.jpg) Coluna in 1969 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Mário Esteves Coluna[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1935-08-06)6 August 1935[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Inhaca,Portuguese Mozambique | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 25 February 2014(2014-02-25) (aged 78) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Maputo, Mozambique | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Midfielder | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| Albasini | |||||||||||||||||
| Ferroviário | |||||||||||||||||
| 1951–1954 | Desportivo Lourenço Marques | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1954–1970 | Benfica | 364 | (89) | ||||||||||||||
| 1970–1971 | Lyon | 19 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 1971–1972 | Estrela Portalegre | ||||||||||||||||
| Total | 383 | (91) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1955–1968 | Portugal | 57 | (8) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Mário Esteves Coluna (Portuguese pronunciation:[ˈmaɾiukuˈlunɐ]; 6 August 1935 – 25 February 2014) was a Portuguesefootballer who played mainly as acentral midfielder.
He spent most of his career withBenfica, appearing in 525 official matches and scoring 127 goals over 16 professional seasons. DubbedO Monstro Sagrado (The Sacred Monster), he won 19 major titles with his main club, including tenPrimeira Liga and twoEuropean Cups.[2]
Coluna representedPortugal at the1966 World Cup and earned a total of 57caps.[3] He was considered one of the best midfielders of his generation, also being viewed as one of the most talented Portuguese players of all time.[4]
Born inInhaca,Portuguese Mozambique[5] to aPortuguese father and a Mozambican mother, Coluna was spotted byS.L. Benfica while playing forDesportivo de Lourenço Marques, where he excelled at basketball and track and field.[4] Signed by theLisbon club in 1954, he started out as aninside forward, scoring a career-best 14 goals in 26 games in hisfirst season in Portugal and winning the first of hisPrimeira Liga championships; subsequently, he was successfully reconverted as acentral orattacking midfielder by managerOtto Glória, where he put to good use his stamina and strength, adding to this an accurate and powerful long-distance shot and technical skills.[6]
Colunacaptained Benfica from 1963 to 1970, in 328 matches. Already at the service ofOlympique Lyonnais, he was awarded atestimonial match by his main club on 8 December 1970, playing against aUEFA selection that featured the likes ofJohan Cruyff,Dragan Džajić,Geoff Hurst,Bobby Moore,Uwe Seeler orLuis Suárez. He retired professionally aged 35, afterone sole campaign with the French side – he still spent one year with amateurs Sport Clube Estrela fromPortalegre, acting asplayer-coach.[7]
Coluna scored in both European Cup finals won by Benfica: in1961, he beatFC Barcelona'sAntoni Ramallets from long range in a 3–2 win inBern.The following year, against fellow SpaniardsReal Madrid, he netted the 3–3 equaliser and, subsequently, was supposed to take thepenalty that resulted in the 4–3 lead (eventual 5–3 victory), when youngsterEusébio politely asked if he could shoot it instead.[4][8]
Coluna played 57 times for thePortugal national team, scoring eight goals. His first appearance was in afriendly withScotland on 4 May 1955 (3–0 loss), and his last on 11 December 1968 in a 4–2 defeat inGreece for the1970 FIFA World Cupqualifiers.[9]
Coluna captained theMagriços in all except one of the matches during the third-place campaign at the1966 World Cup in England.[4][10]
Coluna was noted for his leadership skills, calm demeanor and respectful conduct, as well as his vision and reading of the game, passing range and powerful long shots.[11][2]
AfterMozambique became independent in 1975, Coluna held the post of President ofits Football Federation. He also served as the country's Minister of Sports, from 1994 to 1999.[12]
Coluna died on 25 February 2014 at the age of 78 inMaputo, after not being able to overcome a pulmonary infection.[13]
Benfica
Portugal
Individual
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