By Gabriel Araujo and Eduardo Simões
SAO PAULO/SOCORRO, Brazil (Reuters) – Some of Brazilian soccer legend Pele’s former team mates on Friday remembered him as the greatest player of all time, as they mourned his death and celebrated his legacy.
Gerson and Pepe, who played with Pele in World Cup-winning Brazil sides, described the only man to win three World Cup trophies as a player from another planet, who was also a great guy off the pitch.
Pele, whose full name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, died on Thursday at 3:27 p.m. local time (18:27 GMT) due to multiple organ failures resulting from the progression of colon cancer, according to Sao Paulo’s Albert Einstein Hospital. He was 82.
Brazil has declared three days of mourning to lament his passing, with global leaders, fans and friends paying their respects to the sports icon.
Gerson, who won the 1970 World Cup with Brazil alongside Pele, told Reuters in an interview from his home in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, that playing with him “was knowing that victory would come.
“He was the best, the king of soccer. Edson Arantes do Nascimento has died, but Pele is eternal,” said 81-year-old Gerson. Both he and Pele scored in the 1970 final, when Brazil thrashed Italy 4-1 to clinch their third world title.
Jose Macia, nicknamed Pepe, participated in the previous two tournaments in 1958 and 1962, and also played with Pele for club side Santos. He praised his former team mate as one of a kind, whose skills will never be seen again.
“I joke that his mother threw away the formula she used to create him. There will never be someone like him,” said Pepe, 87, in an interview at his home in Socorro, a small city near Sao Paulo.
“Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Maradona are all exceptional, wonderful players, but they are human. Pele was not human, he came from Saturn.”
Gerson went further: “Is there any place further than Saturn?” he wondered. “If so, that’s where he came from”.
(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo, Eduardo Simoes and Leonardo Benassatto; Editing by Ken Ferris)
