years old, he had a tumor on his arm. If not removed, the tumor will cause cancer. Because of the high operating costs, Pato's family raised his hand. But the doctor then agreed to operate it for free. That moment became very important, because Pato was trying to pioneer a professional career with Internacional.

Between 2001 and 2007, Pato played with Internacional's junior and senior teams. In his first appearance in the senior team, he won with his team with a score of 4-1 against Palmeiras. Three goals were created thanks to his pass, and he himself contributed a goal.

Pato was included in the Internacional squad that won the 2006 Inter-Club World Cup. During the tournament, Pato broke Pele's record as the youngest player to appear in a competition organized by FIFA. At that time, Pato was still 17 years old 102 days in the match against Al Ahly.

While Pele was 17 and 239 days when he scored against Wales in the 1958 FIFA World Cup.

Since being revealed at the Club World Cup, European giants began to scramble to target him. Milan, Arsenal, Chelsea, Barcelona and Real Madrid have made bids on it. Pato is really in the spotlight. At that time, AC Milan became the most serious club in observing the development of the player. Sure enough, Pato joined AC Milan from the Brazilian club, Internacional, in the 2007 summer transfer window.

AC Milan brought him to Italy on August 2, 2007 at a cost of 22 million euros or the equivalent of 340 billion rupiah. Unfortunately he was only able to be demoted to the official party on 3 January 2008, when the transfer market reopened, in accordance with Italian football regulations regarding young non-EU players.

However, Pato immediately paid patience for Milan, because he immediately scored when he debuted in Serie A in the match against Napoli which ended with a score of 5-2 for Milan.

This curly-haired player immediately tuned in with Milan and it didn't take long for him to patent his title as an important Milan player. He has nimble legs and deadly kicking ability, the reason why Pato is an important player for Milan.

In Pato's second season with Milan, the 2008/09 season, Pato's performance became even crazier. In January 2009, Pato was able to score 6 goals in 4 matches in Serie A. Pato ended the 2008/09 season as Milan's top scorer with 18 goals he scored. This proves that Pato is not an arbitrary player. With such rapid adaptability and outstanding performance, Pato justifies the expensive price that Milan has already bailed out.

Not stopping there, in the 2009/10 season, Pato returned to shine. He managed to score two goals in one of the highest cages in Europe, the Santiago Bernabeu, and helped Milan win away to Real Madrid in the Champions League.

Pato was finally rewarded with the title of Serie A Best Young Player in early 2010. After that, Pato had stumbled injured, but he found his performance again.

In the 2010/2011 season, Pato became part of the success of AC Milan, which triumphed in their own land. He along with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robinho successfully led Milan to win the Serie A trophy.

Together with the Rossoneri, Pato recorded a total of 150 appearances and scored 63 goals and 18 assists.

However, the problem of injury seems to haunt Pato. He began to be ousted and returned to Brazil in 2013 to join Corinthians.

His debut for the club occurred against Oeste, with Pato scoring in his first touch. But Pato's trip at the club did not go smoothly. His performance was judged to be declining and Pato continued to receive criticism from fans.

After being loaned to Sao Paulo, Pato finally officially anchored at Stamford Bridge in 2016.

Pato joined Chelsea on loan from Corinthians, after manager Guus Hiddink looked for new options because there were many injured players.

The Brazilian striker scored on his debut match, via a penalty kick against Aston Villa, after previously missing out on a few matches due to lack of fit. But Pato then only made one more appearance in his brief career at Chelsea.

Pato is sorry for not having much chance. He blamed the coach for the lack of playing time. With all the disappointment, Pato then migrated to Spain to join Villareal.

However, Pato seemed to have no good fortune in Europe. Just like at Chelsea, he only lasted a season and went to China. The Duck was stranded in the Chinese League with the Tianjin Quanjian club. This then becomes a vanity, because Pato, if not affected by a recurring injury, is a quality attacker.

In China, Pato only lasted for two years. Without any title, the former AC Milan left the bamboo curtain country with 30 goals.

Pato joined Tianjin Quanjian after promoting the club to the top flight of Chinese football at the end of the 2016 season, and his 15 goals in his debut campaign were very important for the club to secure the top three positions at the end of their first year.

That brought Tianjin to the Asian Champions League for the first time in the club's history, where they reached the quarter-finals before losing to Kashima Antlers of Japan who eventually became champions.

Although they made it to the top eight in the Asian Champions League, Tianjin's pace faltered in the league in the second season and after "playing" with relegation, where they finished ninth in the competition.

The club also reportedly experienced internal problems. Club owner Shu Yuhui was arrested for alleged irregularities in the business of the Quanjian Group, which forced him to relinquish ownership of the club. Without Shu's support, the struggling club and the Tianjin Football Association were forced to step in and take over, changing its name to Tianjin Tianhai and imposing significant budget restrictions.

As a result, speculation was rife that Pato would leave the club and he would not appear in one of the 2019 Chinese Super League season opener matches. Speculation was finally proven.

Before returning to Brazil, Pato actually had an offer to return to AC Milan. But the original Brazilian player refused. Pato prefers going home rather than having to go back to Milan. Pato is afraid that his ability cannot lift the Rossoneri's performance which is currently at a low point.

Now, Pato is a Sao Paulo player until 2022.