When Porto signed Mario Jardel in 1996, it was like hitting the jackpot. The Brazilian forward made an instant impact in Portuguese football, forging a special relationship with the opposition’s net.
During his four years with the team, Jardel was consistently the top scorer in the Portuguese League. His goal-scoring prowess could have easily earned him the Golden Boot every year if the Primeira Liga had a higher coefficient compared to other European leagues. After leading Gremio to victory in the Copa Libertadores in 1995, where he was the tournament’s top scorer with 12 goals, it was no surprise that he soon crossed the Atlantic to play in Europe. Although a planned move to Benfica fell through and Rangers couldn’t sign him due to restrictions on foreign players under 23 in the UK, Porto swooped in without hesitation and changed their destiny.
In his debut, Jardel came off the bench after 22 minutes and scored in the 84th minute, rescuing Porto from a surprise defeat in the league opener against Vitoria Setubal to secure a 2-2 draw at home. From then on, he cemented his place in the starting lineup and found the back of the net twice more in the next three games. It took three match days for him to breach the opposition’s goal again, but he returned with a vengeance, scoring two goals in a 5-0 away win against Espinho, one in a 2-0 victory over Farense, and the winning goal in a 1-0 win against Rio Ave in the 82nd minute. The Dragons (Porto’s nickname) went on a 15-game winning streak with the Brazilian scoring a total of 17 goals during that period, sealing the 15th win with his first hat-trick in a 4-2 victory against Chaves.
His standout moments in his first season at Porto included scoring twice in a 3-1 win against Benfica on matchday 32 and two goals against Milan in a 3-2 victory for the Dragons in Milan on the first matchday of the Champions League (note: in 1997, Porto reached the quarterfinals of the competition). In 31 appearances, he scored 30 goals (a total of 37 in 45 matches across all competitions) and clinched his first Portuguese League title in 1997 as Porto remained at the top for the third consecutive year.
The following season started with six goals for Jardel and five wins in the first five games for Porto. In the 1998 season, he scored 26 goals in 30 games, ending with a spectacular four-goal haul in a 7-2 win against Salgueiros on the penultimate matchday. In addition to the league title, his team also won the Portuguese Cup this time around. Jardel scored three times in an 8-0 win against Valonguense, six more in a 9-1 victory against Evora, and added one goal in the final, where his team defeated Braga 3-1 to reach a tally of 39 goals in 38 appearances across all competitions.
Over the next couple of years, Mario Jardel’s goal-scoring prowess was on a steady rise. In 1999, although he didn’t score in the first three games, he banged in four goals in the subsequent three matches, leading Porto to as many wins. After a home loss of 2-0 against Boavista in the 7th game week, Jardel kicked into high gear, netting 12 goals in the next seven games, including a brace in a 3-1 win over Benfica. His streak continued with four goals in a 7-1 thrashing of Academica and a hat-trick in a 7-0 rout against Beira Mar. By then, he had racked up an impressive tally of 36 goals in 32 matches (38 in total across all competitions), securing another league title for Porto. It was also the season he clinched his first Golden Boot.
In 2000, Jardel made waves in the European scene, especially in the Champions League. Alongside Real Madrid’s Raul and Barcelona’s Rivaldo, he shared the top scorer title with 10 goals each. His first victim was Olympiacos, as Porto defeated them 2-0 in Portugal. Real Madrid also fell victim, conceding a goal in a 3-1 defeat in Madrid and two in a 2-1 loss at Das Antas. Jardel’s strike against Molde secured Porto’s passage to the next round. In the group stage’s second phase, Jardel’s goals helped Porto defeat Sparta Prague 2-0 in the Czech Republic, and he scored twice in a 4-2 loss to Barcelona at Camp Nou. In the quarter-finals against Bayern Munich, Jardel opened the scoring in the first leg, which ended in a 1-1 draw. Although he equalized in the second leg with a header in the 90th minute, Bayern scored in stoppage time to clinch a 2-1 victory.
Despite his prolific scoring, Porto missed out on the league title to Sporting Lisbon. Jardel had already notched four hat-tricks in the first 17 match weeks and had reached 25 goals, including braces against Sporting (3-0) and Benfica (2-0). However, defeats to Sporting and Benfica in the second round, with scores of 2-0 and 1-0 respectively, essentially cost Porto the title. Jardel finished the season with 38 goals in 32 appearances, adding another six in the Portuguese Cup, which Porto won. His total for 2000 stood at 54 goals in 49 matches.
Just before turning 27, Jardel became one of Europe’s hottest properties, with Inter Milan eyeing him as a replacement for the sidelined Ronaldo. Ultimately, Inter opted for Hakan Sukur from Galatasaray, prompting Porto to sell Jardel to the Turkish club for a hefty sum. In 2000, Galatasaray had won the UEFA Cup, and they made a big move by acquiring one of Europe’s top scorers. Their investment paid off immediately, as Jardel scored twice to defeat Real Madrid 2-1 in extra time, clinching the UEFA Super Cup. His three goals in the qualifiers also helped Galatasaray progress to the Champions League group stage. Jardel scored once in each of the three home games, securing wins against Monaco and Rangers and a draw against Sturm Graz, which saw them advance as group runners-up. Milan was his only victim in the second group phase, as he scored in both the 2-2 draw at San Siro and the 2-0 win at Ali Sami Yen. However, Galatasaray fell to Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.
