Virgílio Mendes
Personal information
Full name Virgílio Marques Mendes
Date of birth (1926-11-17)17 November 1926
Place of birth Entroncamento, Portugal
Date of death 24 April 2009(2009-04-24) (aged 82)
Place of death Porto, Portugal
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s) Right back
Youth career
1943–1946 Ferroviários
1946–1947 Porto
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1947–1962 Porto 346 (5)
International career
1949–1960 Portugal 39 (0)
Managerial career
1966 Porto
1979–1980 Mirandela
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Virgílio Marques Mendes (17 November 1926 – 24 April 2009) was a Portuguese professional footballer, noticed as a leading figure of FC Porto and the Portugal national team during the 1950s.[1]

Career

He won the national Primeira Divisão championship title twice with FC Porto, in the 1955–56 and 1958–59 seasons. For the national team, Virgílio debuted in a friendly 1–4 loss to Italy on 27 February 1949, in a game that earned him the nickname of "O Leão de Génova" (The Lion of Genoa), for whom he would be known for the rest of his career.

He was a constant figure in the national team for the next 11 years, and he played in the 1950, 1954 and 1958 World Cup qualification. The last one is remembered for the historical 3–0 win over Italy, which ultimately resulted in the Italians missing the 1958 FIFA World Cup to Northern Ireland, the only time the Italians have missed a World Cup tournament. Virgílio's last game came at age 33, in the Euro 1960 1–5 quarter-final loss to Yugoslavia, on 22 May 1960. That would be his 39th cap for the national team, which made Virgílio the most capped Portuguese football player of his time.

He coached FC Porto for a brief period in 1966 as a caretaker, when he succeeded Flávio Costa in his second stint with the club. He also managed SC Mirandela in the 1979–80 season, leading the team to the first place of the Terceira Divisão – Série A.[2]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition.

Club Season League Cup[lower-alpha 1] Europe Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Porto 1947–48 Primeira Divisão 17110—181
1948–49 Primeira Divisão 20130—231
1949–50 Primeira Divisão 22100—221
1950–51 Primeira Divisão 26040—300
1951–52 Primeira Divisão 24070—310
1952–53 Primeira Divisão 19070—260
1953–54 Primeira Divisão 25040—290
1954–55 Primeira Divisão 26020—280
1955–56 Primeira Divisão 26050—310
1956–57 Primeira Divisão 260402[lower-alpha 2]0320
1957–58 Primeira Divisão 19090—280
1958–59 Primeira Divisão 20191—292
1959–60 Primeira Divisão 240902[lower-alpha 2]0350
1960–61 Primeira Divisão 261110—371
1961–62 Primeira Divisão 26060—320
1962–63 Primeira Divisão 00401[lower-alpha 3]050
Career Total3465851504366
  1. ↑ Includes the Taça de Portugal
  2. 1 2 Appearances in European Cup
  3. ↑ Appearance in Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

Honours

Player

Porto

Manager

Mirandela

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Virgílio:"Dentro das quatro linhas era muito endiabrado"" (in Portuguese). Record. 12 June 2002. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  2. ↑ "CM Mirandela/Sport Clube de Mirandela" (in Portuguese). cm-mirandela.pt. Retrieved 12 December 2016.

Further reading

  • DIAS, Rui, Record – 100 Melhores do Futebol Português – Volume II, 2002, EDISPORT.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.