Lucimar Ferreira da Silva (born 8 May 1978), commonly known as Lúcio, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back.

A tall and physically strong defender who excelled in the air, Lúcio was known for his long, surging, galloping runs on the ball, which earned him the nickname O Cavalo ("The Horse").

After three years in the club, he moved to Bayer Leverkusen, where he reached the 2002 UEFA Champions League final against Real Madrid of Spain.

He was selected In the FIFA FIFPro World XI of 2010 For His Performances [11] On 24 September 2011, Lúcio made his 100th appearance in an Inter shirt, scoring the third of a 3–1 win at Bologna in Serie A matchday 5.

[14] Although he was initially used as a starter in the club's three-man defence, featuring in Juventus's 4–2 victory over Napoli in the 2012 Supercoppa Italiana on 11 August,[15] after struggling with injuries and producing some inconsistent performances, he was soon left out of the first-team in favour of the defensive trio of Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci and Andrea Barzagli.

[16] Due to this lack of playing time, Lúcio left Juventus on 17 December 2012, after his contract was terminated by mutual consent.

[16][17] On 18 December 2012, one day after leaving Juventus, Lúcio signed for a two-year contract with Brazilian side São Paulo.

The German side understood the explanations of the directors of the Brazilian club about the insubordination issues, but insisted on São Paulo's performance of contract.

He did not accept playing offers from clubs of Middle East and Japan, preferring to stay in Brazil, and did not receive proposals from other Brazilian teams.

"[24] On 1 January 2014, Lúcio broke his contract with São Paulo (originally to last until December 2014) and signed with Tricolor's rivals Palmeiras.

Upon signing his contract, Lúcio agreed to only earn a third of the salary he had in at São Paulo, being further compensated through prizes based on his performance on the field.

In the 2002 FIFA World Cup quarter-final match against England, Lúcio made a mistake that allowed Michael Owen to score the opening goal.

In the final against Germany, Lúcio bore the full brunt of a free-kick, but managed to stay on his feet to complete playing all 630 minutes of the tournament.

[32][33] In the 2006 World Cup, Lúcio set a FIFA-record by playing 386 consecutive minutes without committing a foul, a streak which was finally broken in Brazil's 1–0 quarter-final loss to France.

On 28 June 2009, the Brazilian captain scored the game-winning goal in the 84th minute for Brazil in the final of the Confederations Cup against the United States.

Regarded as one of the best defenders of his generation,[38] Lúcio was a tall, large, tenacious, and physically strong defender, who excelled in the air,[39] and was known for his heavy marking of opponents, as well as his hard-tackling style of play and leadership;[40] he was also highly regarded for his positioning, ability to read the game and his adeptness at winning back possession in one on one situations.

[41][42] Gifted with good technical skills, and excellent distribution, although he was usually deployed as a centre-back, he was also used as a defensive midfielder, where he demonstrated his confidence in possession, and ability to play the ball out of defence.

[40][43][44] Although he was primarily known for his defensive skill and consistency, his pace, stamina and dribbling ability frequently enabled him to get forward into good attacking positions, with his trademark long, surging, galloping runs on the ball, which earned him the nickname O Cavalo ("The Horse", in Portuguese);[40][45] these attributes, along with his powerful striking ability from distance and on set-pieces with his right foot, made him an additional offensive threat.