Julio Cesar Baptista

Julio Cesar Baptista is a Brazilian footballer who currently features for Spanish club Malaga. Baptista bears the nickname “The Beast” and plays in an attacking midfield position.

Baptita commenced his footballing career with one of the biggest clubs in Brazil Sao Paulo in 2000 actually as a defensive midfielder but three years later he was on a big money move to the Spanish club Sevilla FC in the summer of 2003.

It was in Seville that Baptista started playing as an attacking midfielder and impressed heavily in his two years in Andalucia, scoring a whooping 38 goals in 63 appearances for the club.

In the summer of 2005, Real Madrid signed Julio Baptista but he couldn’t quite settle at the Bernabeu. He was played mostly on the wings and this forced his game to suffer. Next season he was offloaded on loan to the Premier League outfits Arsenal for a year in exchange for Jose Antonio Reyes who moved in the opposite direction.

After failing to impress again, he was recalled to Real Madrid but under Bernd Schster in the 2007-2008 season Baptista played many a match in which he gelled and demonstrated his class and quality.

In 2008 Baptista joined Roma and played for the Italian club for three seasons. However, the Brazilian midfielder failed to perform to his best for the Serie A outfit, making just 57 league appearances and scoring 12 goals.

In 2011 Malaga signed Baptista, who has been out injured for most of his time at the Spanish club so far.

Baptista played for Brazil between 2001 and 2010, scoring five goals in 47 international appearances. He won the Copa America with Brazil in 2007.