“Miúdo respira, respira miúdo,” Fernando Couto called out. Just breathe, kid, just breathe.

Couto, then captain of Portugal, stood at the dusk of a storied career that had left him little to learn. Yet nothing had prepared him for the teenager at the Euro 2004 camp. Lanky, speedy, taped ears, chestnut-brown curls with copper highlights tumbling over his forehead in a carefree, almost rebellious fashion.

Many traits set the boy apart, and one above all: hunger. He ran through training with such abandon that Couto feared he would run himself into the ground.

He would soon learn that Cristiano Ronaldo could not be stopped. In the opener, Portugal trailed Greece 2-0 in the 93rd minute. Every shoulder had dropped, save for one.…