Alexandre Pato, whose real name is Alexandre Rodrigues da Silva, received his shirt name due to his hometown being Pato Branco—which in both Spanish and Portuguese means “duck.”
Pato started playing futsal at the early age of four and become known in the Parana region due to his unique skills. At the age of seven the young talent switched to football and went off to play for Gremiô Industrial Pato Branquese—a sister club to Gremiô.
However, things haven’t always been easy for "The Duck." In 2000, young Pato at a mere 10 years of age was brought to the doctors with a broken arm. The doctor found something else too—a tumor that would have been cancerous had it not been removed within two months.
It was lucky for both Pato and his family that the doctor was a family friend, as they could not afford the costly operation. The operation was performed for free and it took several years for the prospering talent to fully recover and rehabilitate the arm.
When Pato turned 11 he along with his family decided to put all eggs in one basket by trying out for Internacional—with 83 other boys all fighting for the same spot. He beat all of his competitors—leaving the club with the knowledge that they had stumbled across something amazing.
In 2005, Pato helped Internacional to win the Brazilian U-20 Championship after bagging a brace against Gremiô in the return fixture of the final. That year Internacional also won the Copa Libertadores, which generated a place in the FIFA Club World Cup where the Brazilians surprisingly came to beat Barcelona in the final.
The Brazilian didn’t manage to shine in the final due to the fact that the forward was playing with injury, but that didn’t stop him from running circles around defense stalwart Carles Puyol before he was substituted for team mate Adriano Gabiru who eventually scored the winner.
Pato was deliberately kept in the youth team to keep prying eyes from discovering that blossoming talent and the management was forbidden to talk about their prized asset to the media. It wasn’t until the forward Rafael Sobis left Internacional that Pato at age 17 signed a contract and took the step up to the senior team.
It was from then that the youngster started the fine habit of scoring in his debuts. He presented himself to the club’s supporters by scoring a header in his debut against Palmeiras in the 4-1 win in November 2006. The buzz surrounding the player was unbelievable as he was tipped to becoming one of the world’s most complete players in the coming years.
During the following year Pato helped the Brazil youth team to a South American Youth Championship title in Paraguy—which also meant automatic qualification to both FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada and 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
