Lúcio- 5 Stars

Lúcio
Lucimar Ferreira da Silva (born 8 May 1978), commonly known as Lúcio, is a World Cup-winning Brazilian footballer who plays for Italian Serie A club Internazionale and the Brazil national team. He is a strong defender with good aerial play, who adds presence in the attack

Lúcio

            

                                           
Lúcio began his professional career in 1997, in one of Brazil’s larger clubs, Sport Club Internacional. After three years in the club, he moved to Bayer Leverkusen, with whom he reached the 2002 Champions League final against Real Madrid of Spain. He scored a header in the final, which Real Madrid won with the score of 2–1. In 2004, he arrived at Bayern Munich, where he won three Bundesligas and one German Cup title. Since coach Louis van Gaal did not have a place for him at Bayern, he decided to search for a new team. He moved to Inter in the summer of 2009, and helped Inter win the 2010 Champions League against his former club Bayern Munich.

With Brazil, Lúcio has accumulated a number of significant accomplishments, winning 2002 World Cup, and the 2009 Confederations Cup.

Club career

Lúcio played for youth teams Planaltina EC and CR Guará before signing for his first professional club, Sport Club Internacional, in 1997.

2001–2004: Bayer Leverkusen

In January 2001, he moved to Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen. The following season was bittersweet for Leverkusen, as the club surrendered a five point lead atop the Bundesliga by losing two of its last three matches while Borussia Dortmund swept ahead with three consecutive victories in the final matches to finish a point ahead of Leverkusen. They also experienced defeat in the DFB Pokal Final, losing 4–2 to Schalke 04, and in the 2002 UEFA Champions League Final against Real Madrid, in which Lúcio cancelled out Raúl’s eighth minute goal just five minutes later with a header, only for Zinedine Zidane to give Real a 2–1 win with a sublime volley just before half-time. Despite the disappointing end to the season, Lúcio’s impressive individual displays drew the attention of several of Europe’s top clubs. In July 2003, Roma made an official bid, but the deal fell through.


2004–2009: Bayern Munich


In 2004, he joined Bayern Munich on a six-year contract, where he became a vital part of the team. Following Oliver Kahn’s retirement in 2008, Dutchman Mark van Bommel was named club captain with Lúcio as vice-captain. When Bayern were playing against Real Madrid in the Round of 16 in the 2006–07 Champions League, Lúcio scored. The goal was in the 66th minute, while the score was 1–0 in favour of Bayern. The goal took Bayern through to the quarter-finals, where they lost to eventual champions AC Milan. In the 2008–09 DFB Pokal, he scored in the quarter-finals against his former club, Bayer Leverkusen. Bayern were already down 3–0 when he scored, and even though Miroslav Klose scored again, Lúcio’s goal did not matter as Stefan Kießling scored again to win it for Leverkusen 4–2.


2009–: Internazionale

On 16 July 2009, Lúcio moved to Italian club Internazionale, signing a three-year contract with the Serie A champions. He scored his first goal with Inter on 23 September 2009 against Napoli with a header from a corner kick. Lúcio also scored an own goal in the UEFA Champions League in the group stages against Dynamo Kyiv, resulting in a draw. On 22 May, Lúcio was in the Inter team that won the Champions League by defeating his former club, Bayern Munich, by 2–0 to seal a historic treble and end a 45-year wait to be crowned European Champions

International career

2002 World Cup

In the 2002 FIFA World Cup quarter-final match against England, Lúcio made a mistake that allowed Michael Owen to score the opening goal. Luiz Felipe Scolari rightly defended him, stating that he had made no other mistakes. In the final against Germany, Lúcio bore the full brunt of a free-kick, but managed to stay on his feet to complete playing all 630 minutes of the tournament. He was one of three players to do so along with goalkeeper Marcos and right back captain Cafu.


2006 World Cup

In the 2006 FIFA World Cup, he set a FIFA-record by playing 386 consecutive minutes without committing a foul, a streak which was finally broken in Brazil’s 1–0 quarter-final loss to France.

In August 2006, Lúcio was appointed as captain by Brazil manager Dunga.

2009 Confederations Cup

Lúcio’s next international tournament was 2009 Confederations Cup. On 28 June 2009, the Brazilian captain scored the game-winning goal in the 84th minute for Brazil in the finals of the Confederations Cup against the United States. Lúcio converted on a header from an Elano corner-kick, which beat American goalkeeper Tim Howard.

2010 World Cup

The 2010 FIFA World Cup was Lúcio’s third World Cup. He played in the Seleção’s first match against North Korea on 15 June 2010, leading his team to a narrow 2–1 win.

On 4 June 2011, Lúcio played his 100th game for Brazil, which consists of 98 official caps and 2 unofficial caps in friendly matches against Spanish club Sevilla FC in 2005 and against Swiss club FC Luzern in 2006.

Personal life

Lúcio is married to Dione, with whom he has three children: Victoria, João Vítor, and Valentinna.

Lucio is an Evangelical Christian, and frequently talks about the way his faith sustains his life in professional football.

Honours
Club

Bayern Munich

    Fußball-Bundesliga: 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08
    DFB-Pokal: 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08
    DFB-Supercup: 2004, 2007, 2008

Internazionale

    Serie A: 2009–10
    Coppa Italia: 2009–10, 2010–11
    UEFA Champions League: 2010
    Supercoppa Italiana: 2010
    FIFA Club World Cup: 2010

International

Brazil

    FIFA World Cup: 2002
    FIFA Confederations Cup: 2005, 2009

Personal

    Brazilian Bola de Prata (Placar): 2000
    FIFA Confederations Cup 2009: Fair Play Award
    FIFA Confederations Cup 2009: FIFA.com Users’ Top 11
    FIFA/FIFPro World XI: 2010

Lúcio

Lúcio

Lúcio

Lúcio

Lúcio

                        

At junior level, he played for Brazil in the football tournament in the 2000 Olympics.