Eusébio: the Black Panther who carried Benfica and Portugal

Eusébio was a forward who combined speed, power and a shot that goalkeepers feared. He arrived in Lisbon from Mozambique as a teenager and became the face of Benfica and of Portuguese football in the 1960s, the Black Panther who led the club through years of success and took Portugal to the semi-finals of a World Cup.

He scored the goals, and he did it on the biggest stages, in Europe and at Wembley.

The numbers

The curve is almost entirely the Benfica years: a high plateau through the second half of the 1960s, a peak in 1967–68 and another big season in 1972–73, and then the numbers fall away. The seasons after Lisbon are footnotes, with the exception of the title-winning year in Toronto.

From Mozambique to Lisbon

Eusébio played for Sporting de Lourenço Marques in Mozambique, an affiliate of Sporting CP, and scored at a rate that drew attention. In 1960 the Brazilian former player José Carlos Bauer, on a ten-week scouting tour of Africa for Benfica coach Béla Guttmann, spotted him. São Paulo had declined the chance to sign him, and Bauer recommended him to Guttmann.

He arrived in Lisbon on 15 December 1960, aged 18, and the transfer was completed on 13 May 1961 for 400,000 Portuguese escudos. It was not straightforward: Sporting CP disputed the deal, since the Mozambican club was their affiliate, and a government sports body first ruled in their favour before the Portuguese Football Federation sided with Benfica.

Benfica: Europe at his feet

He made his first appearance on 23 May 1961, in a friendly against Atlético Clube de Portugal that Benfica won 4–2, with a hat-trick from the newcomer. His official debut came on 1 June in the Taça de Portugal, against Vitória de Setúbal.

The European Cup came in his first full season. In the 1962 final Benfica beat Real Madrid 5–3, and Eusébio scored twice. They reached the final again in 1963, 1965 and 1968 and lost all three, the last of them at Wembley against Manchester United. With the score at 1–1 near the end of normal time, Eusébio almost won it for Benfica, but his shot was saved by Alex Stepney. Manchester United won 4–1 in extra time.

In between there was the Ballon d'Or in 1965, and runner-up finishes in 1962 and 1966. In 1968 he became the first winner of the Golden Boot as Europe's leading scorer, and he won it again in 1973.

Portugal and the 1966 World Cup

Four against North Korea

At the 1966 World Cup, Portugal topped a group that included Bulgaria, Hungary and Brazil, and Eusébio scored against Bulgaria and twice against Brazil, one of them a famous volley from a tight angle.

The quarter-final against North Korea is the day his legend was made. Portugal were 3–0 down after 25 minutes. Eusébio then scored four consecutive goals, two before half-time and two in the first fifteen minutes of the second half, and Portugal won 5–3.

In the semi-final Portugal lost 2–1 to England, and Eusébio scored a penalty in the 82nd minute that ended England's seven consecutive clean sheets and 708 minutes without conceding. He retrieved the ball from the net and saluted the England goalkeeper, Gordon Banks, and then left the pitch in tears. In Portugal that match is remembered as the Game of Tears. He scored his ninth and last goal of the tournament, a penalty, in the third-place win over the Soviet Union.

The long goodbye

He left Benfica in 1975, after a last league title, and travelled through North America and Portugal, playing for a series of smaller clubs. At Toronto Metros-Croatia in 1976 he scored the winning goal in a 3–0 win in the Soccer Bowl to win the North American Soccer League. Knee problems wore him down, with seven operations, six on the left knee, and he retired in 1979 and joined the technical committee of the Portuguese national team.

The trophies

At Benfica Eusébio won eleven league titles, five Portuguese Cups and the European Cup, and in 1976 the North American championship. The list in one place:

Records

The farewell

Eusébio died at home on 5 January 2014, aged 71, of heart failure. The Portuguese government declared three days of national mourning and hundreds of thousands paid tribute. A year later, on 3 July 2015, his remains were moved to the National Pantheon, making him the first footballer buried there, and the avenue in front of Benfica's stadium was renamed in his honour.

"I regret the death of my brother Eusebio."

— Pelé, on Facebook, January 2014, as reported by Business Standard

"His talent brought joy for entire generations, even those who didn't live through the most glorious moments of his career."

— Aníbal Cavaco Silva, then president of Portugal, on Eusébio's death, January 2014

Franz Beckenbauer, a contemporary, called him one of the greatest footballers ever.