Julio Baptista

He is a professional football player from Brazil. He plays as an attacking midfielder.

Júlio César Baptista (born 1 October 1981 in São Paulo) is a football player from Brazil. Nicknamed la Besta (the Beast) or the Tank, he plays as an attacking midfielder for Real Madrid.
Referred to as the "Beast of Sevilla" and even as the "Brazilian Steven Gerrard", Júlio Baptista began his professional career in 2000 as a defensive midfielder with São Paulo F.C., before moving to Spanish club Sevilla FC in 2003. Between 2003 and 2005 he made 63 appearances and scored 38 goals for Sevilla, having switched position so that he operated further forward.
On 29 July 2005, he signed a 5-year, €20 million (£13 million) deal with Real Madrid after a month of heated bidding from English Premier League clubs Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur. During the bidding, Baptista frequently cited his desire to remain in Spain at least through 2005 in order to qualify for a European passport which would provide him great flexibility in moving about the continent.
At Real Madrid, Baptista was often played out of position as a left-winger to accommodate the likes of Zinedine Zidane and Guti in the Spanish side's attacking line-up. Thus, his form dipped and he was left out of the Brazil squad for the 2006 World Cup.
At the end of August 2006, with the transfer window about to close, press reports linked him with a move to either Tottenham Hotspur or Arsenal, with the latter possibly as part of a swap deal including José Antonio Reyes. Baptista himself had strenuously claimed that he was not interested in a move away from Real Madrid.
However, on 31 August 2006, the day of the transfer deadline, Baptista moved to Arsenal in exchange for José Antonio Reyes, the deal involved the two players swapping clubs on 12 month loan deals.
Baptista received the number 9 jersey at Arsenal, and made his debut for the club on 9 September 2006, coming on as a substitute against Middlesbrough. He scored his first goal for Arsenal against Hamburg SV on 21 November 2006. Baptista then scored a remarkable four goals in a Carling Cup quarter-final against Liverpool F.C. on January 9, 2007. Despite missing a penalty, it was the first time an Arsenal player had scored more than three in a League Cup tie, and he was the first player in over 60 years to score four goals against Liverpool at Anfield. He continued his goalscoring run scoring two in the League Cup with a brace against arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur in the first leg of the semi-final on January 24th at White Hart Lane. On 3 March 2007, Baptista scored his first English Premier League goal against Reading F.C in the 2-1 win for Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
Baptista has 25 caps with Brazil, and has netted six goals. His first cap came on 4 June 2001 in a 0-0 draw against Japan in the 2001 Confederations Cup, and he also played a limited part in the 2005 edition. After he was not included on the 2006 World Cup roster, Baptista was re-called to the Brazil squad for the 2007 Copa America and scored the opening goal in Brazil's 3-0 victory over Argentina in the Final on July 15, 2007. Baptista ended the competition with 3 goals.

Real Madrid
1 October 1981
Source: Wikipedia