Friday Flashback: When Luís Figo established himself as a hero by leading Portugal over England in EURO 2000
Friday Flashback: When Luís Figo established himself as a hero by leading Portugal over England in EURO 2000
By Eric Beard
As Portugal’s captain, a whole lot of pressure is being placed upon Cristiano Ronaldo’s shoulders. He may be the world’s best player, but can such an outlandish player really lead a team? Well, Luís Figo did. This is a painful memory for all England fans, but it has to go down as one of the all-time great individual performances, and one of the more epic comebacks as well. England were up 2-0 thanks to the likes of Beckham, Scholes, and Steve Mcmanaman, but then the Figo show turned up. Figo, at that time, was just about to make his controversial move from Barcelona to Real Madrid, and start Florentino Perez’s “Galacticos Era”.
Anyway, in this match Figo proved invaluable to the millions of Portuguese watching, and his goal to make it 2-1 will never be forgotten by most. A brilliant long-range strike that would beat every goalkeeper in the world. Then after Portugal equalized to make it 2-2, Figo, with little time left, set up Nuno Gomes’ game-winner. So if a certain someone needs some notes for how to lead a team, look no further than this. Luís Figo, you are a proper AFR legend.
