Many wonderful footballers have lit up the Champions League since the tournament was rebranded from the European Cup in 1992.

While Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, two of the greatest football players of all time, are the icons who’ll immediately spring to mind for many football fans, we can’t overlook the likes of Luka Modric, Xavi and Andres Iniesta, Zinedine Zidane, Paolo Maldini, Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, Raul, Clarence Seedorf… the list goes on and on.

Then you have the cult heroes. The ‘Streets Will Never Forget’ players who will always occupy a special place in the hearts of football fans who watched Champions League matches in the 1990s and 2000s.

We’re talking Adriano. We’re talking Gabriel Batistuta. We’re talking Juan Carlos Valeron, Rustu Recber and Joan Roman Riquelme.

Another player who falls into this category is arguably the greatest free-kick taker in football history. If you know, you know.

Messi has netted an astonishing 76 free-kicks over the course of his glittering career, at the time of writing, but that still only puts the Argentine legend second on that particular list.

The free-kick GOAT with 77 scored is currently Juninho Pernambucano, who banged in some of the most outrageous set-piece goals we’ll ever see on a football pitch.

Best remembered for his eight-year spell with French side Lyon between 2001 and 2009, scoring 100 goals in 343 appearances, Juninho also earned 40 caps for the Brazilian national team.

Many of his goals for Lyon were long-range ‘knuckle-ball’ free-kicks, which deceived even the world’s best goalkeepers, such as Bayern Munich’s Oliver Kahn.

“Much like King Arthur had Excalibur and William Tell his crossbow, the folk hero Juninho possessed his own special weapon to save the day - his legendary free-kicks,” journalist Carl Anka wrote for BBC Sport in 2018.

“No one hit a free-kick quite like Juninho. No one. At a time when most footballers either opted for a refined instep 'up and over' technique a la David Beckham or Zinedine Zidane, or the thunderous 'hit it and hope' stylings of Roberto Carlos, Juninho did something else entirely. He did everything.”

Juninho Looks Very Different Today

Juninho retired in 2013 following a third and final spell with Brazilian outfit Vasco da Gama. He worked as a football commentator for Brazilian sports network Rede Globo before becoming Lyon’s sporting director in 2019.

He stepped down two years later, following a mixed spell in charge, before being linked with a return in 2023.

But Juninho appears to be enjoying retirement with his family for the time being - although many football fans wouldn’t even recognise him these days if they passed him in the street.

Juninho still has the long’ish hair, although it’s now turned silver. The 51-year-old, who is now a grandfather, sports an impressive grey beard and wears glasses.

Away from football, Juninho has used his celebrity status to speak out against systemic racism and police violence in Brazil.