Paulo Futre

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Paulo Jorge dos Santos Futre, (pron. IPA: ['paulu 'futɾɨ], (born 28 February 1966 in Montijo, Portugal) is a former professional footballer. He is commonly known as Futre. A complete winger of devastating speed and wonderful dribbling, he is one of the best players to come from Portugal.

Futre appeared in 1983 as a very young left winger in Sporting Lisbon with dazzling speed and dribblingabilities. However, when he requested a pay rise from president João Rocha he was turned down and soon left Sporting for FC Porto. In the following years he collected two Portuguese Championships and played a key role in the 1987 European Champions Cup final won by Porto, and played one impressive solo where he missed a goal by inches after dribbling past by five Bayern Munich players.

After that win he was traded to Atlético Madrid for a high fee. Once there he quickly rose to fan favourite status. However, the roughness of Spanish football left him with several knee injuries which tormented his career in the 1990´s. In 1993 he arrived in a controversial deal to Porto and Sporting rivals SL Benfica, winning a Portuguese cup while there. Soon after his arrival he left but his knee problems never really went away. After his stint at Benfica he signed several one-season contracts with Olympique Marseille, Reggiana, A.C. Milan and West Ham United. Finally, he returned to Atlético Madrid, but ended his career with J. League side Yokohama Flugels. Now, he is a director in Atlético Madrid, a respected football personality and a successful real-estate developer in his home town of Montijo.

He was capped 41 times for Portugal (from 1983 to 1995), scoring six goals. He was a member of the Portuguese national team that competed in the Mexico'86 World Cup.

	Portugal squad - 1986 World Cup
1 Bento | 2 Pinto | 3 Sousa | 4 Ribeiro | 5 Álvaro | 6 C. Manuel | 7 Pacheco | 8 Rosa | 9 Gomes | 10 Futre | 11 Bandeirinha | 12 Martins | 13 Morato | 14 Magalhães | 15 Oliveira | 16 J. António | 17 Diamantino | 18 Sobrinho | 19 Águas | 20 Inácio | 21 André | 22 Damas | Coach: Torres