By Chris Wright
Eusebio passed away on Sunday and ever since fans and mourners have been making the pilgrimage to Benfica’s Estadio do Luz to lay the footballing equivalent of wreathes – the ‘umble scarf – around the great man’s statue outside the stadium as a simple gesture of thanks.
Turns out he was quite popular…
Yesterday also saw Eusebio’s funeral take place, with thousands of people – including the mayor, Antonio Costa – lining the streets of Lisbon to applaud the cortege as it made its way to the Benfica stadium, where pallbearers paraded the coffin around the pitch before placing it on a golden plinth in the centre-circle as fans cheered, let of flares and chanted in honour of their fallen legend.
Eusebio’s coffin was then buried at the Lumiar cemetery in northern Lisbon, where Rui Costa and Oscar Cardozo draped a Benfica over the coffin before putting the Portuguese great to rest…
(Photo: PA/Purva Khakheria)