Juan Camilo Zúñiga

Atlético Nacional

Born in Chigorodó, Antioquia, Zúñiga made his professional debut with Colombian giant Atlético Nacional. With Nacional, he gained three titles while being at the club for seven seasons. In total, he made 129 league appearances and scored 9 goals.

Siena

Zúñiga left Atlético Nacional in the summer of 2008 and was contracted by Italian side Siena. The transfer fee was €2.32 million. While at Siena, Zúñiga gave impressive performances, which attracted several clubs. In total, he made 28 leagues appearances, failing to score a goal.

Napoli

On 9 July 2009, Napoli signed the Colombian from Siena on a five-year deal for €8.5 million. Zúñiga then usually featured on the left-hand side of the 3–5–2 formation, as the left wingback, since Christian Maggio often occupies the right-hand side. After the arrival of Andrea Dossena in January 2010, he lost his starting place and became a backup wingback on both flanks in the 2010–11 Serie A season. Zúñiga scored his first Serie A goal for Napoli against Catania on 20 February 2011. His second goal was on 15 May 2011 against Internazionale in the 46th minute. His third, spectacular goal occurred against Genoa on 21 December 2011. In late August 2013, Zúñiga suffered an injury. Weeks later, it was confirmed that he would be forced to have knee surgery and be out for a month, likely causing him to miss the rest of the season for 2013. Nevertheless, Zúñiga signed a new contract in October 2013.

In…

Club

International

Scores and results list Colombia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after Zúñiga goal.

A quick, energetic, versatile, and hard-working player, Zúñiga was capable of playing in several positions along the left flank, and was deployed as an attacking full-back, as a wing-back, and as a winger; a right-footed player, he was also capable of playing on the right, but from a tactical standpoint, he favoured the left flank, as it allowed him to take on and beat opponents in one on one situations, and subsequently cut inside and shoot on goal with his stronger foot. Once regarded as a possible heir of Cafu, he was mainly known for his pace, strength, technique, and dribbling skills, as well as his powerful striking ability from outside the area; these attributes made him a dangerous offensive threat, and enabled him both to score and create goals for teammates.

Zúñiga played for Colombia in the 2005 World Youth Cup before progressing to the senior national team in 2005. He was regarded as being similar to other famous adventurous full-backs such as Cafu and Roberto Carlos by the Italian press during the under-20 World Youth Cup, because of his attacking nature. Zúñiga started most of Colombia 2014 World Cup qualifiers, only missing two games: against Venezuela after being given permission to leave the team for the birth of his son, and against Peru due to injury. He scored his first international goal during the qualifying campaign, which came in stoppage time in a 4–0 home win over Uruguay; he also assisted Radamel Falcao's opening goal during the match. He was called up for the 2014 World Cup and appeared in four of the five matches that Colombia played in the tournament. On 4 July 2014, while Colombia's quarter-final match against hosts Brazil was nearing its end, Zúñiga landed his right knee into Neymar's lower back while challenging for the ball. Neymar was stretchered off and further examinations showed that Neymar suffered a fractured vertebra, ruling him out of the rest of the World Cup. After the match, which Colombia lost 2–1, Zúñiga insisted that he had not meant to injure Neymar. Neymar's teammate Thiago Silva defended Zúñiga, stating that he was not the type of player who would purposely cause an injury to any player. Conversely, Brazilian legend Ronaldo said that he believed that Zúñiga's violent challenge was a foul…