Juninho Pernambucano ~ 77 Free Kicks | part. 35 | END

A bit of an unusual recruitment drive. We’re nearing the end of the challenge, so it’s very difficult to find players who’ve actually played for the club in real life.

I’ve found one but for the other signings, I’ve taken the liberty of bringing in young, inexperienced players and free agents.

A 29 years old GK inexperienced.

A 22 years old Bhutanese.

And some young Brazilians who will play with reserve.

We haven’t retained our regional title. The team is pretty average, and so is Juninho.

16th June 2010

Knocked out in the first round of the Brazilian Cup. We played well, but we’re clearly missing a proper goalscorer.

29th June 2010

The announcement

When they said ‘at the end of the season’, I thought they meant December after the national championship, but it turns out it’s based on the European season,

so that’s it — Juninho Pernambucano won’t be playing football anymore in this alternate reality.

And so here is our result: 44 free kicks out of 77.

6 free kicks with Sport Recife 🇧🇷

4 free kicks with Real Zaragoza 🇪🇸

5 free kicks with Ajax 🇳🇱

16 free kicks with Juventus 🇮🇹

11 free kicks with Tottenham Hotspur 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

2 free kicks with Clube Atlético Juventus (SP) 🇧🇷

And 44 is the number of free-kicks Juninho scored for Olympique Lyonnais over eight seasons in real life.

This challenge was my personal tribute to a player who has always impressed me. You have to understand that back then, when OL were awarded a free-kick, it was like a penalty. The whole stadium would spring to its feet, and very, very often it would result in a goal.

A legend and, in my opinion, the greatest player in the history of Olympique Lyonnais.

Thank you for following!