Rafa Silva

Rafa Silva

Rafa lining up for Braga in 2016
Personal information
Full name Rafael Alexandre Fernandes Ferreira da Silva
Date of birth (1993-05-17) 17 May 1993
Place of birth Forte da Casa, Portugal
Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Playing position Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Benfica
Number 27
Youth career
2002–2003 Povoense
2003–2011 Alverca
2011–2012 Feirense
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2012–2013 Feirense 41 (10)
2013–2016 Braga 88 (13)
2014 Braga B 1 (0)
2016– Benfica 3 (0)
National team‡
2013 Portugal U20 2 (0)
2013–2015 Portugal U21 13 (3)
2014– Portugal 10 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 3 December 2016.

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 2 September 2016

Rafael Alexandre "Rafa" Fernandes Ferreira da Silva, ComM (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈʁafɐ ˈsiɫvɐ]; born 17 May 1993) is a Portuguese footballer who plays for Benfica as a midfielder.

After starting his professional career at Feirense he transferred to Braga in 2013 and went on to make over 100 appearances for them, winning the 2016 Portuguese Cup.

A full international since 2014, Silva represented Portugal at the 2014 World Cup and Euro 2016, winning the latter tournament.

Club career

Feirense

Born in Forte da Casa, Vila Franca de Xira, Silva started playing football with Atlético Povoense and F.C. Alverca, both in the Lisbon District. In 2011, aged 18, he signed with C.D. Feirense with which he played his last year as a junior.

Silva made his professional debut on 29 July 2012, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–1 home win against F.C. Penafiel for the season's Taça da Liga.[1] He only missed one game in the league campaign, totalling more than 3,200 minutes of action to help his team finish 13th in the Segunda Liga.[2][3]

Braga

In June 2013, Silva signed a five-year contract with S.C. Braga for an undisclosed fee.[4] He made his Primeira Liga debut on 26 August, starting in a 2–1 win against C.F. Os Belenenses.[5] On 10 November, he scored his first goals, striking twice in a 3–1 win at S.C. Olhanense in the fourth round of the Taça de Portugal;[6] nineteen days later he netted for the first time in the league, in a 4–1 home triumph over the same opposition,[7] finishing his first year with 23 appearances and three goals[8] to help to a ninth-place finish.

The following season, Silva was a league ever-present for the Minho Province team and started all but one game. He scored three times in that edition of the cup, including one in the final which his team lost in a penalty shootout to Sporting Clube de Portugal at the Estádio Nacional on 31 May 2015.[9]

Silva scored the only goal on his European debut on 17 September 2015 to defeat FC Slovan Liberec away,[10] and added two further goals in a run to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League. After a campaign in which Braga won the cup final against FC Porto, he was coveted by S.L. Benfica.[11]

Benfica

On 1 September 2016, defending champions Benfica announced that Silva had signed a five-year contract with the club, in a deal totalling €16.4 million. His release clause was set at €60 million.[12][13]

International career

Silva made his first appearance for the Portuguese under-20 team on 23 April 2013, against Uzbekistan.[14] He was not selected to that year's FIFA U-20 World Cup, however.

On 28 February 2014, Silva received his first callup for the senior side, for an exhibition game with Cameroon on 5 March.[15] He played the first 45 minutes of the game, in a 5–1 win in Leiria.[16]

On 19 May 2014, Silva was named in the final 23-man squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.[17] He remained unused in the group stage exit.

