Free-kick artist: When Juninho took the ball to take a free-kick, you would settle into your seat nicely. His scoring a free-kick goal was both as ordinary as the normal flow of life and too good to be true.
He impressed everyone while playing in Brazil. When he went from Brazil to France, he was not going to a champion team. Lyon did not yet have a championship in the French League, but Juninho would make Lyon a world brand with the jersey he wore and write history with his right foot.
Antônio Augusto Ribeiro Reis Junior, known as Juninho Pernambucano, was born in Recife, Brazil, in 1975.
Like all his friends around him, he grew up with a football. With the way he kicked the ball in the neighborhood matches, he was showing everyone the talent God had given him when he was a little kid.
Antônio Augusto Ribeiro Reis Júnior (born 30 January 1975), commonly known as Juninho Pernambucano or simply Juninho is a Brazilian former professional footballer who was most recently the sporting director of French club Lyon. A dead-ball specialist noted for his bending free kicks, in particular the knuckleball technique which he developed, Juninho holds the record for the highest number of goals scored through free kicks and is considered by many to be the greatest free-kick taker of all time.
At the age of 18, he made his first professional contract with his city's team, Recife. Juninho, who fascinated his fans with Recife, was transferred to Vasco da Gama, one of the biggest teams in Brazil, in 1995.
He won the Libertadores Cup championship with Vasco da Gama. The free-kick goal he scored in the semi-final on his way to the final was tremendous.
The doors of Europe, which he always wanted to go to, were opened with the offer made by France's Lyon team, but there was a problem. Lyon has never been a French champion before.
When he put on his Lyon jersey, he started making history. In 2002, he would make Lyon champions of the French League for the first time, and it would not be the last.
Juninho Pernambucano managed to make Lyon champions 7 times in a row. Lyon's dominance in the French League began with him.
He managed to score 75 goals and 54 assists in the league with a Lyon jersey. He showed an excellent performance with 18 goals and 17 assists in the Champions League.
His Brazilian National Team career did not go as he wanted. He was not included in the squad for the 2002 World Cup. He retired from the national team during the 2006 World Cup.
Juninho's biggest difference from other football players was his courage. He was taking free kicks from angles that no one would have thought possible and was a nightmare for goalkeepers.
For Juninho, distance, weather conditions, angle, and height of the dam did not matter. If he was going to a tournament, he would buy the tournament ball in advance and practice with that ball in all weather conditions weeks before.
His shooting technique was incredible. It was an incredibly tough test for the goalkeepers. He sometimes hit the ball with a spin technique and sometimes with a dead-leaf shot technique. It was impossible to predict.
Pirlo wrote in his autobiography that he studied Juninho's striking technique. Everyone admired Juninho's hitting technique. When he combined this innate talent with practice, he became the best free-kick taker in the world.
He scored 77 free-kick goals throughout his career. At the end of his career, he played for Qatar's Al-Gharafa and New York Red Bulls in America. Finally, he ended his football career on his birthday with Vasco da Gama, who sent him to Europe.
Juninho Pernambucano, who ended his professional career in 2014, currently serves as the Sporting Director of the French club Lyon, of which he is a legend.
We continue to make our day better by watching Juninho's free kicks.