- Mirko Vučinić
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Mirko Vučinić
Мирко ВучинићPersonal information Full name Mirko Vučinić Date of birth 1 October 1983 Place of birth Nikšić, SFR Yugoslavia Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) Playing position Forward Club information Current club Juventus Number 14 Youth career 1998–1999 Sutjeska Nikšić 2000–2002 Lecce Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 1999–2000 Sutjeska Nikšić 9 (4) 2000–2006 Lecce 75 (29) 2006–2011 Roma 146 (46) 2011– Juventus 8 (2) National team‡ 2005–2006 Serbia and Montenegro 3 (0) 2007– Montenegro 24 (11) * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 30 October 2011.
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 14 October 2011Mirko Vučinić (Cyrillic: Mиpкo Bучинић; born 1 October 1983) is a Montenegrin footballer who plays as a stiker for Serie A club Juventus. Originally from the city of Nikšić, Vučinić found himself playing for the local team there during his early teen years. He quickly caught the attention of Pantaleo Corvino, the sporting director of the Italian football club Lecce and was transferred to Lecce in the summer of 2000. Between 2000 and 2006, Mirko played for Lecce as they moved between Serie A and B. His most impressive season was 2004–05, where the then 21-year-old netted 19 goals in 28 games while Lecce was in Serie A.
On the international stage, Vučinić played for the Serbia and Montenegro under-21 team, with a notable performance against the under-21 Croatian team in 2005, where he scored three goals. Due to injury, he was unable to represent Serbia and Montenegro at the FIFA World Cup in 2006. Following the split of Serbia and Montenegro in spring of 2006, Vučinić chose to represent Montenegro. He participated in Montenegro's World Cup 2010 qualifying stage, where he contributed two goals. Vučinić also scored two goals for Montenegro in their qualifying stages of the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying matches.
Contents
Club career
Early career
Having marked himself out at a young age, a 18-year-old Vučinić was quickly snatched by Lecce in Italy during the summer of 2000. The man who initiated the transfer was the club's sporting director at the time, Pantaleo Corvino, who has since developed a reputation for having a good eye when it comes to football talent coming out of Eastern Europe.
In his fourth season for the club, the 21-year-old Vučinić hit a blistering goalscoring form with 19 goals in 28 Serie A games, including a hat-trick versus Lazio on 1 May 2005.[1] Following that successful season, his progress came to a halt with only nine goals recorded in 31 games as his career stalled due to injury.
Roma
On 30 August 2006, Vučinić signed a one-year loan contract with Roma worth €3.25 million, with an option of buying 50 percent of his rights from Lecce at the season's conclusion for an additional €3.75 million.[2]
2006–07 season
During his first season in Rome, he did not feature much as he had operations on his left knee twice.[3] Also, the presence of the European Golden Boot winner Francesco Totti as the lone forward of Roma's tactical formation under head coach Luciano Spalletti did not give Vučinić much playing time. Despite this, he succeeded in scoring three goals: his first goal for Roma in the 1–0 victory against Siena on 28 January 2007,[4] his first goal in the UEFA Champions League during the quarter-finals match 2–1 victory against Manchester United on 4 April 2007.[5] He also scored another Serie A away goal against Catania in a game that saw roma beat the Sicilians 2–0.
2007–08 season
At the beginning of the 2007–08 season, Roma paid Lecce the pre-agreed price of €3.75 million to sign 50 percent of Vučinić's rights.[6] He decided to wear the #9 jersey, previously owned by Vincenzo Montella in the last eight seasons, and also stated that he would like to do the same that Montella did at Roma.[7]
As veteran Francesco Totti was usually deployed as a lone striker, Vučinić began to play as left winger in Luciano Spalletti's 4-2-3-1. He scored his first goal of the season in the 2–1 victory against Sporting Clube de Portugal, in the Champions League group stage, allowing Roma to get the vital goal to earn them three points.[8]
In the following game, away to Milan at the San Siro, with Francesco Totti injured, Vučinić started as a striker and scored a header, from a cross by his teammate Cicinho. It was the only goal of the game as Roma picked up a win over its rival. This proved decisive again, as in the game against city rivals Lazio, Roma won by 3–2, with Vučinić leaving his mark with a left-foot equalizer and an assist to Simone Perrotta's goal. Another decisive goal of Vučinić was a header against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu, securing a 2–1 win for his side as well as qualification to the successive round.
