Rui Costa was a classical playmaker of grace and vision, one of the finest exponents of the number ten role in his time and a jewel of Portugal’s golden generation. His passing was measured and imaginative, capable of splitting defences with a single stroke of his cultured right foot.
He rose through Benfica before starring in Italy with Fiorentina and then Milan, where he won a Serie A title and a Champions League. Alongside Luís Figo he formed the creative heart of a gifted Portugal side, and he later returned to Benfica, the club of his beginnings, remembered as an artist of the deep-lying creative role.