Walter Casagrande

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Personal information
Casagrande
Full name	Walter Casagrande Júnior
Date of birth	April 15, 1963 (1963-04-15) (age 45)
Place of birth	São Paulo, SP, Brazil
Playing position	Forward
Youth clubs
	Corinthians
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1980-1981 1981 1982-1984 1984 1985-1986 1986-1987 1987-1991 1991-1993 1993 1994-1995 1995 1996	Corinthians Caldense Corinthians São Paulo Corinthians FC Porto Ascoli Torino F.C. Flamengo Corinthians Paulista F.C. São Francisco	23 (11) 96 (38) 47 (10) 35 (7)
National team
1985-1986	Brazil	19 (9)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Wálter Casagrande Júnior, usually known as Casagrande (born April 15, 1963) was a former football (soccer) player in striker role, who currently is a famous TV commentator for Rede Globo.

During his career from 1980 to 1996, Casagrande has played for a number of clubs. He has represented Corinthians, Caldense, São Paulo, Flamengo, Paulista F.C., Portuguese club FC Porto (with whom he won a European Cup in 1987) and Italian clubs Ascoli and Torino F.C., winning the Coppa Italia in 1993. He won also two São Paulo State Championships, in 1982 and 1983. In 1993, he was Supercopa Sudamericana runner-up with Flamengo, losing in a penalty shootout to another Brazilian team, São Paulo FC. He played 256 games and scored 102 goals for Corinthians.

For Brazil national football team he played 19 matches, scoring 9 goals. He played 3 games in the 1986 FIFA World Cup.

In september of 2007, Casagrande left the intensive care unit and was breathing on his own after a weekend car accident. Casagrande was briefly in a coma after his car rolled and hit parked cars.

Former Brazil striker Casagrande said, after the crash, he became addicted to cocaine after retiring and has been undergoing drug treatment for the past seven months ( since September 2007). In an interview with Radio Jovem Pan, Casagrande said he has been in a private drug-treatment clinic in Sao Paulo since last September. "When I retired, I felt a sensation of emptiness. I missed the adrenaline of the matches and practices and that led me to the compulsive use of drugs," Casagrande said, adding that he became "addicted to cocaine and sometimes also used heroin." Casagrande, who played for Brazil at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, said he overdosed four times from 2005-07 and once almost went into a coma after using drugs. He is finishing in April 2008 his treatment.

[edit] Honours

[edit] Club

Campeonato Paulista; 1982,1983
UEFA Champions League; 1986/1987
Coppa Italia; 1992/1993
Supercopa Sudamericana; 1993 runner-up

[edit] Achievements

Campeonato Paulista's top scorer: 1982 with 28 goals.

v • d • e Brazil squad - 1986 FIFA World Cup

1 Carlos • 2 Édson • 3 Oscar • 4 Edinho • 5 Falcão • 6 Júnior • 7 Müller • 8 Casagrande • 9 Careca • 10 Zico • 11 Edivaldo • 12 Paulo Vitor • 13 Josimar • 14 Júlio César • 15 Alemão • 16 Mauro Galvão • 17 Branco • 18 Sócrates • 19 Elzo • 20 Silas • 21 Valdo • 22 Leão • Coach: Santana