2008–09 season
In June 2008, Roma finally bought Vučinić outright by paying Lecce €12 million.[9]
On 4 November 2008, he scored two goals in Roma's UEFA Champions League group stage match against Chelsea, emerging 3–1 winners.[10] Roma made it to the first knockout stage where they lost to Arsenal on penalties, with Vučinić missing the target in the shootout with a weak shot down the middle that was easily saved by goalkeeper Manuel Almunia.[11]
2009–10 season
On 1 June 2009, Roma announced Vučinić had signed a new four-year contract, with his gross annual salary progressively increasing from €4 million in 2009–10 season to €4.7 million in 2012–13 season.[12] The 2009–10 Serie A campaign started off poorly for Roma, forcing head coach Luciano Spalletti to resign after two opening losses. Arrival of new head coach Claudio Ranieri initially failed to change matters with the team continuing to slide down the standings as Vučinić got soundly booed by Roma fans in early November 2009 against Bologna when he finally scored his first goal of the season. After winning that match, however, Roma went on a 24-match unbeaten run in the league, mounting a credible title challenge by the end of the season, in large part thanks to Vučinić's improved form and steady goalscoring efforts that included a hat-trick versus Udinese and a brace in the win against heated crosstown rivals Lazio.
2010–11 season
The 2010-11 season began well for Vučinić, scoring the injury-time winner against defending league champions Internazionale.[13] As the season progressed, however, he experienced a loss of form and his goals output dipped dramatically. Later in the season he was linked with a move to Tottenham.
The team was also going through turmoil as it was way off pace for the title after challenging for the Scudetto the previous few seasons. Head coach Ranieri was sacked and replaced with Vincenzo Montella. Vučinić's form didn't improve much as his loss of confidence became very evident in April when he missed open net sitters in two consecutive home matches - first in Serie A versus Palermo with the score tied at 1–1 (Roma eventually lost 3–2) and then three days later in Coppa Italia semi-final first leg versus Inter (Roma lost 1–0).[14]
Juventus
On the 30th of July 2011, it was confirmed that Juventus F.C signed Vučinić for €15 million from A.S. Roma, with a 4 year deal worth €3.5 million per year.[15][16] He scored his first goal for the club on 21 August 2011 in the 2-1 defeat to AC Milan in the annual Trofeo Luigi Berlusconi curtain raiser to the Italian season.[17]
International career
Vučinić was one of the two Montenegro-born players who had been chosen to play for Serbia and Montenegro at 2006 FIFA World Cup (the other one was Dragoslav Jevrić); he had been capped already three times for the Serbia and Montenegro team, but on 23 May 2006 he got injured and could not participate in the competition.
After Montenegro became an independent country, and a new national team was established, Vučinić chose to play for it and, when on 24 March 2007, the Montenegro national team played its first international match against Hungary; Vučinić scored the first goal, a penalty, of Montenegro's history, of whom currently he is also the captain.[18]
During the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, Vučinić's most famous goals came when he netted a free kick in the 60th minute against Bulgaria and also scored a remarkable goal against Italy. Montenegro, however, failed to qualify and finished in fifth place in their qualifying group. So far in the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifiers, Vučinić has produced two key goals that have contributed to two victories for Montenegro.
