Rafael Carioca was born on 06/18/1989 in one of the largest Brazilian cities - Rio de Janeiro. At the age of fifteen, he began playing for the youth team of his country. At the beginning of his professional career, Raphael played for several Brazilian clubs. Since 2009, he is already listed as a midfielder of Moscow Spartak, and currently plays in Brazil, in the club Atletico Mineiro, on loan.
Carier start
From early childhood, Rafael Carioca, whose biography is saturated with transitions from one club to another, set out to become a professional footballer. The main advantage of the young man was a high speed of movement, a good vision of the field and mutual understanding with partners. The first official match he played on the field dates back to 2003. This happened at the Sendaz club, representing the Brazilian Junior Championship.
The next two years, Carioca played for the “Powy Asukar”. Since 2006, he falls into the official junior staff of the Gremio club. Despite the fact that the seventeen-year-old boy did not like the game as part of the new club, he joined it for two years.
Since March 26, 2008, Rafael Carioca is a midfielder of the Gremio professional club, for which he played 37 matches. It was the game for the club from Puerto Allegri that impressed Spartak sales agents, as a result of which the young and promising Brazilian is in the form of red and white.
Game in Russia
The debut in the Russian club took place on 13/13/2009, in a match against Petersburg Zenit. The beginning of a career here can be called problematic. In the autumn of the same year, Rafael tried to return to his homeland, to the club "Vasco de Gama". The main motives are several reasons he cited:
- desire to get into the national team, but for this it was better to play for domestic clubs;
- pregnancy of the spouse;
- unfavorable Russian climate;
- difficult to learn language.
After the New Year, he manages to go to the coveted club, for which the player plays for a year on loan. True, the game does not bring his reputation anything good. After the defeat of the club with a score of 0: 4 in the game, where Rafael made some gross mistakes, the fans began to speak about him not very well.
At the end of the lease, he was forced to return to Russia and continue to play under the leadership of Valery Karpin.
Statistics
At the moment, Rafael Carioca, whose performance statistics allows us to talk about his participation in almost all serious club tournaments in the world, is trying to achieve good performance and get into the national team. “In the next 2016, I will try to progress and move towards my goal, and I’m sure that I can well get a call to the national team,” he says.
| Performance cup | Matches played | Minutes played | Goals scored | Yellow cards | 2 yellow cards in one match |
| Cup of Russia | 10 | 740 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
UEFA Champions League | 8 | 654 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
UEFA Cup (Europa League) | 9 | 740 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Copa Libertadores | 8 | 694 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| RFPL | 112 | 8698 | 2 | 32 | 3 |
Achievements
Rafael Carioca can very well count on achieving his main goal - getting into the team under the leadership of Dunga. The reason for this is the presentation of the Silver Ball to him. It happened at the end of 2015. The prize was awarded to a football player for 36 matches held for the club and 2025 accurate assists. With this result, he worked well in the eyes of the national team coach. In addition, it should be noted that for 8 years the supporting defenders of “Atletico Mineiro” did not show such amazing results.
During the period of professional activity, Raphael has several significant achievements obtained in the clubs for which he played:
- 2008 - the second place in the championship of Brazil in the “Gremio”;
- 2009, 2012 - second place in the Premier League, obtained with red and white;
- 2014 - Atletico Mineiro wins the Brazil Cup;
- 2015 - second place in the Brazilian Championship and the Libertadores Cup.
Personal life
The football player does not particularly cover his personal life. He only says that he has a wife whom he loves very much. In addition, several facts about parents are known. Rafael's father is a football player who played for the Botafogo club from Rio, and his mother is a housewife. Parents have not lived together for more than 10 years, so he was raised by his father, who instilled in the boy a love of football since childhood.
According to Raphael, he first touched the ball at the age of three and did not part with it anymore. This is precisely what caused the parents to divorce. Mom categorically did not want her son to follow in the footsteps of his father. And the boy could no longer part with his favorite sport.
At the moment, Rafael Carioca has a very real chance of joining the national team, especially since he is already enrolled in the symbolic. At least in terms of last year, he has every right to do so.