🌎 World Cup Moments: The original king of Portuguese football

🌎 World Cup Moments: The original king of Portuguese football While Cristiano Ronaldo might now be the most well-known Portuguese player of all time, long before him, there was the brilliant Eusébio, whose goalscoring exploits helped put the country on the footballing map.  A legend of both the national team and Benfica, the man known as "the Black Panter", "the Black Pearl", and "the King" was all that, and more.  Born and raised in Mozambique, which was then a Portuguese colony, a young Eusébio's first foray into football came playing on the streets with his friends, in a self-created side labelled  Os Brasileiros (The Brazilians) in honour of the great side of the 1950s.  Soon, he began playing for Sporting Lourenço Marques, scoring a staggering 77 goals in just 42 games for the club, who were a sister club of Sporting CP.  This association with the other great Lisbon club led to a tug-of-war for the services of the great striker in 1960, which eventually was won by Benfica after a lengthy legal process.  Eusébio was more than worth the wait, not just helping his new side to retain their European Cup crown in the 1961-62, but being their immediate best player, scoring twice in a famous 5-3 final win against the mighty Real Madrid.  While this would be his one and only continental medal (he also lost three European Cup finals, one to Manchester United at Wembley in 1968), he won absolutely everything else there was to win for Benfica, as well as on a personal level. Across 14 full seasons with the Lisbon giants, he spearheaded a period of utter dominance that resulted in 11 league titles and five Portuguese Cups, as well as seven league top scorer titles.  It wasn't just in Portugal that Eusébio's exhilarating talent and incredible goalscoring prowess was on show. He top scored the European Cup on three separate occasions, being second only to Alfredo Di Stéfano in the pre-Champions League era (1992) all-time scoring charts with 48 goals.  His performances across the continent saw him crowned the 1965 Ballon d'Or, as well as finish runner-up in 1962 and 1966. Quite simply, he was the best centre forward in the world and, perhaps, only Pelé could claim to be a superior player across the decade.  Unsurprisingly, the Black Panther is Benfica's all-time top scorer with a ridiculous 473 goals in 440 appearances. It is a record that will surely never be surpassed.  At international level, Eusébio was equally brilliant, driving Portugal to their first ever tournament - the 1966 World Cup.  In England, he, once again, displayed his unparalleled scoring ability, netting nine times across just six games, helping his country to a third-placed finish, and himself to the Golden Boot.  His displays wowed the host nation so much that he won the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year award shortly after, and also had his waxwork immediately added to Madame Tussauds in London.  Eusébio retired from international football in 1973 as both the most capped Portuguese player, and the nation's top scorer. Both records have since been overtaken, but the great man's place in the country's football history, as well as that of the overall game itself, is forever enshrined.