Julio Baptista

[Bigpapa42]

I'm curious what anyone can tell me about Sevilla's midfielder, "The Beast". Also known as "The Tank". He is supposed to a really good one, but I've barely had a chance to see him play yet.

I heard he was brought in as a striker but is being played at midfield. Is he as good as I've heard? And while Sevilla isn't exactly small club, are any of the huge clubs starting to take interest yet?

[Jon Pall]

Baptista started out as a defensive midfielder (a good one too) but as it turns out he is now a striker for Seville. However, I think Carlos Alberto Parreira still plays him as a midfielder for Brazil.

[Pack87Man]

He plays either forward in a 4-4-2 or midfielder in the 4-2-3-1 that Sevilla uses too. That said, really, he plays the same position either way, because Sevilla always has one forward high (which has been a revolving door, with everyone who's played doing decently) and one back, which, when healthy, is Baptista.

Baptista is nicknamed the Beast, mainly due to the fact he is a very, very strong player, often holding off a couple of defenders on his way to goal. He tends to score most goals in the box, quite a few on headers. However, he's also able to create chances out of thin air, with a quick move. He can blow by past people with simple moves, but never is he going to do a bunch of fancy dribbling past someone. Every team in Spain fears him, after scoring 20 goals in his debut season last year. It was so much fun watching him work while I was in Sevilla.

[TRICOLOR BRASIL]

Baptista used to play as a defensive midifelder in Sao Paulo. Once a coach tried to put him as a forward but he was crap, so he went back to the midfield. He has never been much special in Brazil, wasnt even a starter at Sao Paulo. He has had terrible games here.
The same for Beletti and others, who were sh!t in brazil and became superstars in Spain.