International Goals # Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 1. 24 March 2007 Podgorica, Montenegro Hungary 2–1 Win Friendly 2. 22 August 2007 Podgorica, Montenegro Slovenia 1–1 Draw Friendly 3. 12 September 2007 Podgorica, Montenegro Sweden 1–2 Loss Friendly 4. 17 October 2007 Tallinn, Estonia Estonia 0–1 Win Friendly 5. 6 September 2008 Podgorica, Montenegro Bulgaria 2–2 Draw WC 2010 Qualification 6. 15 October 2008 Lecce, Italy Italy 2–1 Loss WC 2010 Qualification 7. 9 September 2009 Podgorica, Montenegro Cyprus 1–1 Draw WC 2010 Qualification 8. 18 November 2009 Podgorica, Montenegro Belarus 1–0 Win Friendly 9. 29 May 2010 Oslo, Norway Norway 2–1 Loss Friendly 10. 3 September 2010 Podgorica, Montenegro Wales 1–0 Win UEFA Euro 2012 Qualification 11. 8 October 2010 Podgorica, Montenegro Switzerland 1–0 Win UEFA Euro 2012 Qualification Honours
- Roma
- Winners
- Supercoppa Italiana (1): 2007
- Coppa Italia (2): 2007, 2008
- Runner-up
- Serie A (3): 2007, 2008, 2010
- Coppa Italia (1): 2010
- Supercoppa Italiana (3): 2006, 2008, 2010
Career statistics
Season Team League Domestic League Domestic Cups European Games Total App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals 1999–00 Sutjeska Nikšić Yugoslavia League 9 4 0 0 0 0 9 4 2000–01 Lecce Serie A 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2001–02 Lecce Serie A 7 0 2 0 0 0 9 0 2002–03 Lecce Serie B 28 5 1 0 0 0 29 5 2003–04 Lecce Serie A 12 1 1 0 0 0 13 1 2004–05 Lecce Serie A 28 19 3 3 0 0 31 22 2005–06 Lecce Serie A 34 9 0 0 0 0 34 9 Total 111 34 7 3 0 0 118 37 2006–07 Roma Serie A 24 2 2 0 6 1 32 3 2007–08 Roma Serie A 33 9 7 1 8 4 48 14 2008–09 Roma Serie A 27 11 3 3 8 3 38 17 2009–10 Roma Serie A 33 14 3 2 7 3 43 19 2010–11 Roma Serie A 28 10 3 1 5 0 36 11 Total 148 45 18 7 34 11 200 63 2011–12 Juventus Serie A 3 1 0 0 0 0 3 1 Total 3 1 0 0 0 0 3 1 Career total 262 84 25 10 34 11 348 101 Footnotes
- ^ Lecce-Lazio 5:3;Serie A, 1 May 2005
- ^ "Acquisizione a titolo temporaneo con diritto di opzione per l'acquisizione a titolo definitivo con accordo di partecipazione del diritto alle prestazioni sportive del calciatore Mirko Vučinić" (in Italian). asroma.it. http://www.asroma.it/NewsDoc.aspx?Categoria=ITComunicatiFinanziari&Documento=6251. Retrieved 30 August 2006.
- ^ (Italian) Roma: altro stop per Vucinic, sarà operato al ginocchio sinistro
- ^ (Italian) Vucinic-gol, la Roma non perde la speranza
- ^ (English) Roma defeat United's ten men
- ^ (Italian) Esercitato il diritto d'opzione per l'acquisizione a titolo definitivo con accordo di partecipazione del diritto alle prestazioni sportive del calciatore Mirko Vučinić
- ^ (Italian) Vucinic pronto al decollo "Il mio modello è Montella"
- ^ Mirko Vucinic si sblocca e la Roma vince 2–1
- ^ "RISOLUZIONE A FAVORE DI A.S. ROMA DELL'ACCORDO DI PARTECIPAZIONE RELATIVO AL DIRITTO ALLE PRESTAZIONI SPORTIVE DI MIRKO VUCINIC" (in Italian). AS Roma. 2008-06-20. http://www.asroma.it/NewsDoc.aspx?Categoria=ITComunicatiFinanziari&Documento=9152. Retrieved 2009-06-19.
