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Juninho Pernambucano

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For other people named Juninho, see Juninho (disambiguation).
Juninho Pernambucano
File:Juninho wikipedia.jpg
Personal information
Full name Antônio Augusto Ribeiro Reis Junior
Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10+1⁄2 in)
Position(s) Attacking Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Al-Gharafa
Number 5
Youth career
1991–1992 Sport Recife
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1993–1994 Sport Recife 24 (2[1])
1995–2001 Vasco da Gama 111 (24[1])
2001–2009 Lyon 250 (75[2])
2009– Al-Gharafa 1 (1)
International career
1999–2006 Brazil 40 (6[1][3])
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:17, 23 May 2009 (UTC)

Antônio Augusto Ribeiro Reis Junior (born 30 January 1975 in Recife), commonly known as Juninho or Juninho Pernambucano,[4] is a Brazilian footballer, currently playing as a midfielder for Qatar club Al-Gharafa. He became a free agent and joined Al-Gharafa after winning 7 consecutive Ligue 1 titles with Olympique Lyonnais, finishing third this season. He scored 100 goals in 344 games for the Olympique Lyonnais[5]. He scored six goals in 40 games for the Brazilian national team, before retiring from international football after the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest free kick takers of all time.

Club career

Early career

After a long period of tests, and a time in the futsal (indoor football) division of Sport Recife, he started his career in 1993. Soon he joined the main team of Sport Recife, helping form the so called "Gold Generation of the Futsal" with other great players from the indoor division. In 1994 Juninho won the Campeonato Pernambucano and the Copa do Nordeste. He participated in many remarkable games, including the 5-2 in the São Paulo of Tele Santana, World Champions in 1993. Juninho left Sport Recife, but never denied loving it since he was a kid, when he saw Sport Recife win the Brazilian Championship of 1987.

He moved to CR Vasco da Gama in 1995, and won several trophies with the club, including the Brazilian Championship in 1997 and 2000, the Copa Libertadores in 1998, the Copa Mercosur in 2000, as well as the 2000 Brazilian Silver Ball award as one of the best Brazilian midfielders of the season. In that time, he was part of an incredible forward squad, playing with some top level international players, as Romário, Edmundo, Juninho Paulista, Felipe and Pedrinho.

King of São Januário

Before joining Lyon, Juninho played for Vasco da Gama in Brazil. While there, he won the Brazilian Championship twice (1997-2000) and two continental cups (the Copa Libertadores in 1998 and the Copa Mercosul in 2000), becoming a favourite of the Vasco fans.[citation needed]

Since that time he has been known as Reizinho de São Januário (The Little King of São Januário)[6] or Reizinho da Colina (The Little King of the Hill),[7] a reference to Vasco da Gama Stadium's name (São Januário) or nickname (Stadium of the Hill). Although he left Vasco for Lyon after a judicial fight, he is still considered a favourite of Vasco fans[8]. Juninho has been citated in a classic chorus sang by the fans[9]remembering his free-kick goal against River Plate, at Monumental de Núñez, during the 1998 Libertadores[10] [11] which helped the club reach the finals against Barcelona de Guayaquil.

Lyon

In 2001, Juninho moved abroad to play for French club Olympique Lyonnais. Before his arrival at Lyon, the club had never won the French Ligue 1 championship. In his first year at the club, the championship was secured, and it was subsequently won seven seasons in a row. At Lyon, Juninho made himself especially noted for his accurate, powerful and varied set pieces.

Having been regarded as one of the world's greatest free kick takers of the present day and possibly one of the greatest of all time, in addition, he is an effective passer, having provided many assists, and his leadership abilities prompted Lyon manager Gérard Houllier to name him team captain.

On 26 May 2009, Juninho announced that he would leave Lyon at the end of the season as a free agent. Lyon chairman Jean-Michel Aulas explained to the media that the club and Juninho agreed to cancel the last year of his contract. During the press conference, Juninho was sitting next to Aulas and left the press conference without saying a word.[12][13]

Free kicks

Juninho free kick

Juninho has been described as "One of the world's most feared strikers of a static ball"[14]. As of 17 May 2009, Juninho has scored 44 goals from direct free kicks for Olympique Lyonnais,[15] his latest being a strike from a long distance against Olympique de Marseille. With his free kick in Champions League against FC Barcelona he rewrote Olympique Lyonnais' record books as their highest ever European goal scorer with 17 goals.[16] 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 knuckle ball will "move" or "wobble" in the air unpredictably, making it difficult for the goal keeper to save.[17] He first made his name as a free kick taker in Europe with a long range free kick against Bayern Munich in the 2003-04 champions league group stage in which the ball dipped viciously at the end of travel that deceived Bayern keeper Oliver Kahn who was considered the best keeper in the world at the time. In matches against another German side Werder Bremen and Spanish side Real Madrid he scored from free kicks ranged at around 35 yards from goal. On 23rd May, the day of his very last game for Lyon, Juninho reached the 100 goal landmark total overall goal tally for Lyon through a penalty kick against Caen. He has scored from free-kicks beyond 40 meters on three occasions: a 41 metre screamer against AC Ajaccio in 2006[18], a 45 metre goal against Barcelona in 2007[19], and a 48 metre goal against OGC Nice in 2008[20]. Even before Lyon, he displayed his talent at Vasco da Gama, scoring several free kick goals for the club. Juninho has also scored memorable free kick goals for Brazil, the most famous being a curling shot from 27 meters against Greece in the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup. Brazil would go on to win the match 4-1. Also, Juninho scored two memorable free kicks against Nice in the 2008-09 season as Lyon were losing 2-0. Juninho rapidly pulled back his team by scoring one free kick that flew in the top corner and one from 48 yards away. Lyon went on to win that game as well with a converted penalty by Karim Benzema.[21]

