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Eusebio aka the black panther has died. Magnificent player. RIP

A great player often referred to as a 'gentleman'. Which makes me think these kind of players were as rare in the 60s as they are today.

Sad news....some of my favourite commentary and skill was in a 66 game with eusebio against brazil...coleman.."oh my word!!!!!....have you ever seen anything like that?"
No...not that often..even now...great player....and I dont use the term "great" lightly

RIP

Oddly, I almost opened a thread on this a couple of months ago. I was in Albania, and for some reason one of the sports channels there ran an obituary programme to him prematurely.

Sad to see him go. He was the first foot in the door for African players, and part of one of the all time great football lyrics:

We all agree
X is better than Yashin;
Y is better than Eusebio
And the rags are in for a thrasin'

Fill in X and Y to your choice.

Two memories stand out: his sportsmanship in the 1968 European Cup Final at Wembley when his shot to win the game was saved by Alex Stepney, Eusebio kept on running and congratulated him on the save; and the quarter final of the 1966 World Cup at Goodison when he brought Portugal back from 0-3 down to beat North Korea.
R.I.P.

My abiding memory is of watching him play in a European cup game at old Trafford(why or how I cant remember, probably went with a rag mate)Styles hacked at his ankles all game and he never complained once despite getting no protection from the ref(surprise surprise). He got a free kick a mile out, took it and it dipped viciously before narrowly missing, the first time I'd seen that kind of thing. I remember Harry Gregg looked to the heavens and crossed himself.Wonderful player and a great sportsman.

I saw Eusebio play on several occasions in the 60's. I have put some pics in the January notes of my City 0214 web page
http://www.rtfract.com/city0214.htm
A great player - similar height to Aguero !

BobbyJ1956 wrote:Two memories stand out: his sportsmanship in the 1968 European Cup Final at Wembley when his shot to win the game was saved by Alex Stepney, Eusebio kept on running and congratulated him on the save;
R.I.P.

I actually have a final programme somewhere signed by him.