First match i ever saw from him: Porto losing in Milan for the Champions League in 1996, against one Great era of Milan. Jardel comes on as a sub on the 2nd half. A few minutes after he already had scores twice on Maldini and Desailly leading Porto to a historical win. If memory doesn't fail me, he has like 15 goals in 13 matches against Real, Barcelona, Milan and Bayern. And he scored these goals playing in 2nd level clubes like Porto, Sporting and Galatasaray. Just think again about this. This was an outrageous feat that no other striker on earth could have done. Averaging over 1 goal a game against the best clubs on earth while playing for weaker squads shouldn't be possible. But this was Jardel. A supreme finisher. Cross the ball in and he will give you goals. No need of proper complex build ups. Simple football. Get to the line a cross. Done. No matter who was the center backs.
Still can't believe Scolari (Jardels coach at Gremio) took Luizao & Edilson over him for the 2002 WC squad , i think that broke Mario & he simply gave up.
When he played there was no one better than him. But brazils coach didnt pick him ever, which confused every fan, and eventually caused Jardel to begin abusing drugs, skip training, and end his career
No one better than him? That’s a joke! Ronaldo, Romário, Amoroso and Elber was better than him. The problem is that at that time to anyone play in brazilian national team you would have to be very technical and Jardel never was that kind of guy. He was a killer and very good at head, but with the ball on his foot he was not good enough for the brazilian team
![Jardel [Best Skills & Goals]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