- ^ Roma-Chelsea 3:1;UEFA Champions League, 4 November 2008
- ^ Roma-Arsenal 1:0 (6:7penalties);UEFA Champions League, 11 March 2009
- ^ "Prolungato il contratto economico per il diritto alle prestazioni sportive del calciatore Mirko Vucinic" (in Italian). AS Roma. 2009-06-01. http://www.asroma.it/NewsDoc.aspx?Categoria=ITComunicatiFinanziari&Documento=10384. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
- ^ Roma-Inter 1:0;Serie A, September 2010
- ^ Vučinić's misses in April 2011
- ^ "La Stampa - Vucinic alla Juve, affare concluso: "E' la squadra che volevo"" (in Italian). tuttomercatoweb.com. http://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/juventus/?action=read&idnet=dHV0dG9qdXZlLmNvbS01Nzg5Nw. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
- ^ "Mirko Vucinic è bianconero" (in Italian). juventus.com. 1 August 2011. http://www.juventus.com/wps/portal/it/news/1agosto2011_annunciovucinic/!ut/p/b1/rZLJjqNAEES_pT_ATRVgliOb2cxiqljMBbHYQBkauwHT8PXjlmaOPXOZvIRSCilCL5NKqYRKP_JnW-dTO3zk3feechnNSWJg6xAI6KQAkxMkEGIFCixPxVRilOOXOjq1KqkS3KTW1GTra2NJjD6N2UXBuTVl7loVVbE1m36PO4OnJ9iHTFkdYilzk6hvMPTjU95PULhx4oICsyRQH4mSGzxsNDvVm-te2fpij1OMjk1qoNTxJunoGg2gxwvP0JutITs9i-w1YdTn5bi8URaVLmX_3k7vH5dlpCJSgldRc1HNpAFMM7KbvY6JJ4E63ue5LLcB3eHOnbFwkjXX5Vcu84mX04_HeTN1ZZqu1cbbUFsUR2dqGXd1tJgoEq2lGpoq_urnjldJSFj7OX6SuIqATE9RqPpxhL2LtjBmvx_9eD3snmmcedfYpYV7lXRBW1jocZj6s8e0-HjYwtWqPCD4AnKePFqSVbjKDrKQ9Pb2Ap7-9SYC-G0AP4wEKNcY-gt1ftn4jAZAF2UoAZ05ysAM7YNxlHnosTSFqQSwGSLr3dxuW0A2tCE1_MKAXcFLESkSN-xcJAauq7E0VEN6woHnENl3QgBwlfhVFISypNzma9j-Cfyh-JH7DiQldNXBXDSzaEamlTzigwLW6DDkQ3v-1BczD0EzxA9LH9q8THzT4PkMXB62viM3OPVCcONiXTTnYP2g3cZzfOyg66X38rLYz9XMoq7FOQoUN9Tv0aktsPIo63YI6upGTnNu1-GSYa5dHoPis70xGxGz5wm2EnEPd14pF_Nz3tVOs4Yigt6Z3h2USbOsDViPyE-H-QV00fSu9rJRCBN7t3D18rrbP2jD_0773j970dzpz5fWr8_5BVlRcXE!/dl4/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/?urile=wcm%3apath%3a%2fjuvecom-it%2fnews%2f1agosto2011_annunciovucinic.
- ^ AC Milan 2-1 Juventus: Boateng & Seedorf belters earn victory for Serie A champions Goal.com. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
- ^ Montenegro beats Hungary 2–1 in its first international friendly
External links
- Profile on AS Roma website
- Mirko Vučinić career and stats at soccerway.com
- World Cup 2006 Official Site – Upcoming Talents to Watch For
- UEFA U-21 Championship – Serbo-Montenegrin coach Okuka missing key players
- Mirko Vučinić profile, career timeline and detailed statistics
Sporting positions Preceded by
NoneMontenegro captain
2007–Succeeded by
IncumbentIvanović • 3 Tošić • 4 Rnić • 5 Stepanov • 6 Biševac • 7 Milijaš • 8 Janković • 9 Vučinić • 10 Vukčević • 11 Pavlović • 12 Jović • 13 Lomić • 14 Babović • 15 Milovanović • 16 Rakić • 17 Krasić • 18 Basta • 19 Todorović • 20 Purović • 21 Burzanović • 22 Vujadinović • Coach: Okuka
• 2Juventus F.C. – current squad 1 Buffon · 2 Motta · 3 Chiellini · 5 Pazienza · 6 Grosso · 7 Pepe · 8 Marchisio · 9 Iaquinta · 10 Del Piero (c) · 11 De Ceglie · 13 Manninger · 14 Vučinić · 15 Barzagli · 17 Elia · 18 Quagliarella · 19 Bonucci · 20 Toni · 21 Pirlo · 22 Vidal · 24 Giaccherini · 26 Lichtsteiner · 27 Krasić · 28 Estigarribia · 30 Storari · 32 Matri · 33 Sørensen · 34 Marrone · 38 Amauri · Manager: Conte
Categories:- 1983 births
- Living people
- Montenegrin people
- Montenegrin footballers
- Montenegrin expatriate footballers
- Montenegro international footballers
- Serbia and Montenegro international footballers
- People from Nikšić
- U.S. Lecce players
- A.S. Roma players
- Juventus F.C. players
- FK Sutjeska Nikšić players
- Association football forwards
- Serie A footballers
- Serie B footballers
- Expatriate footballers in Italy
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