The fast-emerging star from Portugal lived up to his “Special One” nickname by going all the way to glory in only his third appearance on the European Tour since joining the circuit full-time in 2019.

Having whitewashed Germany’s Ricardo Pietreczko to begin his Sindelfingen challenge on Saturday, De Sousa then showed his title credentials with a fine 6-3 third round defeat of Gerwyn Price.

He backed that up with a 98 average in a 6-4 quarter-final defeat of Darius Labanauskas, before surviving one missed match dart against Ian White in a thrilling semi-final. White took out finishes of 126, 120 and 118 as he moved 6-5 up, but missed double 16 for the match in leg 12 before De Sousa fired in an 11-darter in the deciding leg to move into the final.

There, the 46-year-old claimed the scalp of the world number one to take the £25,000 title, joining Price and Devon Petersen as a European Tour winner this season in style. De Sousa averaged almost 106 in the final, finishing eight doubles from 13 attempts and hitting seven 180s in a brilliant performance.

The pair traded 84 finishes in the opening two legs and were locked after four before De Sousa took three in a row, including an 11-darter to break and finishes of 87 and 86. Van Gerwen replied with two 14-darters in the next three legs, but a huge 146 checkout from De Sousa moved him 7-4 up before he wrapped up the win by taking out 88 for a 12-darter.

Van Gerwen survived missed match darts from both Vincent van der Voort and Nathan Aspinall on Sunday, but hit top form with a 170 checkout and seven doubles from 11 attempts in his 7-1 semi-final win over Mensur Suljovic. However, the Dutchman was afforded only five darts at a double by De Sousa in the final – hitting four – as he missed out on a first European Tour title of 2020.