25 January 1942 - Portugal Reaps The Benefit Of Colonization

On 25 January 1942, Portuguese star forward Eusébio, the 1965 European Footballer of the Year, was born in what is now Mozambique.

At the time of his birth, Mozambique was under the control of Portugal and was known as Portuguese East Africa. Eusébio grew up there and signed his first contract there in 1957 with his neighborhood club, Sporting de Lourenço Marques, and remained there until he signed with Benfica in December 1960.

He quickly made his mark at his new club, scoring a hat-trick in his first appearance, a May 1961 friendly against Atlético Clube de Portugal. He went on to score a total of 473 goals for them in 440 appearances across all competitions while winning eleven league titles, five Portuguese Cups, and the 1962 European Cup, scoring the last two goals in Benfica's 5-3 win over Real Madrid.

In the 1964-65 season, he scored a career-high 48 goals, leading to his European Footballer of the Year award. He remains the club's all-time appearances and scoring leader.

He left Benfica in 1975 and spent time with several different clubs in the United States, Mexico, and Portugal before retiring in 1980.

23 January 2002 - Where The Special One Became Special

On 23 January 2002, José Mourinho took charge of Porto, where he would establish his reputation as the "Special One."

Just three days short of his 39th birthday at the time, Mourinho had already briefly managed Benfica (2000) and Leiria (2001-02), where his analytical approach to training and success on the pitch attracted the attention of Porto. They had been the league's most successful club throughout the 1990s with eight top-flight titles during the decade, but had fallen off a bit, finishing as runners-up in 2000 and 2001. By the time Mourinho arrived, they had slipped to fifth in the table after a loss to Boavista on 20 January.

In their first match under Mourinho, at home to Maritimo in the league on 26 January, Porto won 2-1, then followed that with  five more wins out of their next six league matches to climb into third, which is where they finished the season.

In 2002-03, Mourinho's first full season at Porto, they reclaimed the league title and won the UEFA Cup with a 3-2 win over Celtic in the final, then repeated as league champions in 2004 while winning the Champions League over Monaco, 3-0.

That performance led to his move to Chelsea, where he earned the nickname The Special One after telling the English press "Please don't call me arrogant, but I'm European champion and I think I'm a special one."

31 May 1961 - Goal-line Technology Is Not A New Issue

On 31 May 1961, Benfica won their first European Cup, beating Barcelona 3-2. It was the first final for both teams and the first European Cup not won by Real Madrid.

Since the first European Cup Final in 1956, Real Madrid had won it five straight times. But in the 1960-61 competition, they were eliminated in the first round by Spanish rivals Barcelona, who then advanced to the final with wins over Spartak Hradec Králové and Hamburg (the latter in a playoff). They had also beaten Lierse in the premilinary round. Benfica, meanwhile, reached the final with wins over Hearts, Újpesti Dózsa, AGF, and Rapid Wien.

In the final, played before a crowd of 33,000 at the Wankdorf Stadium in Bern, Barcelona took the lead with a header from forward Sándor Kocsis in the 20th minute. But Benfica quickly rallied and were up 2-1 at the break thanks to a goal from captain José Águas (pictured) in the 30th minute and an own goal from Barcelona goalkeeper Antoni Ramallets (32'), who attempted to knock the ball away, but sent it off the bar and across the goal. Ramallets and the other Barcelona players argued that the ball did not cross the line, but the referee did not hesitate to award the goal.

A powerful 55th-minute volley from inside-left Mário Coluna extended Benfica's lead and proved to be the decisive goal, as Barcelona left winger Zoltán Czibor pulled one back in the 75th minute to set the final margin at 3-2 in favor of the Portuguese.

Benfica returned to the final six more times, but won it only once more, repeating as champions in 1962. Barcelona also returned six times, winning it in 1992, 2006, 2009, and 2011.