Eusébio

At the time he was considered the European, or rather African, answer to the Brazilian Pelé, but in reality Eusébio was a very different kind of player. Born in what was then a Portuguese colony (Mozambique), he was discovered at a very young age by coach Béla Guttmann. He was probably the first truly world-class African footballer. At Benfica he dominated for 15 years, winning everything and even scoring more goals than appearances, with 440 goals in 473 matches. He played primarily as a center forward, although on the pitch he often liked to start wide on the left or from deeper positions to exploit his powerful runs and combine with a more traditional number nine who could create space for him, such as José Águas. Compared to Pelé he had less pure talent and creativity, but even greater physical power, driven by overwhelming athletic strength. More inclined to finish than to create, Eusébio was extremely fast, possessed a remarkably powerful and accurate shot, showed great instinct in front of goal, and displayed relentless determination, all qualities that made him one of the greatest players ever to emerge in Europe. In today’s game he would likely be seen as an offensive second striker, as his best qualities came out when he had space to attack; he was never a classic penalty-box striker or a traditional number nine, but rather a pure second forward, something like a less technical but more powerful and ruthless version of Thierry Henry. His international career was marked by many highs and few lows: at the 1966 World Cup, at the peak of his powers, he was the top scorer with nine goals, famously turning the match against North Korea and then securing third place against Yashin’s Soviet Union.