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“No words” — Ronaldo reacts to Pepe retiring from football

Published

5 months ago

August 9, 2024

"No words" — Ronaldo reacts to Pepe retiring from football

The end of the road came for Portugal icon and former Real Madrid star, Pepe when the defender yesterday announced his decision to retire from football.

Prior to the confirmation, the iconic defender who has played for clubs such as Porto and Real Madrid, hinted at his retirement when he talk in cheek said he will retire from football the day Portugal captain, Cristiano Ronaldo chooses to hang up the boots.

However, it seems that reality has been thrown into an alternative world as Cristiano Ronaldo is now the one bidding his former teammate; both at club and country level a farewell as he steps outside football. On his Instagram profile, the 5-time Ballon d’Or winner wrote an emotional post reacting to Pepe choosing to leave the pitch after spending 22-years playing on it.

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Cristiano Ronaldo wrote:

“No words to express how much you mean to me my friend. We won everything there was to win on the field, but the biggest achievement is the friendship and respect I have for you. You are unique my brother. Thank you for so much.”

Born Kepler Laveran de Lima Ferreira, Pepe retires from professional football at the age of 41 after playing for the most part of his career for Real Madrid and FC Porto in the La Liga and the Portuguese Primeira Liga.

He played 330 games for the Spanish side, winning with them three La Liga titles, 3-UCL titles, 2-FIFA Club World Cup titles and 2-Copa del Rey title in a 10-year stint with the Los Blancos. During that time he scored 13-goals on average.

With FC Porto, Pepe played 194 games while also scoring 13 goals for the Portuguese side, winning with them 4-Primeira Liga titles and 3-Taca de Portugal titles. Pepe had the chance of representing Brazil at national level but chose to flag the Portugal banner and win the 2016 Euros with the Portuguese national team.