Mica Pinto

Michael 'Mica' Gonçalves Pinto (born 4 June 1993) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays for Dutch club Sparta Rotterdam as a left back.

Mica Pinto
Personal information
Full name Michael Gonçalves Pinto[1]
Date of birth (1993-06-04) 4 June 1993[1]
Place of birth Diekirch, Luxembourg
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Playing position(s) Left back
Club information
Current team
 Sparta Rotterdam
Number 5
Youth career
2004–2005 Young Boys Diekirch
2005–2007 Metz
2007–2012 Sporting CP
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2012–2015 Sporting B 85 (1)
2015 Recreativo 15 (0)
2016 Sporting B 5 (0)
2016–2018 Belenenses 6 (0)
2017 → União Madeira (loan) 12 (0)
2018–2019 Fortuna Sittard 49 (1)
2020– Sparta Rotterdam 3 (0)
National team
2010–2011 Portugal U18 9 (1)
2012–2013 Portugal U20 15 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 1 February 2020

Club career

Born in Diekirch, Luxembourg of Portuguese descent, Pinto joined Sporting CP's youth academy at the age of 14.[2] He spent three full seasons with the reserve team in the Segunda Liga, making his debut in the competition on 11 August 2012 in a 0–1 away loss against U.D. Oliveirense[3] and scoring his first goal on 24 February 2013 to help the hosts defeat S.C. Freamunde 5–1.[4]

On 15 August 2015, Pinto was loaned to Spanish Segunda División B club Recreativo de Huelva alongside his teammates Kikas and Luís Ribeiro, with an option to buy.[5] The following January, he terminated his contract alleging unpaid wages.[6]

Pinto signed a permanent deal with C.F. Os Belenenses on 27 May 2016, with Sporting retaining 50% of his rights.[7] He played his first match in the Primeira Liga on 19 August, coming on as a last-minute substitute in the 0–0 home loss to Boavista FC;[8] ahead of the 2017–18 campaign, he was loaned to C.F. União of the second tier.[9]

In the January 2018 transfer window, Pinto agreed to a two-and-a-half-year contract at Fortuna Sittard of the Dutch Eerste Divisie.[10] He contributed with one goal[11] from 14 appearances until the end of the season, as his side returned to the Eredivisie after a 16-year absence.[12]

Pinto made his debut in the Dutch top flight on 11 August 2018, playing the entire 1–1 away draw against SBV Excelsior.[13] On 30 December 2019, Sparta Rotterdam announced that he would be joining the club the following month, and he eventually signed a contract until June 2021 with the option of one more year earning £104,000 per year.[14][15]

International career

Also eligible to represent Luxembourg,[2] Pinto appeared for Portugal at the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup held in Turkey.[16] He started all four games during the tournament, which ended in round-of-16 exit.[17]

gollark: What, that if you meddle with a comparison and use a weird/flawed metric your thing looks better? Yes.
gollark: In any case, basing simplicity on the length of a fizzbuzz program would be kind of weird and put codegolf languages on top.
gollark: Oops.
gollark: ```pythonfor fizzbuzz in range(51): if fizzbuzz % 3 == 0 and fizzbuzz % 5 == 0: print("fizzbuzz") elif fizzbuzz % 3 == 0: print("fizz") elif fizzbuzz % 5 == 0: print("buzz") print(fizzbuzz)```
gollark: And it gets shorter, yes.

References
  1. "Mica Pinto" (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  2. "Mica Pinto pode vir a representar o Luxemburgo" [Mica Pinto may represent Luxembourg] (in Portuguese). Bom Dia. 10 September 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  3. "Oliveirense-Sporting B, 1–0: Golo de Barry derrota jovens leões" [Oliveirense-Sporting B, 1–0: Barry goal defeats young lions]. Record (in Portuguese). 11 August 2012. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  4. "Sporting B-Freamunde, 5–1: Leões regressam aos triunfos" [Sporting B-Freamunde, 5–1: Lions return to wins]. Record (in Portuguese). 24 February 2013. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  5. Galván, José Carlos (15 August 2015). "El Sporting luso también cede al lateral zurdo Mica Pinto" [Portugal's Sporting also loan left back Mica Pinto] (in Spanish). Huelva Hoy. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  6. "'Mica' Pinto se marcha del Recreativo tras tres meses sin cobrar" ['Mica' Pinto leaves Recreativo after three months without getting paid] (in Spanish). Be Soccer. 8 January 2016. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  7. Miroto Simões, Luís (27 May 2016). "Mica Pinto reforça o Belenenses" [Mica Pinto bolsters Belenenses]. Record (in Portuguese). Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  8. "Belenenses 0–0 Boavista" (in Portuguese). SAPO. 19 August 2016. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  9. "Belenenses: Mica Pinto emprestado ao União da Madeira" [Belenenses: Mica Pinto loaned to União da Madeira] (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol. 18 August 2017. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  10. "Portugese jeugdinternational verkast naar Fortuna" [Portuguese youth international switches to Fortuna] (in Dutch). 1Limburg. 16 January 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  11. "Fortuna Sittard stap dichter bij Eredivisie" [Fortuna Sittard move closer to Eredivisie]. De Telegraaf (in Dutch). 2 April 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  12. "FC Emmen, De Graafschap en Fortuna Sittard in de Eredivisie" [FC Emmen, De Graafschap and Fortuna Sittard in the Eredivisie]. Sittard-Geleen Nieuws (in Dutch). 14 August 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  13. Niemandsverdriet, Tim (11 August 2018). "Smeets en VAR helpen Fortuna aan puntje bij rentree" [Smeets and VAR help Fortuna in their return]. Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  14. "Sparta 2020 Wages | Player & Team totals". www.salarysport.com. Retrieved 2020-08-11.
  15. "Mica Pinto tekent contract tot medio 2021 bij Sparta" [Mica Pinto signs contract at Sparta until 2021] (in Dutch). Sparta Rotterdam. 30 December 2019. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
  16. Roseiro, Bruno (20 May 2017). "Portugal no Mundial Sub-20: quem, quando e onde? Um guia para a competição" [Portugal at the Under-20 World Cup: who, when and where? A guide for the competition]. Observador (in Portuguese). Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  17. Nunes, Luís Miguel (3 July 2013). "Portugal fora do Mundial sub-20" [Portugal out of the under-20 World Cup] (in Portuguese). Relvado. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
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