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Joao Páez Riascos (born June 6, 1987) is an Ecuadorian professional footballer who currently plays for the Tottenham Hotspur.

Known for his fast yet good personality on the field, playing most of his career as a Defensive midfielder and his last years as an attacking midfielder. He is widely considered one of the greatest and most talented Ecuadorian players in the last two decades.

Club career
Páez was born in Lago Agrio, growing up in a rough environment with a high crime rate, Joao developed a style of play based on creativity. Walter Quichi a scout for Barcelona S.C. discovered him as he won the Torneo Ecuador Cup, and brought him to Barcelona's basic forces.

Barcelona Sporting Club
Having played most of his career in Barcelona S.C., with 387 appearances and 376 goals, Páez has become an idol to the club's supporters and an important figure in the history of the team.

Blanco made his debut in the Serie A in 2003 at the age of 16 with Barcelona. He won his first Golden Boot with 18 goals in the Winter season for Barcelona Sporting Club.

In May 2003, Joao won his first club championship as a player, leading Barcelona to its tenth league title, when Barcelona defeated Deportivo Quito by an aggregate score of 5–4 (4–2, 3–0). In the next three years between 2004 to 2011, he was awarded the MVP.

He scored his last goal in this club during the championship final against Emelec in 2011 winning 8-2. After that game he moved to Tottenham Hotspur and played the season for Tottenham Hotspur.

Tottenham Hotspur
He was sold for $20,000,000 and 4 years plus 1 additional year at Club Tottenham Hotspur, in which he has scored 10 goals in 30 appearances. He scored a Hat-trick against West Bromwich Albion in a 7-0 defeat.

International career
Joao has played for Ecuador at two World Cups. He was part of the squad at Germany 2006 and South Africa 2010. He was also a member of the Ecuador team that won the Confederations Cup in 2009 where he was the tournament's leading scorer with twelve goals, including three in the final. He was awarded the "Golden Boot" and "Silver Boot" for outstanding player of the tournament. Joao holds the record for the most goals in the Confederations Cup with 12 goals.

In the selection for the final 23-man squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, former Ecuadorian national team coach Luis Fernando Suárez got Joao in the team at only 18 years old. While the ostensible reason given was that he was top scorer of Ecuadorian Serie A with 34 goals.

Joao became part of the squad that played the 2007 Copa America, scoring 10 goals.

On 10 October 2009, Joao provoked the first opposition own goal and scored the second goal in a 4–3 victory over Brazil to help Ecuador clinch a spot in the 2010 World Cup. On 17 June 2010, he scored a penalty in the 78th minute of the 2–0 win against Italy at the World Cup in South Africa. With this goal he became the first Ecuadorian to score a goal in two World Cup tournaments and the youngest goalscorer in World Cup history. Joao is considered by many to be one of the greatest penalty kickers of all time. He also has a penalty-taking record; out of a total of 23 taken, he has only ever missed one.