Ricardo José Vaz Alves Monteiro (born 7 October 1983), known as Tarantini, is a Portuguese former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

, currently assistant manager of

F.C. Famalicão Futebol Clube de Famalicão, commonly known as Famalicão, is a Portuguese association football, football club from Vila Nova de Famalicão. Founded on 21 August 1931, its senior team currently plays in the Primeira Liga, the top tier of Portugu ...

. He spent most of his career with

Rio Ave Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Football in Portugal, Portuguese professional Association football, football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which ...

, making 444 competitive appearances including 345 in the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

. Earlier, he played 112 games and scored 21 goals in the

LigaPro The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Prim ...

for three other clubs.

Club career

Born in the village of in Gestaçô in Baião,

Porto District The District of Porto ( pt, Distrito do Porto ) is located on the north-west coast of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Porto, the second largest city in the country. It is bordered by the Aveiro and Viseu districts to the south, Br ...

, Tarantini earned his nickname from his physical resemblance to Argentine footballer

Alberto Tarantini Alberto César Tarantini (born 3 December 1955) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a defender. He won the 1978 FIFA World Cup with the Argentina national football team. He played as a defensive left back early in his ...

. He started playing football with

Amarante FC Amarante Futebol Clube ''(abbreviated as Amarante FC)'' is a Portuguese football club based in Amarante in the district of Porto. Background Amarante FC currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal which is the fourth tier of Portuguese foot ...

, remaining in the club's youth system for eight years, then made his debut as a senior with

S.C. Covilhã Sporting Clube da Covilhã, commonly known as just Sporting da Covilhã, is Portuguese association football, football club from the city of Covilhã that plays in the second-tier Liga Portugal 2. The club was founded in 1923. Their nickname is the ...

in 2002. He alternated between the

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

and third divisions until 2008, also representing

Gondomar S.C. Gondomar Sport Club is a Portuguese football club based in Gondomar, Porto District. Founded on 1 May 1921, it currently plays in the fourth-tier Campeonato de Portugal, holding home games at '' Estádio de São Miguel'', with a capacity of 2.45 ...

and

Portimonense SC Portimonense Sporting Clube is a Portuguese sports club based in Portimão. Founded on 14 August 1914, it is most notable for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. It a ...

. In summer 2008, Tarantini signed for

Rio Ave F.C. Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which flows through the town and into the Atlanti ...

of the

, making his debut in the competition on 24 August in a 1–1 home draw against

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

(82 minutes played) and finishing his debut season with 20 matches and five starts to help his team to the 12th position. Tarantini scored his first goal in the top tier of Portuguese football on 10 April 2011, the last in a 6–1 away rout of

F.C. Paços de Ferreira Futebol Clube Paços de Ferreira () is a Portuguese football club based in Paços de Ferreira, Porto district. Founded in 1950, the club competes in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at the 9,077-seater Estádio da Mata Real, a municipal s ...

. The 2012–13 campaign was the most prolific of his career with six league goals – seven overall – including two in a 2–2 draw at home to reigning champions

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

on 29 September. In 2013–14, Tarantini played 37 total games as the team from

Vila do Conde Vila do Conde (, ; "the Count's Town") is a municipality in the Norte Region of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 79,533, in an area of 149.03 km². The urbanized area of Vila do Conde, which includes the parishes of Vila do Conde, Azurar ...

reached the finals of the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seaso ...

and

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual football club competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro, the top two tier ...

, losing both to

. In the fourth round of the former on 10 November 2013, he opened the scoring in a 4–2 home win over

Sertanense F.C. Sertanense Futebol Clube (), formerly Sertanense Foot-ball Club, is a Portuguese football club based in Sertã. Founded in 1934, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home games at ''Campo de Jogos Dr. Marques dos Santos''. ...

at the

Estádio dos Arcos Estadio dos Arcos is a multi-use stadium in Vila do Conde, Portugal. It is used mostly for football matches of Primeira Liga club Rio Ave. The stadium is able to hold 12,815 people and was built in 1985. Since November 2020 it's only able to hold ...

. The following 10 August, in the

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...

against the same adversary as the previous finals, he played the full 120 minutes of a goalless draw and took Rio Ave's first attempt in the

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

, saved by

Artur Moraes Artur Guilherme Moraes Gusmão (born 25 January 1981) is a former Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Club career Brazil Artur Moraes started his career at Paul ...

whose team ended victorious. Tarantini remained a regular in the 2019–20 season, as Rio Ave finished a joint-best fifth and with a record points tally of 55. On 22 February, he made his 400th appearance in a 2–1 win at

C.D. Tondela Clube Desportivo de Tondela () is a Portuguese professional football club that plays in Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. They are based in the town of Tondela, located in Viseu District, and play in the Estádio João Cardoso ...

. In May 2021, after the team's relegation, he went up to the fans in tears and asked for forgiveness; he was met with applause and requests to stay with the club, but was ultimately released by the board of directors in July. In October 2021, shortly after having announced his retirement, the 38-year-old Tarantini joined

Ivo Vieira Ivo Ricardo Abreu Vieira (born 10 January 1976) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a defender, currently head coach of Brazilian club Cuiabá. He spent his entire playing career with Nacional, where he also began his managerial c ...

's coaching staff at

Personal life

Tarantini held a

degree Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of geographical latitude ** Degree of geographical longitude * Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics ...

and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

sports science Sports science is a discipline that studies how the healthy human body works during exercise, and how sport and physical activity promote health and performance from cellular to whole body perspectives. The study of sports science traditionally inc ...

from the

University of Beira Interior The University of Beira Interior (UBI; Portuguese: ) is a public university located in the city of Covilhã, Portugal. It was created in 1979, and has about 6,879 students distributed across a multiplicity of graduation courses, awarding all ac ...

, which he obtained still as a professional footballer. In November 2017, he released a book ''A Minha Causa'' (My Cause) with advice for his fellow professionals on life after retiring from the game.

Club statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tarantini 1983 births Living people People from Baião, Portugal Sportspeople from Porto District Portuguese footballers Association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Amarante F.C. players S.C. Covilhã players Gondomar S.C. players Portimonense S.C. players Rio Ave F.C. players