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Carlos Manuel
Personal information
Full name	Carlos Manuel Correia dos Santos
Date of birth	January 15, 1958
Place of birth	Moita, Portugal
Nickname	Carlão de Estugarda
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Retired
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1975-76 1976-78 1978-79 1979-88 1987-88 1988-90 1990-92 1992-94	CUF CUF (II D) FC Barreirense SL Benfica FC Sion Sporting Lisbon Boavista FC GD Estoril-Praia	2 (0) 30 (2) 215 (42) 12 (6) 62 (6) 17 (0) 45 (3)
National team
1980-1986	Portugal	42 (8)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Carlos Manuel Correia dos Santos (born Moita, 15 January 1958), commonly known just by Carlos Manuel (pron. IPA: ['kaɾluʃ mɐnu'ɛɫ]) was a Portuguese football player and is a current football manager. He was one of the best Portuguese offensive midfielders of the 1980s, being a key figure both for SL Benfica and the Portuguese national team, participating in the Euro 1984 and the 1986 FIFA World Cup finals. He was chosen by Portuguese sports newspaper Record as one of the best 100 Portuguese football players ever.

He first attracted attention while playing for CUF and for FC Barreirense and moved to Benfica in 1979/80. Here he won three championships, Primeira Divisão, in the 1982-83, 1983-84 and 1986-87 seasons, as well as three Cups of Portugal, in 1985, 1986, and 1987. He also played at the UEFA Cup finals, in 1983, lost to Anderlecht. During his time at Benfica, Carlos Manuel debuted for the national team on March 26, 1980, in a 1-4 1982 World Cup qualifying defeat to Scotland.

For the Portuguese national team, the "Selecção Nacional", he played 42 caps and scored 8 goals. Three of them were particularly memorable: the goal in the 1-0 win over Poland in Wrocław on October 28, 1983, which helped Portugal to qualify for Euro 84; the shot in the historic 1-0 victory over West Germany in Stuttgart on 16 October 1985, which secured qualification for the 1986 World Cup, and the goal in the 1-0 win over England in the first game of the finals in Mexico.

However, the 1-3 loss to Morocco on 11 July 1986 meant the elimination of Portugal from the tournament and turned out to be Carlos Manuel's last cap for his country, at the age of just 28.

He quit the national team after the "Saltillo Affair" and played for Benfica until the 1987-88 season, during which he moved to FC Sion in Switzerland. He later returned to Portugal, playing for Sporting Lisbon for the 1988/89 and 1989/90 seasons, before moving to Boavista FC, where he stayed until 1991/92. He played the last two seasons of his career at GD Estoril-Praia. He finished his playing career in middle of the 1993-94 season, to become a football manager.

The biggest club he coached was Sporting Lisbon, where he was relatively unsuccessful.

• Portuguese National Championship (4) - 1980/81, 1982/83, 1983/84, 1986/87
• Cup of Portugal (5) - 1980/81, 1982/83, 1984/85, 1985/86, 1986/87
• SuperCup Cândido de Oliveira (2) - 1979/80, 1984/85
• Portuguese Footballer of the Year (1) - 1985

• (Portuguese)Source of clubs as player

	Portugal squad - 1986 FIFA World Cup
1 Bento | 2 Pinto | 3 Sousa | 4 Ribeiro | 5 Álvaro | 6 Carlos Manuel | 7 Pacheco | 8 Frederico | 9 Gomes | 10 Futre | 11 Bandeirinha | 12 Martins | 13 Morato | 14 Magalhães | 15 Oliveira | 16 José António | 17 Diamantino | 18 Sobrinho | 19 Águas | 20 Inácio | 21 André | 22 Damas | Coach: Torres