Juninho is famous for his extraordinary abilities to score goals from freekicks.
Whenever someone asks, “If your team is awarded a free-kick around the box in the dying minutes who’d you prefer to take it?” Instantly few formidable names pop up in our minds, Andre Pirlo, Ronaldinho, David Beckham, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, as these players are known as one of the bests from the dead ball situation. But the history of football speaks a different story as a Brazilian wearing no.8 is regarded as the greatest ever free-kick taker of all time, Antonio Augusto Ribeiro Reis Junior, mostly knowns as Juninho.
In 2003–04 Champions League group stage against Bayern Munich, Juninho showcased his skill in what is regarded as one of the best freekick goals of all time. His shot from almost 35 yards out swarved viciously and struck the inside of the farside post went in. Oliver Kahn was left looking silly as he scrambled back but couldn’t help but watch a masterpiece.
Born on 30th January 1975 in Recife Brazil, a fourth largest Urban agglomeration of the northeast region of South America. Juninho started his professional football career in his native club Sport do Recife in 1993 and 2 years later he joined Vasco da Gama in 1995. In his first stint at the club from 1995-2001 he lifted several trophies including Brazilian Championship in 1997 & 2000, Copa Libertadores in 1998, Copa Mercosur in 2000. For his absolute ecstatic performance, he was awarded the Brazilian Silver Ball in 2000. Playing alongside with Tomari, Edmundo, Juninho Paulista he became favourite among the Vasco fans. By that time he has been named as “Reizinho de São Januário” (The Little King of Sao Januario). Juninho had been cited in a classic chorus sung by Vasco fans remembering his free-kick against their rival River Plate in 1998. In 7 years he appeared for over 250 games in which he managed to score 88 goals.
After a judicial fight, he became a free agent in 2001 and signed for Ligue 1 club Olympique Lyonnais. Juninho moved abroad to a club that never won the French Championship before. With his arrival in France, he was an instant hit. His impact was such a huge one that the club won seven league titles within 8 years. At Lyon with his accurate, powerful and varied free kicks as well as notable passing he made himself the centrepiece in the club’s progress. Juninho Pernambucano scored 100 goals at Lyon while 44 of those coming from free-kicks. He was prolific not only in Ligue 1 but also in UEFA Champions League as he became Lyon’s top scorer with 18 goals.
After 8 years of his arrival in France, he decided to leave for Qatari club Al-Gharafa for £2.5 million in June 2009. In his very first season, he captained the team to win the League title, Qatari Stars Cup and Qatar Crown Prince Cup to complete the treble. He was honoured with Player of the Season as he managed to score 25 goals in his 66 matches.
On 2011, Vasco announced the return of Juninho for his second spell at the club. On July 2012 he made his 350 appearances against his former youth team Sao Paulo Recife. A year later he moved to Major League Soccer team New York Red Bulls where he played just 13 matches. July 2013 he went back again for his 3rd spell at Vasco da Gama where he scored again in his 3rd debut and scored his first home match goal as well as a fantastic 32-meter free-kick. In his 3rd and final stint, he scored 2 goals and 7 assists in Campeonato Brasileiro. After 20 years of his professional career, he decided to hang his boots.
Juninho Pernambucano, a player with such sheer class, quality but his career for Brazil National team never took that much flight. He debuted on September 1999 and appeared for 40 matches with 6 goals to his name. After 2006 FIFA World Cup exit in quarter-finals he announced his retirement.
Juninho is described as “one of the world’s most feared strikers of a static ball”. The method he uses for long-range free kicks is frequently “knuckle balling”, where the ball has almost no spinning motion during flight. A successful knuckleball will “move” or “wobble” in the air unpredictably, making it difficult for the goalkeeper to save. He was a master of taking long-range free-kick as he has scored from free-kicks beyond 40 metres on four occasions: a 41-metre effort against AC Ajaccio in 2006, a 45-metre goal against Barcelona in 2007, a 48-metre goal against OGC Nice in 2008. Juninho’s style of freekick taking has been adapted by several other players, such as Andrea Pirlo, Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, and Gareth Bale. The knuckleball free-kick technique takes a significant amount of skill to replicate and strike accurately. In total, Juninho scored 75 official goals from direct free-kicks throughout his professional football career, which spanned from 1993 to 2013.
A talented and diminutive right-footed midfielder, beyond his qualities as a set-piece specialist, Juninho was also known for his skill as an offensive playmaker and ability to produce effective passes, which led him to get assists on many of his teammates’ goals throughout his career. He was gifted with all the qualities that a manager looks for in his talisman on and off the pitch. Football needs more role models like Juninho to entertain and motivate the young ones.
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