Brazilian legend Romário enjoyed a colourful club career that took him to five different continents.
He was a lethal finisher who scored hundreds upon hundreds of goals, 749 to be exact (for club & country combined), depending on whose records you’re referencing. That tally means that only Cristiano Ronaldo, Leo Messi, Josef Bican and fellow Brazilian great Pelé have scored more, but perhaps that’s a calculation and debate for another day.
Something that is beyond doubt is that Romário wore the number 11 on his back when the Selecão defeated Italy in the 1994 World Cup final on penalties at the Rose Bowl in California. He slotted his spot-kick home on a day when Roberto Baggio infamously skied his over the crossbar and Italian hearts were broken.
His club journey took him to all corners of the earth:
- 🇧🇷 Vasco
- 🇳🇱 PSV
- 🇪🇸 Barcelona
- 🇧🇷 Flamengo
- 🇪🇸 Valencia
- 🇧🇷 Flamengo (loan)
- 🇧🇷 Flamengo
- 🇧🇷 Vasco
- 🇧🇷 Fluminense
- 🇶🇦 Al Sadd (loan)
- 🇧🇷 Vasco
- 🇺🇸 Miami FC
- 🇦🇺 Adelaide United (loan)
- 🇧🇷 Vasco
- 🇧🇷 America FC
Happy Birthday Romario! pic.twitter.com/aRfp0WPgmU
— 90s Football (@90sfootball) January 29, 2021
Romário was a two-time Copa América winner with Brazil for whom he made 70 appearances, scoring 55 goalsy. On debut for Barcelona Romário hit a hat-trick, all three goals assisted by none other than Pep Guardiola.
Three Romário goals, all assisted by Pep Guardiola.
Masterclass.pic.twitter.com/VyZtjgnGDc
— The Blizzard (@blzzrd) January 31, 2021
And if you like trivia, what do Michael Laudrup, Hristo Stoichkov, Ronaldo, Patrick Kluivert, Samuel Eto’o, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Alexis Sánchez, Luis Suárez & Romário have in common? They all wore the famous number 9 jersey for FC Barcelona.
Whichever way you look at it Romário is a historical, heavyweight name that will go down as one of the greatest strikers to have ever played the game.
