About Roberto Soldado
Roberto Soldado Rillo (Spanish pronunciation: [roˈβeɾto solˈdaðo ˈriʎo]; born 27 May 1985) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a striker. After emerging through Real Madrid's youth system, he went on to appear in only 27 official matches for the first team (four goals). However, he became a more regular La Liga player and scorer for Osasuna, Getafe and Valencia, and secured a £26 million move to Tottenham Hotspur. After two unsuccessful seasons in England, he returned to the Spanish top division with Villarreal; over 13 seasons in the latter competition, he recorded figures of 325 games and 129 goals. An international since 2007, Soldado represented Spain at the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup. == Club career == === Real Madrid === Born in Valencia, Soldado joined Real Madrid at the age of 15 from native region small club CF Don Bosco. After years of prolific goalscoring with the former's reserves, he made his first-team debut on 23 October 2005 against Valencia, playing 18 minutes in a 1–2 home loss. Previously, on 28 September, he had scored an 86th-minute winner after just six minutes on the pitch in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League against Olympiacos (2–1 home win), adding a late equaliser against Osasuna and another in a 3–2 victory at Racing de Santander as Real finished second in the league, also netting in the 4–0 defeat of Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey. In 2005–06, with Castilla, Soldado scored 19 goals in Segunda División – two penalties – to become joint-second highest goalscorer alongside Ciudad de Murcia's José Juan Luque, one behind Ikechukwu Uche of Recreativo de Huelva. On 24 July 2006, he officially became the first member of Real Madrid to leave under new manager Fabio Capello and new president Ramón Calderón, moving to fellow La Liga side Osasuna on a season-long loan; he stated: "The idea is to leave and have a good season with a first division team scoring goals, and to develop as a footballer".
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.