At Pele museum, fans proud of ailing football icon's legacy
SANTOS – On a visit to the Pele Museum in Brazil’s seaside city of Santos, Sergio Murillo Junior said that he was sad to see the football legend’s health deteriorate, but adds that “I am proud of the legacy he left us”.
For the 53-year-old lawyer, Pele is above all “an example of perseverance and resilience, for all generations”.
The museum in Santos is full of memorabilia from the man dubbed “The King” – jerseys and cleats he wore, balls from key matches, and numerous trophies, including the honorary Fifa Golden Ball he received in 2014.
Pele, 82, is battling worsening cancer as well as kidney and heart problems at a Sao Paulo hospital 80km inland.
Family members spent Christmas last Sunday with him in the hospital, according to social media posts by his children.
Flores Araujo Hermes, an 82-year-old Peruvian tourist, told AFP he remembered seeing the football legend play in Lima like it was yesterday.
“Chest, shot and goal! Magnificent!” he recalled, sports commentator-style.
“It was the best. People keep comparing him to others, but no one has surpassed him yet,” Hermes added.
While known globally as the only player in history to have led his country to three World Cup wins (1958, 1962 and 1970), Pele also had great success with his Santos team, including back-to-back Intercontinental Cup wins in 1962 and 1963.
He took the 1958 World Cup by storm when he was 17 years old, netting a hat-trick in the semif-inals and two more goals in the final, catapulting his own career and launching the dynasty of the Brazilian national team.
Born in the neighboring state of Minas Gerais, Pele spent almost all of his career at Santos, before a few final seasons in the 1970s with the New York Cosmos.
Santos’ jerseys this season will feature a golden crown above the club’s crest, a tribute to the team’s eternal No. 10.
“Pele will always be our king, the great king of football,” said Murillo Junior. - AFP, REUTERS
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