In his second appearance in the Turkish league, Jardel tore apart Erzurumspor’s defense, scoring five times in a 7-0 win for Galatasaray. After 24 games, he had scored 22 goals (he had 34 in 43 appearances in all competitions), but an injury sidelined him for the season’s end. Without him, Galatasaray lost the league title to Fenerbahce in 2001. Several key players, as well as coach Fatih Terim, departed for top European leagues, weakening the team significantly. Unwilling to continue under these circumstances, Jardel returned to Portugal to join Sporting Lisbon. 2002 proved to be a dream season for the Brazilian. With 42 goals in 30 matches, he clinched his fifth Portuguese league top scorer award and reclaimed the Golden Boot, leading Sporting to the title after finishing third the previous season, trailing champions Boavista by 15 points.
Jardel became the 4th and so far the last player to score more than 40 goals in a season in the Primeira Liga, with his 42 goals (as many as the legendary Eusebio scored with Benfica in 1968) being the 3rd best performance of all time behind the 46 of Argentine Hector Yazalde (Sporting Lisbon) in 1974 and the 43 of Portuguese Fernando Peyroteo (Sporting Lisbon) in 1947. Without him, Sporting had won 1-0 against Porto in the premiere, but then lost 3-0 to Belenenses and 1-0 in Lisbon to Alverca. The Brazilian made his debut and scored the equalizer in the 1-1 draw against Leiria in the 4th round and continued with six goals in the next three games, with his team winning 3-1 against Gil Vicente, 3-1 against Farense, where he scored a hat-trick, and 5-0 against Guimaraes, where he scored two goals. After the 2-1 defeat to Braga, despite his goal, Sporting never lost again in the remaining 25 matches and won 18 of them. Jardel played in 24 of those games and only failed to score in five. He made two consecutive hat-tricks in the 3-1 win against Alverca and the 4-1 win against Leiria, scoring a total of 34 goals in 19 games during that period.
Of course, he was unstoppable in other competitions as well. With seven goals of his own, Sporting won the Portuguese Cup, beating Leixoes 1-0 in the final, with Jardel naturally being the scorer. In the UEFA Cup, the Lisbon team was eliminated in the round of 32 by Milan, and Jardel finished the season with 55 goals in 42 appearances. After such a season, his call-up to the Brazilian national team for the 2002 World Cup was considered certain, but it never came. You see, the Brazilians didn’t hold him in high regard at that time because all their good players were strikers and also big stars of world football. Besides, they had blamed him for the disastrous failure in the 2001 Copa America when they were eliminated in the quarterfinals, losing 2-0 to Honduras.
In a team without Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Edmundo, Marcio Amoroso, and Sonny Anderson, who were the top Brazilian forwards at that time, Jardel was expected to make the difference for the Selecao with his goals. He started in the first game, which was the 1-0 defeat to Mexico, but was substituted at halftime. He wasn’t used at all in the next two games, and Brazil won 2-0 against Peru and 3-1 against Paraguay, securing qualification. In the quarterfinals, he was called upon 25 minutes before the end to salvage the situation, but since he couldn’t, he was put on the blacklist. That was his 10th and last appearance with the national team, in which he scored only one goal.
After what he did with Sporting in 2002, he had stated that not playing in the World Cup would be something that would mark him, and so it did. Believing that he wasn’t playing for the national team because he didn’t belong to a major European club, like many of his compatriots who were internationals with Brazil, he requested a transfer and announced his intention never to play again for Sporting. Barcelona was interested in him, but since he was 29 years old, they didn’t move to acquire him as they had decided to invest in young players. Sporting allowed him to stay in Brazil on the condition that he would send them a medical report every month about his health, but when he stopped giving them a report, they went on the offensive.
Sporting interrupted his payments and he immediately requested termination of his contract. Eventually, he returned to Portugal to make 19 appearances and score 11 goals in the championship in 2003. His injury after a fall into a swimming pool was what tipped the scale. On the occasion of this event, it became known that he was using cocaine, and Sporting decided to sell him for a pittance to Bolton. His career had taken a downward spiral for good. Although he was on the field until 2011 when he played in Bulgaria with Cherno More, all those years he played minimally, just like in the Premier League in 2004 when he made only seven appearances, as he was progressively in worse condition over time.
Along the way, it was revealed how difficult he is as a character. He himself has admitted that at Porto, he was using cocaine with the knowledge of the team’s people, at Galatasaray he had gone on strike citing delayed payments, and before going to Sporting, he had threatened Benfica with a lawsuit because they hadn’t kept their promise to take him from Turkey. The teams he played for were willing to turn a blind eye to such issues as long as he was scoring incessantly, but the big clubs and the Brazilian national team had no intention of getting involved in similar situations. Even so, for the Portuguese, Jardel is one of the greatest scorers who ever passed through their country, and they will always remember him for the wonderful moments he gave them with his countless goals.
