THE LITTLE BIRD

A bit late, but this celebrates the life of Manuel Francisco dos Santos (28 October 1933 – 20 January 1983), nicknamed Mané Garrincha, best known as simply Garrincha, ("little bird"), who was a Brazilian right winger. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time (well maybe Brazilian...Pele??), and by some, the greatest dribbler ever. He couldn’t read or write and was born with such physical disabilities it was feared he’d never walk, yet he went on to become a national hero and one of the greatest footballers the world has ever seen. Garrincha played a vital role in Brazil's 1958 and 1962 World Cup victories. In 1962, when the great Pele (below) was injured, Garrincha led Brazil to a World Cup victory with a dominating performance throughout the tournament. He also became the first player to win the Golden Ball (Player of the tournament), Golden Boot (Leading Goalscorer) and the World Cup Final in the same tournament.

He was also named in the World Cup All Star team of both those tournaments. In 1994, he was named in the FIFA All TIme World Cup team. Brazil never lost a match while fielding both Garrincha and Pelé. In 1999, he came seventh in the FIFA  All Time grand jury vote. He is a member of the World Cup Team of the 20th Centuryand was inducted into the Brazilian Hall of Fame. Due to his immense popularity in Brazil, he was also called Alegria do Povo (People's Joy) and Anjo de Pernas Tortas (Bent-Legged Angel), because if his deformed leg, from birth.

At club level, Garrincha played the majority of his professional career for the Brazilian team Botafogo In the Maracana, where the home team room is known as "Garrincha". In the country capital, Brasilia, the Estadio is named after him. He is credited for inspiring the first bullfighting chants of "ole" to be used at football grounds.

I'm afraid he led a dodgey life after (during?) football and if football was Garrincha’s first love, drinking and womanising were not far behind.

He married "pop stars", fathered 14 children and following his retirement, began to drink heavily.Things quickly caught up with the Brazilian legend.

In 1969, he accidentally killed his mother-in-law after driving into a lorry. By 1983, he was dead through alcohol abuse, without a penny to his name, aged just 49.