João Manuel Vieira Pinto (; born 19 August 1971) is a Portuguese retired professional footballer who played mostly as a forward. Blessed with playmaking and goalscoring ability, he made his name mostly at a domestic level and as a key figure in the Portuguese national team's "Golden Generation", collecting 152 caps and scoring 47 goals all categories comprised (81/23 for the senior team alone) and representing the country in one World Cup and two European Championships. At the club level, Pinto started his career with Boavista, but it was mainly associated with two of the biggest clubs in the country, Benfica and Sporting, with which he won one Primeira Liga each for a total of six major titles combined. Over 19 top-division seasons, he played 450 matches and netted 112 goals. Career As a youth, Pinto played for Bairro do Falcão (where he was born, in Campanhã, Porto's east side) and Águias da Areosa FC, and once tried to join FC Porto's youth system – refused, he moved to Boavista F.C. instead. As a child, he impressed with his speed and ball control, and was subsequently one of the brightest stars in Portugal's wins in the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Riyadh and Lisbon, being one of three players ever to have been on the winning side in this competition twice, along with goalkeeper Fernando Brassard (whom however did not play in the first tournament) and Argentinian Sergio Agüero; additionally, he made his Primeira Liga debut at only 17. Pinto's performance in the first youth competition earned him a transfer to Atlético Madrid in 1990, but he was placed instead with the club's B-team. After a forgettable season he rejoined Boavista, played every game, scored eight goals and helped his team win the 1992 Portuguese Cup, in a final against city rivals Porto; shortly after, he signed with S.L. Benfica. Whilst with Benfica, Pinto's career was threatened in late 1992 by a collapsed lung during an international match for Portugal in Scotland for the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifiers– he did recover, but was unable to help the team win the title. However, in the next season, he played arguably his best football there, his best moment coming in the Lisbon derby against Sporting CP, where he scored three goals and was on the play of the remaining three in a 6–3 win at the Estádio José Alvalade; this result