Mantorras

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Personal information
Mantorras

Full name	Pedro Manuel Torres
Date of birth	March 18, 1982 (age 25)
Place of birth	Huambo, Angola
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Nickname	Palanca Negra (Black Antelope) Parafusos
Playing position	Striker, CF
Club information
Current club	SL Benfica
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1999-2001 2001-	FC Alverca SL Benfica	31 (10) 70 (24)
National team²
2001-	Angola	13 (3)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21 June 2006. ² National team caps and goals correct as of 21 June 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Pedro Manuel Torres (born March 18, 1982 in Huambo), is an Angolan football player, who is better known as Mantorras. He currently plays for Benfica, from Lisbon. He has drawn comparisons to Eusébio, another player from Portuguese Africa (in this case Mozambique) who played for Benfica in the 1960s [1]. His short career has been plagued by injury.

[edit] Club and country

Mantorras joined Benfica in 2001 after a great season in Alverca FC. In 2002, Mantorras suffered a serious knee injury, that almost put an end to his career. Fortunately, after two years of hard and painful recovery, he returned to the field to help Benfica win the 2004/05 Superliga.

He was one of the best players in the Angolan National Team that was the first ever African Portuguese-speaking country to qualify for the World Cup, in 2006.

Benfica's highly-rated Angolan striker Pedro Mantorras obviously is not one to forget his roots.

When at 19-years-old, he who turned down a move to Internazionale earlier that year, was clearly delighted when Benfica signed him from Alverca for 3.5million pounds in the close season. 'Benfica is my destiny. It's a great step forward,' he said.

But it was not long before his thoughts turned to those less fortunate in his homeland, promising to donate a hefty percentage of his wages to set up a home for street kids in Luanda.

'I feel so sorry for children in Angola,' says Mantorras. 'I know what it's like to go hungry and to sleep on the street. My father died when I was three months old and my mother when I was 16. I had a brother to look after and became the head of the family very young. I had a lot of difficulties early in my life. Now that my fortunes have improved, I'm going to do what I can to help the underprivileged.'

The forward's charitable nature does not extend to the field of play - his sumptuous skill, mobility, strength and dead-eye finishing make him a nightmare to neutralise.

Mantorras has already been described as the best player to come out of Portuguese Africa since Eusébio left Mozambique for Benfica in the early 1960s. Success-starved Benfica fans would not find such comparisons too fanciful. They fell in love with Mantorras as soon as they saw him turn on the style in pre-season. Eusébio himself says of the youngster: 'He has special qualities and is set for a great future.'

[edit] Honours

Superliga 2005 SL Benfica
SuperCup Cândido de Oliveira 2004 SL Benfica
Portuguese Cup 2004 SL Benfica
African U-20 Championship 2001

[edit] External links

	Angola squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 João Ricardo \| 2 Marco Airosa \| 3 Jamba \| 4 Lebo Lebo \| 5 Kali \| 6 Miloy \| 7 Figueiredo \| 8 André \| 9 Mantorras \| 10 Akwá \| 11 Mateus \| 12 Lamá \| 13 Édson \| 14 Mendonça \| 15 Rui Marques \| 16 Flávio \| 17 Zé Kalanga \| 18 Love \| 19 Titi Buengo \| 20 Locó \| 21 Delgado \| 22 Mário \| 23 Marco Abreu \| Coach: Gonçalves

SL Benfica - Current Squad
1 Moreira \| 2 P. Correia \| 3 Anderson \| 4 Luisão \| 5 Léo \| 6 Petit \| 7 M. Ferreira \| 8 Katsouranis \| 9 Mantorras \| 10 Rui Costa \| 11 Miguelito \| 12 Quim \| 15 P. Jorge \| 16 Beto \| 18 Manú \| 20 Simão \| 21 Nuno Gomes \| 22 Nélson \| 23 David Luiz \| 25 N. Assis \| 26 Karagounis \| 27 Derlei \| 28 J. Coimbra \| 30 Miccoli \| 31 Moretto \| Manager: Fernando Santos