Júlio César Baptista (born 1 October 1981 in São Paulo) is a football player from Brazil. Nicknamed la Bestia (the Beast) or the Tank, he plays as an attacking midfielder for Real Madrid.

Referred to as the "Beast of Sevilla" and even as the "Brazilian Steven Gerrard", Júlio Baptista began his professional career in 2000 as a defensive midfielder with São Paulo F.C., before moving to Spanish club Sevilla FC in 2003. Between 2003 and 2005 he made 63 appearances and scored 38 goals for Sevilla, having switched position so that he operated further forward.

At Real Madrid, Baptista was often played out of position as a left-winger to accommodate the likes of Zinedine Zidane and Guti in the Spanish side's attacking line-up.

At the end of August 2006, with the transfer window about to close, press reports linked him with a move to either Tottenham Hotspur or Arsenal, with the latter possibly as part of a swap deal including José Antonio Reyes. Baptista himself had strenuously claimed that he was not interested in a move away from Real Madrid. However, on August 31 2006, the day of the transfer deadline, Baptista moved to Arsenal in exchange for José Antonio Reyes, the deal involved the two players swapping clubs on 12 month loan deals..

Baptista scored his first hat trick for Arsenal in their League Cup Quarter-Final victory against Liverpool, where he scored a total of four goals overall on January 9 2007, in a 6-3 win for Arsenal. Beside his four goals, he also missed a penalty kick in this match.

At the end of the 06-07 season, he was no longer required by Arsenal and returned to Real Madrid as the loan deal finished.

According to Goal.com, SL Benfica are after the player as Rui Costa is set to retire.

Baptista has 25 caps with Brazil, and has netted six goals. His first cap came on 4 June 2001 in a 0-0 draw against Japan in the 2001 Confederations Cup, and he also played a limited part in the 2005 edition.

As Baptista is often played out of position in Real Madrid, his form dipped and hence, not included on the 2006 World Cup roster. However, Baptista was re-called to the Brazil squad for the 2007 Copa America and scored the opening goal in Brazil's 3-0 victory over Argentina in the Final on July 15 2007. Baptista ended the competition with 3 goals.

*Campeonato Paulista: 2000 *São Paulo Cup (under 20s): 2000 *Rio–São Paulo Tournament: 2001 *São Paulo State Super-Championship: 2002 *Copa América: 2004, 2007 *FIFA Confederations Cup: 2005

*"Technically, he brings the quality of a Brazilian player but he also brings his personality: he is very strong, very strong-willed. He is a winner, He can defend, he can attack and he can score goals and this is very important." —Dunga

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*Arsenal.com profile *Júlio Baptista career stats at Soccerbase.com *<a class="externalLink" href="http://www.footballdatabase.com/index.php?page=player&Id=1425&b=true&pn=Júlio_César_Pereira_Baptista">Júlio Baptista</a> player information, honours, detailed career stats and timeline *Profile - SambaFoot.com