“It was Pelé who made me fall in love with football,” said Alipio Bedaque, 66, one of the ‘king’s’ many admirers’, who greeted him outside the Sao Paulo hospital where the Brazilian died on Thursday. the 82-year-old paid his respects.
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Perched on top of a hill in the affluent Morumbi district, the Albert Einstein Hospital Center quickly attracted admirers of the legend of the round ball, who came after the announcement of the death of Pelé, who was battling colon cancer for more than a year.
Faced with shock at the disappearance of the only footballer to win the World Cup three times (1958, 1962 and 1970), some admirers embraced one another.
“I wasn’t born when he played for Santos, but the first name I knew was Pele, the best player of all time,” says Luis Eduardo, 12, visibly touched, wearing a shirt for Spanish club Barcelona.
“It’s very sad,” he said. After learning of the legendary Brazilian’s death via social media, young Louis Eduardo ran with his father Antonio to the hospital, whose doors were locked, as they had been for several days, and guarded by private guards.
However, the glass-domed entrance to the hospital continued to serve patients and visitors despite the announcement of Pelé’s disappearance.
Outside, admirers held up a banner that read, “Eternal King Pelé.”
“Imagine he’s the biggest idol, the best player of all time, an international reference,” says Antonio, a 46-year-old businessman.
In the past few days, he had driven to the hospital center with his son because another of his sons had been operated on there. He hoped to have a chance to see the Brazilian star with his kids.
“I always wanted to be near him and have my picture taken,” says Luis Eduardo.
“You were just looking at Pele”
Pelé, real name Edson Arantes do Nascimento, died on Thursday afternoon, a month after being hospitalized, surrounded by family members. He died “of multiple organ failure due to the progression of his colon cancer,” the hospital said.
When Alipio Bedaque, a 66-year-old agent, heard the news, he rushed to the hospital, not without first putting on a special piece of clothing: a black and white scratched replica of the jersey of Pelé’s historic team Santos FC and 1956, the year of his debut.
The man vividly remembers the times he saw him on the pitch with Santos.
“What happened was that you didn’t see the other players, you just looked at Pelé and what he was doing,” recalls Alipio Bedaque, crediting the star with “responsibility” for his passion for football.
The city of Santos, cradle of the former Brazilian star’s career, in the state of Sao Paulo (southeast), has declared a seven-day national mourning.
“His death is not limited to that of a famous player,” continues Alipio Bedaque. “Over the past 40 years he has been a huge global icon through the sport he played.”