Germano de Figueiredo
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Germano de Figueiredo (Lisbon, 18 January 1933 — 14 July 2004), commonly known by just Germano (pron. IPA: [ʒɨɾ'mɐnu]) was a Portuguese central defender, considered by many one of the best Portuguese players of all time.
He started his career in Atlético, were he debuted for the National Team, at 29 November 1953, in a 0-0 draw with Austria for the World Cup qualifyings. He had 7 caps for Atlético, before moving to Benfica, in 1960/61, were he had more 17.
He reached the stardom in Benfica, were he played from 1959/60 to 1965/66, winning the titles of National Champion for 1960/61, 1962/63, 1963/64 and 1964/65, and the Cup of Portugal for 1962 and 1964. He played a final season at Salgueiros, in 1966/67.
Germano was a leading figure at the Benfica team that was twice European Champion, in 1961 and 1962. He was also considered the best central defender of the 1961 competition and was, perhaps, the best player at the final, when Benfica won Barcelona by 3-2. After the final whistle, he said that "I only gonna believe in this, next week". He was also present at the 1963 and 1965 finals.
For the National Team, he was the capitan during the 1966 World Cup qualifyings, and certainly would have been a leading figure of the "Magriços" squad at the finals, if he did not had an injury during the first game, at 19 July 1966, a 3-1 win over Hungary, that impeached him to play in the rest of the competition. That would be also his 24 th and final cap for the National Team.
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