Mário Coluna

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Mário Esteves Coluna (pron. IPA: ['maɾiu ku'lunɐ]) (born August 6, 1935 at Inhaca, Mozambique) was a Mozambican-born Portuguese footballer, perhaps the best midfielder his country has ever had. His footballer nickname is O Monstro Sagrado ('The sacred monster).

He moved to Benfica in 1954/55, were he played until 1969/70. He won 10 National Championships, in 1954/55, 1956/57, 1959/60, 1960/61, 1962/63, 1963/64, 1964/65, 1966/67, 1967/68 and 1968/69, and 6 Cups of Portugal in 1955, 1957, 1959, 1962, 1964 and 1969. He won the European Cup twice with Benfica, in 1961 and 1962, and also played in the finals of 1963, 1965 and 1968, this last time as the capitan.

He played 57 times for the Portugal national team, scoring 8 goals. His first appearance was in a friendly match with Scotland on May 4, 1955, losing 0-3, and his last on December 11, 1968, in a 2-4 defeat to Greece, in a World Cup qualifying match.

Coluna captained the legendary team of the "Magriços" in all, except the first, the games of the World Cup 1966 finals, were Portugal reached third place.

He also played for Lyon, in France, in 1970/71 and 1971/72, before retiring.

After Mozambique became independent in 1975, Coluna held the post of President of the Football Federation of Mozambique. He also served as the country's Minister of Sports, from 1994 to 1999.

[edit] Ability

Strong at midfield, Coluna was known for the way he played on the field because of his elegant and efficient style. Coluna was also known to score long distance goals with ease. With one of these surprising kicks, he marked a historical goal. It was against Barcelona, where they played, and at the time, *****, Czibor and Kocsis. It was a goal that assured Benfica its first title as champions of Europe, in the season of 1961.

	Portugal squad - 1966 World Cup 3rd place
1 Américo Lopes \| 2 Joaquim Carvalho \| 3 José Pereira \| 4 Vicente Lucas \| 5 Germano \| 6 Fernando Peres \| 7 Ernesto Figueiredo \| 8 João Lourenço \| 9 Hilário \| 10 Mário Coluna \| 11 António Simões \| 12 José Augusto \| 13 Eusébio \| 14 Fernando Cruz \| 15 Manuel Duarte \| 16 Jaime Graça \| 17 João Morais \| 18 José Torres \| 19 Custódio Pinto \| 20 Alexandre Baptista \| 21 José Carlos \| 22 Alberto Festa \| Coach: Otto Glória