Alexandre Pato was once labelled as one of the brightest prospects in world football and was even regarded as ‘the new Zico’ ahead of his arrival at AC Milan in 2007. But his love for too many wild parties, doomed relationships, and persistent injuries eventually saw his career slide off the track.
So ahead of his imminent move to Chelsea, we have compiled the top ten interesting facts, on and off the pitch, which you must know about the Brazilian striker.
1) The most famous relationship Alexandre Pato enjoyed was with Barbara Berlusconi, the daughter of former Italian Prime Minister, and AC Milan owner, Silvio Berlusconi. Their love life started in late 2010, with Pato suddenly becoming a member of Italian high society. The Brazilian even began to celebrate his goals by making heart-shaped gestures towards the directors’ box, and according to Italian media, Barbara stopped Pato being sold to PSG when his form dipped. But in 2013, their relationship ended forcing Pato to go back to Brazil.
2) At the age of 11, Pato broke his arm twice in the same place and even had to go for an x-ray to analyse the extent of the injuries. At that point, doctors found out an aggressive tumour in his arm, and they feared it would need to be amputated but later a successful surgery removed the tumour.
3) The former AC Milan striker was first married to Brazilian actress Sthefany Brito for just nine months, after tying the knot in 2009 but the disturbing marriage was a trouble from the very start, as Brito consistently claimed that she could not adjust with Pato’s wild partying every night. Things got worse when Brito threatened to take Pato to court and also tried to send him to prison after he stopped paying her maintenance money since the divorce.
4) Pato and Ronaldinho used to play for AC Milan at the same time, and enjoyed a strong bonding off the field, eventually becoming the best drinking buddies. Both of them were famous for their hard-partying lifestyle in Milan, and rumours say Ronaldinho’s bad influence encouraged Sthefany Brito to divorce the striker.
5) The Club World Cup and Champions League goals proved Pato is certainly a player of international quality but sadly he hasn’t been able to represent his country since 2013. Recently in October, Pato went on to express his frustrations publicly after being left out of the team, but Brazil manager Dunga have made it clear that he doesn’t believe Pato is mentally tough enough like before.
6) Pato had a short term romance with former Miss Brazil, Debora Lyra, in 2010. Pato, at that time, had just split up with his long-term girlfriend Barbara Berlusconi. Sadly, the relationship which started since 2010 World Cup had kicked-off was actually ended before the tournament had even finished. The pair later termed their relationship as “incompatible agendas”.
7) Named Alexandre Rodrigues da Silva, the nickname refers to his birthplace: Pato Blanco, but the literal translation of ‘Pato’ from Portuguese to English means ‘duck’. However, Italian football fans suggested a different animal based nickname for Pato. While he was with Milan, Pato was termed ‘The Crab’, as he allegedly moved from side to side without ever going forward.
8) At the age of just 16, he featured in the Internacional team which won the 2006 FIFA Club World Cup. In that tournament, Pato scored the first goal in the semi-final with Egyptian club Al-Ahly, which made him the youngest player ever to score in an FIFA-organised tournament, breaking legendary Pele’s record.
9) Pato has long been linked with a move back to European football, with Premier League clubs particularly interested, and his recent goal-scoring record certainly explains why he is in the transfer market. In the 2015 Brazilian season he for the first time managed to break the 20-goal mark in his career, netting 26 times for Sao Paulo, where he is on loan from Corinthians.
10) Some people suggest, as a consequence of playing so many matches as a youngster, the 26-year-old forward is highly injury prone. His career at AC Milan was particularly blighted with muscular injuries, and he was only able to make more than 30 league appearances once, in the six seasons he spent at Milan. But after leaving the Italian giants, Pato placed the blame squarely at Milan’s door, claiming: “The problem with my injuries was that the treatment was done in the wrong way.”