Football Genius: Alexandre Pato

Alexandre Rodrigues da Silva was born 2 September 1989, commonly known as Alexandre Pato, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a striker for AC Milan and the Brazilian national team. His nickname, Pato, refers to his place of birth, Pato Branco. The literal translation of «pato» from Portuguese to English is «duck,» which has evolved into a common nickname for him. In 2007, Pato was engaged to Brazilian actress Sthefany Brito. They mutually split up in January 2009 due to their inability to keep a long-distance relationship. However, they got back together, and on 7 July 2009, they married in a ceremony at the Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro. However, the marriage lasted less than ten months, and the couple divorced on 21 April 2010, with Brito citing Pato's constant partying as the reason for their split. In 2010, he had a brief romance with Miss Brazil 2010, Débora Lyra. Incumbent European champions Milan of the Italian Serie A officially confirmed the signing of Pato on 2 August 2007.

In June 2006, at only 16 years of age, Pato was signed by Sport Club Internacional to compete in the Campeonato Brasileiro Sub-20. Despite the fact that he was competing against players up to four years older than he was, Pato became top scorer of the competition as Internacional Sub-20 defeated Grêmio 4:0 in the championship's final match. Pato was included in the Internacional squad that won the 2006 FIFA Club World Cup. During this event, Pato broke Pelé's long standing record as he became the youngest ever player to score in a FIFA-organised competition at the age of 17 years and 102 days old against African club champions Al-Ahly. Pelé was 17 years and 239 days old when he scored against Wales during the 1958 FIFA World Cup. Ready to join the Inter 13th team in November that same year, his debut finally happened at the Estádio Palestra Itália against São Paulo team Palmeiras for the Campeonato Brasileiro. Alexandre Pato met and surpassed any and all expectations of what was expected of him as he scored his first professional goal within the first minute of the game. The rest of his participation was spent dribbling and confusing defenders as he made two assists to help Internacional rout Palmeiras 4:1. He was substituted off in the 77th minute.

Pato said in an interview with the Brazilian television program Esporte Espetacular that at age 11, he broke his arm and while examining the injuries, doctors found a tumour in the arm and feared the arm needed to be amputated. A successful operation removed the tumour. Due to FIFA football regulations regarding non-EU minors, Pato was unable to play official matches for Milan until 3 January 2008, when the Italian transfer window and registration reopened. Milan, however, were allowed to include the player in friendlies and training beginning 3 September 2007, one day after his 18th birthday. Pato made his non-competitive debut in a 2–2 draw against Dynamo Kyiv on 7 September 2007 and scored a header. On 4 January 2008, Pato's transfer to Milan became official.

Pato scored his first Milan goal on his Serie A debut against Napoli in a 5:2 home victory on 13 January 2008. He scored his first brace for Milan, in a 2:0 victory over Genoa at the San Siro on 27 January. He finished the 2007–08 season with nine goals in 20 appearances. Keeping up with his promising figure, Pato debuted at the Campeonato Gaúcho on 24 February against Veranópolis and scored a goal in the 2:1 victory. He also debuted in Copa Libertadores on 28 February against Emelec of Ecuador and scored once during the 3:0 thumping. But the biggest highlight of Pato's time with Internacional was during the Recopa Sudamericana, as he helped Internacional win their first ever title of that competition. Against Pachuca of Mexico, he scored one goal in the 2:1 defeat in Mexico. But on the return game on 7 June and with more than 51,000 Colorados present, Pato had a great performance as he scored once and led the 4:0 thrashing to win Internacional's third international title. On 13 September, in a Champions League group-stage match against FC Barcelona, Pato scored the fifth-fastest goal in the competition's history, 24 seconds after kick-off. Later that month, he suffered a thigh injury during a 1:1 draw with Udinese. Pato made his return as a sub against Fiorentina and hit the post in the 79th minute in a 0:0 draw. He then scored and won a penalty in a 4:0 win against Chievo and in midweek, scored against Viktoria Plzeň and setup Robinho in a 2:2 draw. He started against Bologna the next week in a 2:2 draw. In January 2012, Pato was on the brink of moving to French Ligue 1 side Paris Saint-Germain. This move would have given Milan the opportunity to make a bid for Manchester City's Carlos Tévez. On 12 January, however, Pato refused the transfer, citing his commitment for the Rossoneri. During the Coppa Italia round of 16 victory over Novara, Pato picked up a muscle strain in his thigh, which tests revealed an injury of his biceps femoris of his left thigh, resulting in him missing the remainder of the season.

On 21 October 2012, Pato made his return to Milan, in which he assisted El Shaarawy for the second goal in a 3:2 away defeat to Lazio. On 6 November 2012, in a Champions League group stage match, Pato scored his first goal of the season with a header in a 1:1 draw against Malaga. He scored again in the Champions League against Anderlecht on 21 November 2012. Before the start of the new season, Pato switched to the squad number number 9, as Filippo Inzaghi had retired at the end of the 2011–2012 season. In the third training session of the season he injured his thigh and was kept out for the first six weeks of the new season.