Figo announced recently that he would retire from the international game after next year's finals, thus ruling himself out of the 2006 World Cup by which time he will be nearly 34.

He later said he was not sure whether he would carry on playing at the highest level or not -- but the point remains that if Portugal do not win Euro 2004 on their own soil in front of their own fans, there is little chance of them winning anything else until the next "golden generation" comes along.

Easily the world's best-known Portuguese player, Figo's face can be seen cracking a rare smile to endorse everything from petrol to banks on high-street hoardings and even supermarket trolleys in his homeland.

Born on the industrial south bank of the River Tagus facing Lisbon in 1972, Figo began playing with Sporting then moved to Barcelona. He was transferred to Real Madrid in a controversial deal in 2000 for what was then a world-record transfer fee.

Despite having been capped almost 100 times since his senior international debut in 1991, he has picked up no titles with Portugal since winning the World Youth Championships in 1989 and 1991.

He has not been helped by the fact that Portugal have qualified for only one World Cup (2002) and two European championships (1996 and 2000) since then.

But he was instrumental in Portugal's spirited Euro 2000 campaign, in which they reached the semi-finals after dazzling displays including a come-from-behind 3-2 win over England.

Figo also drove Portugal through a great qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup finals, picking up FIFA's Player of the Year award in 2001.

By the time Portugal flew to South Korea, however, Figo was recovering from injury and lacked his explosive mixture of speed and dribbling ability.

Having started among the favourites, Portugal were outplayed by the unfancied United States and failed to get through the first round.

Since then, however, Figo's ability to put the ball into dangerous positions for his forwards has helped to make his Real Madrid club perennial favourites for the Champions League.

If he avoids injury, he should still cause major problems for defences in Portugal next year.