Artur Santos: European Cup winner with Benfica would have turned 95 today | OneFootball

Artur Santos, one of the great figures of the Mística do Benfica, would have turned 95 today. According to Glorioso 1904, he joined the club at 15 and became a cornerstone of its 1950s sides.

Born in Paço de Arcos on Lisbon's outskirts, he arrived as a teenager. In 1949/50, the season of Benfica's Taça Latina win, he featured occasionally for the first team and starred for the reserves.

Used regularly the following year in a defence led by Félix, he became an undisputed starter in 1951/52. He kept that status, bar 1957/58, until his penultimate campaign. The 1960/61 season would be his farewell.

He made 382 appearances for Benfica, 286 in official competitions, across 12 seasons, and captained the side 70 times. He began mainly at right-back, with stints on the left. After Otto Glória arrived in 1954 he settled centrally, sometimes reverting to the right.

He helped clinch the league in 1954/55, Glória's first season, then again in 1957, 1960 and 1961, the last two under Béla Guttmann. He also won five Taças de Portugal.

As captain, he was part of the European run that ended in Berna with José Águas lifting, for the first time in the club’s history, the Taça dos Clubes Campeões Europeus. Benfica marked his retirement with a friendly against La Chaux-de-Fonds in October 1961, and he later coached the youth teams before returning to represent the club through Sport Lisboa e Saudade, today Sport Saudade e Benfica, the bastion of 'encarnadas' glories and the mística benfiquista.

Source: Glorioso 1904