Versatile goalkeeper

Goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni caught up with his great Paraguayan colleague

The guard of the goal of the Brazilian national team and the world champion among Sao Paulo clubs, 33-year-old Rogerio Ceni, equaled the number of goals scored in official meetings with another famous goalkeeper-goalkeeper, Paraguayan José Luis Chilavert. This event took place in the semi-finals of the Copa Libertadores, a tournament of the strongest club teams in South America. Ceni accurately scored a penalty against the Mexican Guadalajara (0:1) and now shares the lead in the goalkeeper-scorer dispute with Chilavert - 62 goals each. But the famous Paraguayan has completed his career, and Ceni has an excellent opportunity in the near future to take first place in the list of those who, being on the last line of defense, strive with all their soul and body to the other half of the field and score goals.

There is one significant difference between the achievements of Chilavert and Senya. The Paraguayan scored 45 goals from the penalty spot and only 17 from the field, while the Brazilian scored 22 times from 11-meter shots. Rogerio is a big fan of taking free kicks, and he is not at all embarrassed by the fact that in the event of an unsuccessful rebound, the risk of seeing the ball behind his goal line increases sharply. Therefore, the Sao Paulo patriot, who has been playing for this club for 17 seasons in a row, has to sprint a hundred meters across the entire field back and forth. True, when the Brazilian national team played a friendly match with the Russians in Moscow in March, the capital's fans were not able to enjoy Senya's exploits. Still, in the national team the game discipline is more serious, and in Sao Paulo the 33-year-old goalkeeper is allowed to do whatever he wants. This provides the club with a stable attendance, and every opponent’s violation, which is punishable by a penalty kick in the immediate vicinity of the goal, is met with the roar of the torsida, anticipating Rogerio’s next goal.

Last year, again as part of the Libertadores Cup, playing against the Mexican Tigres, Ceni scored a goalkeeper's double from the game for the first time in the history of world football - he made two irresistible free throws. The Brazilian could have scored a hat-trick in that match, but he hit the crossbar from the 11-meter mark. Chilavert scored a pair of goals twice in the game, but each of these doubles included a penalty goal. In 1999, in a match of the Argentine championship, a Paraguayan playing for Velez Sarsfield scored three goals from 11-meter shots against his colleague from Ferrocaril Oeste.

Seni scored his first goal on February 15, 1997. The real surge in his sniper abilities came in the 2005 season. The Brazilian has 21 goals! Apparently, Rogerio felt that he was ready to set a record, and began to volunteer to take the penalty. The coaching staff and club management did not object. In the victorious Copa Libertadores, Ceni even became his team's top scorer with five goals.

According to some Brazilian media, Ceni now has 64 or 65 goals. According to the International Federation of Football Statisticians (IFFHS), which is based in Germany, it is 62. The discrepancy is due to the fact that the South Americans took into account goals in pre-season friendly matches, which included games against a certain mixed squad of Flamengo and Santos, as well as Elista "Uralan". IFFHS professes a more strict approach to football accounting - only matches of national and state championships, official meetings of continental cups, performances for the national team.

Palmeiras suffered most often from cannon shots and accurate penalties from Ceni - five times. In the Brazilian championship, Rogerio scored 24 goals, in the state championship - 20. The only European club that missed out on the miracle goalkeeper is still Uralan, which lost to Sao Paulo in January 2000 during its South American training camp. collection with a score of 1:5.

Sao Paulo will play the return match with Guadalajara on August 2 at their stadium, and on this day Ceni has an excellent opportunity to get ahead of Chilavert. The Brazilian championship is in full swing - only 13 rounds out of 38 have been played. So if nothing works out against the Mexicans, Rogerio will definitely score against one of his fellow countrymen.

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The most successful goalkeepers in the history of world football Player Country Balls (penalty kick)

1. Rogerio Ceni	Brazil	62 (22)
2. Jose Luis Chilavert	Paraguay	62 (45)
3. Rene Higuita	Colombia	41 (37)
4. Jorge Campos	Mexico	40 (9)
5. Hans Jörg Butt	Germany	27 (27)
6. Dimitar Ivankov	Bulgaria	25 (25)
7. Marco Antonio Gomez	Chile	24 (24)

Ilya TRISVIATSKY