Paulo Futre was the first outstanding player that rose in Portugal after Eusebio. A product of the Sporting Lisbon academy, he won everything as a youth player.
After his first year playing for Sporting's main squad, he didn't reach an agreement with the management and left for Porto where he enjoyed great success, earning two Championships and one European Champions Cup (2-1 vs Bayern Munich, where he was Man of the Match).
He then joined Atletico Madrid and was widely considered one of the best players of Europe, with his trademark left foot dribbling (little use of his right foot was a trademark as well) and notable speed; he had a "love and hate" relationship with President Jesus Gil y Gil but was always a fan's favourite, as a truly passionate and "give 110%" type of player; the high point of his career there was the 1992 Copa del Rey played at Santiago Bernabeu where defending winners Atletico demoralised Real with a 2-0 class win and with Futre scoring a remarkable second goal.
He had the dream of playing in Italy and, after a 1 year stint with Benfica (where he won the Cup) and another half season at Marseille (where he met his friend Rui Barros again), his dream came through, when he joined low ranked Reggiana in hope to avoid relegation from Serie A; he then carried the team on his shoulders and his performances earned him a contract offer from giants AC Milan (he would only play a single game there due to successive knees injuries).
The waning of his career was spent with West Ham, a brief return to Atletico Madrid and japanese side Yokohama Flügels.
While playing for Portugal's national team, after the Saltillo affair in 1986, he spent most time carrying a mostly unskilled team on his back, even as a winger, but without success; in the end of his career, he still had time to play with Portugal's then-upcoming "Golden Generation" of Luis Figo, Rui Costa, Paulo Sousa and Fernando Couto, who would then rise the nation to new successes.