Al-Gharafa

On 17 June 2009, Juninho signed a two-year contract with Qatari club Al-Gharafa for a fee of €2.5 million.[22] He was given the number 5 shirt.

International career

Juninho made his debut for the Brazilian national team in 1999.

On 7 September 1999, he became the first footballer to play two top-level matches in two different countries in the same day.[citation needed] He represented his country in the second half of the friendly match between Brazil and Argentina in Porto Alegre, which Brazil won 4-2, playing about fifteen minutes. In spite of a delayed flight to Montevideo, he still arrived in Uruguay in time to feature in the second half of the Copa Mercosur match between Vasco and Nacional.

Juninho represented Brazil at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Following Brazil's defeat in the quarter-finals of the tournament, he announced his international retirement, as to make way for younger talents coming through the ranks in Brazil to build for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Juninho has been nominated many times for FIFA World Player of the Year award and France Football Ballon d'Or but has still not won it.

Career statistics

Club career

Season Club League Cup League Cup Europe Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Lyon 2001-2002 29 5 2 0 2 0 4+4 0+0 41 5
2002-2003 31 13 1 0 1 0 6+2 0+0 41 13
2003-2004 32 10 3 2 1 0 10 5 46 17
2004-2005 32 13 2 1 1 0 9 2 44 16
2005-2006 32 8 4 1 0 0 8 4 44 13
2006-2007 31 10 2 1 2 0 7 1 42 12
2007-2008 32 8 4 2 2 0 8 3 46 13
2008-2009 30 8 1 0 1 0 7 3 39 11
Total 250 75 19 7 10 0 59+6 18+0 344 100
Career Total 250 75 19 7 10 0 59+6 18+0 344 100

International career

Honours

Sport Recife
Vasco da Gama
Olympique Lyonnais
Brazil national team

Individual

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c ..:: National Football Teams ::.. Player - Juninho Pernambucano:
  2. ^ La carriere de JUNINHO
  3. ^ Brazil - Record International Players
  4. ^ His nickname comes from a combination of the Brazilian diminutive "Juninho" which is commonly applied to any person with the name "Junior" and "Pernambucano" meaning someone born in the north-eastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco. He is sometimes referred to as "Pernambucano" in southern France.
  5. ^ http://www.olweb.fr/fr/Accueil/100007/Article/50317/Juninho-ses-chiffres-lyonnais
  6. ^ << Distintivos.Com.Br >>
  7. ^ GloboEsporte.com na Copa do Mundo 2006 - Exclusivo: todos os jogos em vídeo ao vivo - ARTICLE IMPRIMIR - FERAS DO PARREIRA: Raio-X de Juninho Pernambucano
  8. ^ "Juninho quer homenagear o Vasco". GloboEsporte.com. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ "Juninho Pernambucano agradece homenagem em música da torcida". SuperVasco.com. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ "Goal against River in Libertadores '98". YouTube.com. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  11. ^ "Vasco Fans Singing Juninho Monumental". YouTube.com. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ Juninho bids emotional goodbye to Lyon
  13. ^ Legend Juninho leaving Lyon
  14. ^ http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/news/newsid=625416.html
  15. ^ http://www.olweb.fr/index.php?lng=fr&a=43005&pid=101002
  16. ^ http://www.olweb.fr/index.php?lng=fr&m=1079&pid=105001
  17. ^ "Who is the free-kick master?". FIFA.com. Retrieved 2007-12-16. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=nNOnU2uT7mg
  19. ^ OLWEB.fr | Site officiel de l'Olympique Lyonnais
  20. ^ http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=Ktwrmf09RuY&feature=PlayList&p=78F6C8631198A58F&index=0
  21. ^ http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbg-xNBtIg4
  22. ^ "Soccer-Brazil's Juninho joins Qatari champions Al Gharafa". Reuters. 18 June 2009. Retrieved 4 October 2009.
  23. ^ Seleção Brasileira (Brazilian National Team) 1998-1999
  24. ^ a b Seleção Brasileira (Brazilian National Team) 2000-2001
  25. ^ a b c Seleção Brasileira (Brazilian National Team) 2002-2003
  26. ^ a b Seleção Brasileira (Brazilian National Team) 2004-2005
  27. ^ a b Jogos Da Seleção Em 2005
  28. ^ Jogos Da Seleção Em 2006
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