page_title: Juninho Pernambucano
section_title: Style of play
hierarchical_section_title: Juninho Pernambucano / Style of play
caption_attribution_description: English: my photo at the stade gerland
context_page_description: Antônio Augusto Ribeiro Reis Júnior, commonly known as Juninho or Juninho Pernambucano, is a Brazilian former footballer, who is currently sporting director of Olympique Lyonnais. Noted for his bending free kicks, he is widely considered to be the greatest free kick-taker of all time and holds the record for the highest number of goals scored through free kicks with 75.
  Juninho began his professional career in 1993 with Brazilian club Sport do Recife. Two years later he joined Vasco da Gama where he played over 100 matches and won six titles. In 2001, he joined Ligue 1 side Olympique Lyonnais where he played for the next eight years, winning seven consecutive league titles and scoring 100 goals in 350 official appearances for the club. Following his departure from Lyon in 2009, Juninho played in Qatar with Al-Gharafa and in the United States with New York Red Bulls. The latter stint was wedged between two spells back at Vasco, where he ultimately retired in 2013.
  Having made his international debut in 1999, Juninho played 40 games for the Brazilian national team and scored six goals.
context_section_description: Juninho has been described as "one of the world's most feared strikers of a static ball". The method he used 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 goalkeeper to save. 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 one of the best goalkeepers in the world at the time.
  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, and a 40-metre strike against Marseille in 2009, this being his final free kick goal for Lyon. 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 metres against Greece in the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup. Brazil would go on to win the match 3–0. 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 bounced past the goalkeeper and 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. 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 knuckle ball 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 right-footed midfielder, beyond his qualities as a set-piece specialist, Juninho was also known for his skill as an offensive playmaker, and for his ability to produce effective passes, which led him to getting assists on many of his teammates' goals throughout his career. He was also gifted with good technical ability and intelligence, as well as excellent vision and passing range, and powerful and accurate striking ability from distance; furthermore, he drew praise in the media for his tenacity, work-rate, composure under pressure, strong character, and leadership, which saw him serve as club captain both at Lyon and Al-Gharafa. A versatile player, although he usually played as an attacking midfielder, he was also capable of playing as a winger or as a central midfielder.
caption: Juninho lining up to take a free kick with Lyon.
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