Portugal mourns Jaime Graça

Portuguese football is mourning the death of Jaime Graça, who made his mark on both the European Champion Clubs' Cup and the FIFA World Cup.

The former Vitória FC, SL Benfica and Portugal midfielder died at the age of 70 after a long battle against illness. Born in Setubal, he debuted for his local club aged 17 and in 1965 scored in their Portuguese Cup final defeat of Benfica.

Ever-present in Portugal's third-place finish at the 1966 World Cup in England, Jaime Graça then moved to Benfica, where he was to win seven league titles and three more Portuguese Cups. He was a key player in their run to the 1968 European Cup final against Manchester United FC at Wembley, equalising on 79 minutes only for Benfica to eventually lose 4-1 in extra time.

In all, he earned 36 caps for Portugal between 1965 and 1972, three years before he ended his career having returned to Setubal with Vitória. He went on to coach and assisted José Torres at the 1986 World Cup, only Portugal's second finals appearance after their bronze-medal placing 20 years earlier.

Jaime Graça was also famous for saving the life of Eusébio and other Benfica team-mates in December 1966. The players were having a hydro massage session when an electrical malfunction caused a short circuit. As a former electrician, Jaime Graça was able to disconnect the current, not in time to prevent the death of Luciano Fernandes but averting an even greater tragedy.

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Bento's Portugal plan to spoil Poland party

The focus in snowy Warsaw has inevitably been on Poland as the UEFA EURO 2012 co-hosts play their first game at the National Stadium where they will begin the finals against Greece 100 days hence. The mood is understandably festive – but friendly opponents Portugal have every intention of upsetting the party.

Portugal experienced rather mixed fortunes on their own way to clinching a finals place, but when it mattered they surged through with a 6-2 play-off second-leg defeat of Bosnia and Herzegovina in November. With his focus now shifting to this summer’s finals, coach Paulo Bento is keen to begin 2012 in the right fashion.

"Portugal are motivated to beat Poland," he said. "We are going into this game the same as we have done in the others, [aiming] to be a competitive and organised team."

Carlos Martins and Silvestre Varela have had to withdraw their services, but Bento is still keen for the visitors to put on a show, having called up the hero of Portugal's run to the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup final, forward Nélson Oliveira, and also given a late selection to Paulo Machado – capped once in a brief cameo at the end of the 4-0 friendly win against Spain in November 2010.

"We want to take this opportunity to project a good image, play with quality and get a good result," the coach said. "We want to maintain the levels of confidence from qualification we achieved not so long ago and go into the EURO 2012 finals with strong conviction."

Poland themselves have impressed Bento, notably FC Girondins de Bordeaux midfielder Ludovic Obraniak and Borussia Dortmund forward Robert Lewandowski. "The Poland team have quality and the advantage of playing at home," he said. "From the midfield up they have plenty of quality. [Obraniak] and Lewandowski are natural highlights; they play for great teams, but we also have our own weapons.

"We know it will be a difficult match due to our opponents' quality, as they are playing at home and also looking forward to EURO 2012, a tournament they will co-host. Nevertheless, we have shown our strengths recently and I can assure everyone that we will be motivated from the first minute onwards."

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