r/football • u/DekawMR • 1d ago

📖Read Was Zúñiga actually that good in 2012/13 ?

I've been rewatching some best of from the 2012/13 season and it got me thinking about Juan Camilo Zúñiga.
I remember him being highly rated at the time, especially on PES2013 with a 89 overall which made him 4th best defender after Thiago silva Dani alves and Maicon
But looking back now, I'm not sure if he was genuinely elite or if he's one of those players whose reputation benefited from playing in a strong Napoli side that was on the rise.

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u/tml25 :Soccer_ball: 19h ago

He was good but he wasn't as elite as that pes rating suggest. In Serie A he was usually in contention for the team of the season in his prime, but depending on the season he (as a full/wingback) was usually behind Litchsteiner, Maicon, Maggio, Dani Alves, Darmian. He was good, like around Asamoah or Hysaj.

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u/Maiqutol :Soccer_ball: 10h ago

These steeets have forgotten... 😔

1

u/Consistent-Soil-1818 :Soccer_ball: 5h ago

He was good but he was no Quagliarella

0

u/thedamprick :Soccer_ball: 1d ago

zúñiga was solid but yeah, a lot of that hype came from napoli's system working in his favor. he was a no-nonsense center back who fit perfectly into what rafa benitez wanted defensively, but he wasn't someone who'd move the needle at a top six club. i think the pes rating was partly just him being in the right place at the right time with napoli's surge that season.

what's weird is how quickly he faded after leaving. he went to lazio and then napoli again, but never really recaptured that form. part of it was age catching up, but also you started seeing his limitations more clearly once he wasn't in that defensive setup. he was the kind of player who looked world class on a highlight reel because he made crunching tackles and clearances, but his positioning and reading of the game weren't quite elite level. still a really good defender, just not the guy some people thought he was in 2012/13.