http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NesfdRNtwsE
Today is the Brazilian’s birthday and he’s believed to be on the verge of retirement, so there’s no better time to celebrate his unbelievable gift for scoring spectacular free-kicks.
The crafty former Lyon midfielder turns 39 today and reports this week suggest that he may be about to end his career immediately, having suffered badly with injuries and fitness issues of late.
His current club, Vasco da Gama, for whom he has played over 200 games, are hoping that he carries on for a while yet, but if he does have to hang up his boots, he can reflect on a magnificent career in which he played for Vasco, Lyon and the New York Red Bulls amongst others and made 40 appearances for the Brazilian national side.
Juninho was very handy midfielder throughout his career but he will be best remembered for his prowess at set-pieces and he deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as (and arguably above) the likes of Andrea Pirlo, David Beckham, Sinisa Mihajlovic and later-years Cristiano Ronaldo when it comes to the best dead-ball experts of modern times.
Needless to say, he scored quite a few free-kicks over the years, so feast your eyes on 75, yes 75 of them, over an 18-year period in the video above. It’ll be nearly seven minutes very well spent.
