Former Benfica and Portugal captain Mário Coluna has died at the age of 78 after a pulmonary infection.
Coluna was a central figure in the great Benfica team of the 60s that won two European Cup finals.
In the 1961 final, he led the team to victory over Real Madrid 5-3 after defeating Tottenham Hotspur in the semis.
He scored 150 goals in 677 games for Benfica, whose president Luis Filipe Vieira said in an official club statement: “He was and will always be a football genius who magnified football and projected Sport Lisboa e Benfica to a global dimension.”
His home country of Mozambique is to give a state funeral to the great man. Coluna was captain of the Portugal team that lost 2-1 to England in the 1966 World Cup semi-final. He was a truly creative midfield genius who undoubtedly played a major role in helping Eusébio finish as top scorer at the tournament.
Within six weeks, Benfica, Portugal and Mozambique have now lost two of their greatest sporting icons.
Benfica legend Mário Coluna dies
