O "Pérola Negra"

As Stadium De Kuip in Rotterdam is rapidly fading from the European scene (read here), the Amsterdam Arena is on the up. Being the venue for the Europa League final of 2013, the capital receives a massive boost in its claim to be frontrunner in the Dutch bid for the Olympic Games in 2028. Rivalling Rotterdam has lost the pace now the New Kuip could remain a pipedream.

Rotterdam is still way ahead in the number of European finals, but the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam can compete in quality as it staged one of the most exciting finals in European football history. With a cast of Eusebio, Mario Coluna and Bela Guttmann on one side and Di Stefano, Gento and Puskas on the other, completed by the antics of the theatrical referee Leo Horn in the middle, Benfica v Real Madrid in 1962 was arguably the topmatch of the sixties as the magnificent 1960 final was rather one-sided . It was also the last show of European football esthetics as catenaccio would take over the next seasons. Puskas scored a hattrick, but lost, while Di Stefano symbolically donned his shirt to Eusebio, who hit twice in the second half.

Afterwards, a witness in the Benfica dressing room noticed how especially Eusebio behaved quite strange after the match but he dismissed rumours of doping. ‘Black magic’ was his conclusion. This reporter was sitting next to a young bear, a gift by a Dutch zoo to the Perola Negra. Benfica took the bear home to Lissabon, where it remained the rest of his life.

in http://www.totalfootballnl.com/

Para quem nao entende ou nao quer entender ingles aqui fica a traduccao da parte escrita a "encarnado":

"...uma testemunha que se encontrava no balneario do benfica reparou no comportamento algo estranho de Eusebio logo apos o final da partida, contudo desmentiu os rumores de doping. "Magia Negra" foi a sua conclusao..."

Fica uma pergunta no ar, como é possivel nunca termos ouvido esta historia antes...!

Ficamos tambem a saber que o eusebio é conhecido na holanda como o Perola Negra. Um nome bastante curioso.

Pois bem, este assunto seria pertinente investigar e caso as investigacoes levem a algum lado seria no minimo justo retirar todos os titulos ilegalmente conquistados pelo clube da capital.