Eusébio: the Black Panther

Eusébio da Silva Ferreira was born in 1942 in Lourenço Marques, in what was then Portuguese Mozambique. Spotted as a raw teenage talent, he made his way to Benfica in Lisbon, where his combination of speed and shooting power was immediately overwhelming. Fast off the mark and blessed with one of the fiercest strikes the game had seen, he tore through defences from the moment he arrived. Nicknamed the Black Panther, he brought a physical explosiveness that few defenders of his era could contain.

At Benfica, Eusébio became the defining player of a great side. He helped the club win the European Cup and reach several more finals through the 1960s, scoring at a relentless rate season after season and finishing among Europe's top marksmen year upon year. His goals were often spectacular — driven with ferocious power from distance — but they were also constant, the reliable engine of everything Benfica achieved. He was awarded the Ballon d'Or in 1965 as the finest player on the continent.

Eusébio announced himself to the wider world at the 1966 World Cup in England, where he finished as the tournament's top scorer with nine goals and dragged Portugal to third place, their best ever finish at the time. The defining moment came in the quarter-final against North Korea: with Portugal stunned and trailing 3-0, Eusébio scored four goals almost single-handedly to turn the tie around. It remains one of the great individual rescues in World Cup history.

Beyond his goals, Eusébio was remembered for his sportsmanship and warmth, weeping openly when Portugal were finally eliminated in 1966 and remaining a gracious ambassador for the game long after he retired. In Lisbon he became a genuine national icon, honoured with a statue outside Benfica's stadium. When he died in 2014, Portugal mourned as if for a member of the family. He is remembered as one of the greatest goalscorers the sport has ever produced.