After scoring in both games against Azerbaijan in qualification,[18][19] Silva was part of the under-21 team that finished as runners-up at the 2015 UEFA European Championship in the Czech Republic.[20] He returned to the full side for UEFA Euro 2016,[21] making his debut in the competition on 18 June by coming on as an 89th-minute substitute for Nani in a 0–0 draw to Austria at the Parc des Princes.[22]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 27 November 2016[23][24]
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Continental Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Feirense 2012–13 Segunda Liga 41102140—4711
Braga 2013–14 Primeira Liga 233544200329
2014–15 342633000435
2015–16 30850311235012
2016–17 101[lower-alpha 1]0000020
Total 881317710312312726
Benfica 2016–17 Primeira Liga 2010001040
Career Total 1312320814313317837
Notes
  1. ↑ Appearance in the 2016 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira

International

As of match played 1 September 2016[25][26]
Portugal
YearAppsGoals
201430
201520
201650
Total100

Honours

Club

Braga[24]

International

Portugal[24]

References

  1. ↑ "Feirense 2:1 Penafiel". Zerozero. 29 July 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
  2. ↑ "Feirense-Freamunde, 3–1: Pires carimbou a vitória" [Feirense-Freamunde, 3–1: Pires sealed win] (in Portuguese). Record. 28 April 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  3. ↑ ""Doidos" por Rafa" ["Crazy" about Rafa] (in Portuguese). Record. 2 July 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  4. ↑ "Rafa até 2018" [Rafa until 2018] (in Portuguese). Record. 21 June 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
  5. ↑ "Golo nos descontos salva um displicente Sp. Braga frente ao Belenenses" [Injury time goal saves nonchalant Sp. Braga against Belenenses] (in Portuguese). Público. 26 August 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  6. ↑ Rodrigues, Hugo (10 November 2013). "Olhanense perde com o Braga e sai da Taça de Portugal" [Olhanense lose to Braga and exit Portuguese Cup] (in Portuguese). Sul Informação. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  7. ↑ "Primeira Liga: Braga 4 Olhanense 1". FourFourTwo. 29 November 2013. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  8. ↑ "Jackson Martínez y Felipe Pardo, figuras en la Liga de Portugal" [Jackson Martínez and Felipe Pardo, figures in the Portuguese League] (in Spanish). El Tiempo. 9 February 2014. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  9. ↑ "Sporting beats Braga on penalties to win Portuguese Cup". Yahoo! News. 31 May 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  10. ↑ "Braga edge out in-form Liberec". UEFA.com. 17 September 2015. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  11. 1 2 "Benfica aperta para fechar Rafa ainda antes do Europeu" [Benfica closes in on Rafa before the Euro] (in Portuguese). O Jogo. 26 May 2016. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  12. ↑ "SL Benfica sign Rafa from SC Braga". S.L. Benfica. 1 September 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  13. ↑ "Comunicado" [Announcement]. S.L. Benfica (in Portuguese). 1 September 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  14. ↑ "Seleção de sub-20 perde diante do Uzbequistão" [Under-20 national team loses against Uzbekistan] (in Portuguese). RTP. 23 April 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  15. ↑ "Rafa e Ivan Cavaleiro convocados para jogo da selecção com os Camarões" [Rafa and Ivan Cavaleiro called for national team game with Cameroon] (in Portuguese). Público. 28 February 2014. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  16. ↑ "Ronaldo reaches new milestone in Portugal win". UEFA.com. 5 March 2014. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  17. ↑ "Paulo Bento announces Portugal's 23-man World Cup squad". PortuGOAL. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  18. ↑ "Portugal press on with Azerbaijan win". UEFA.com. 15 October 2013. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  19. ↑ "Portugal end group in perfect fashion". UEFA.com. 9 September 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  20. ↑ "Sweden beat Portugal on penalties to win U21 title". UEFA.com. 30 June 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  21. ↑ "Portugal name Bayern Munich signing Renato Sanches for Euros squad". ESPN FC. 17 May 2016. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  22. ↑ "Austria hold on after Ronaldo penalty miss". UEFA.com. 18 June 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  23. ↑ Rafa Silva profile at ForaDeJogo
    Edit this at Wikidata
  24. 1 2 3 Rafa Silva profile at Soccerway
  25. ↑ Rafa Silva at National-Football-Teams.com
  26. ↑ "Rafa Silva". European Football. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
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