Giovani dos Santos
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Giovani Alex dos Santos Ramírez [1] | ||
| Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 8+1⁄2 in) | ||
| Position(s) |
Attacking Midfielder Striker | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | FC Barcelona | ||
| Number | 17 | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 22 September 2007 | |||
Giovani dos Santos Ramírez[2] (born May 11, 1989 in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico) is a Mexican attacking midfielder, who can also play striker, who plays for FC Barcelona and was a member of the Mexican National U-17 Football team that won the FIFA U-17 World Championship 2005 held in Peru.
Biography
Gio is the son of retired Brazilian football player Gerardo dos Santos, better known as "Zizinho", who played for the Mexican soccer clubs América and León in the late 1980s; Gio's mother, Liliana Ramírez dos Santos, is Mexican. Gio has two brothers and two half brothers, the older Eder and the younger Jonathan who also plays for FC Barcelona, but in the Juvenil B category.
Gio's father can be recognized as the driving force behind his son's career, as he founded a school in Monterrey, named São Paulo in México, at which he coached his children along with many other kids[citation needed]. In 2001, São Paulo participated in the Dallas Cup, a prestigious youth tournament in the USA, winning the U-12 category with Giovani as the star of the team. After that accomplishment, Zizinho decided that Giovani was ready to begin a professional career and he managed to get Gio a trial with the Mexican first division team Club Monterrey in which he was immediately identified as a prodigy and quickly jumped the youth ranks to join their third division team.
U-20 World Championship
In the U-20 World Cup Qualifying round he scored twice; once against St. Kitts and Nevis in the 86th minute and the second against Jamaica in the 56th minute. He was forced to sit out the last game against Costa Rica due to the fact that he had received a yellow card in the previous match. The game ended in a 1-1 draw, but Mexico still qualified at the top of the regional group.
During the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup Mexico was placed in Group C, where they were drawn against Gambia, Portugal, and New Zealand. On July 2, 2007, Giovani dos Santos and the rest of the Mexico played against Gambia and won 3-0, with Giovani opening the scoring in second half with a superb volley into the left-hand corner from outside of the box. Then Dos Santos played against Portugal, where Mexico won 2-1, with Giovani scoring the opening goal from the penalty spot. As Mexico had already qualified from the group, in the game against New Zealand he was rested. During the last-sixteen round Mexico played against Congo, dos Santos returned to the starting line-up and yet again opened the scoring with a goal from penalty spot, in a match that Mexico won 3-0. In the quarterfinals, Mexico were eliminated by Argentina. The game ended 1-0 and dos Santos was not as influential as he had been in past games.
Summer 2007
The 2007-2008 pre-season performance earned him praise from Rijkaard and his fellow team-mates. On 29 August 2007, Giovani received dual nationality from the Spanish Constitution, making him eligible to play with the first team.
Club career statistics
- (correct as of 08 October, 2007)
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Europe | Total | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | ||
| Barcelona | 2007-08 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 7 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Career Total | 7 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||
