once again gustar!

Question

Just when I thought I'd gotten the hang of gustar and verbs like it, along comes: Pues, me ha dicho Lola que le gustas a Ricardo.

So, "me ha dicho Lola que" = "Lola told me that", "gustas" is second person singular as applies to "you" the person being spoken to, no? "le" is the Indirect Object for "to/by him", si? Is the "a" before "Ricardo" the personal "a" or the preposition "to" ? Entonces; "le gustas a Ricardo" = to him you are pleasing (Ricardo) ??

But Ricardo is the subject and I thought it would be "te gusta Ricardo" = Ricardo is pleased by you / you are liked by Ricardo. Does "gustas" refer to Ricardo or to Sonia and to whom would 3ra persona "gusta" apply?

But I'm thinking:

Le gustas a Ricardo = to him you are pleasing (liked) by Ricardo (personal a ?) Ricardo likes you.

whereas: Te gusta Ricardo = By you is liked Ricardo. You like Ricardo.

HELP?? porfis . . .

Accepted Answer

Hola Garry
This is another "level" of "gustar". I'm wondering if you missed this lesson that was tagged on that sentence from the text where it says "me ha dicho Lola que le gustas a Ricardo"
If you go to this lesson for gustar (attraction) you'll find the logic. 
Your conclusion by the end of your message: "But Im thinking: ..." is pretty much the logic for this way of using gustar. 
If you add the subject pronoun to this sentence you may see better why it is "gustas" here:
"tú le gustas a Ricardo"
tú = you (subject)
gustas = please  (verb agreeing with tú) 
le / a Ricardo = him / Ricardo 
I hope you work it out once in that lesson.
Saludos

Answer

Thanks Inma. I wonder if hispanhablantes ever have to pause and think about the meaning of statements at times especially those involving gustar. I like you, you like him, he likes you, she likes him etc . . . and how often the opposite meaning is attributed to a statement.

Answer

I don't think we do pause to think and analise the language that way (unless you are a language teacher...) - like with all languages, I don't think natives analise so much why we say this that way or the other.

: )