#3 Style of Play
It is the 94th minute of a football match. Your team is hanging on to a slender lead, and the home fans are urging them on. The opposition is knocking on the door, hitting the woodwork, delivering cross after cross. What is the best sight for a football fan in such a situation? Not a stress relieving nutmeg, no. Not a Cryuff turn, not an Elastico. It is a 50-50 tackle – the belief that your defender will put his body on the line and risk everything for your team.
Pepe's style of play is perhaps the definition of the phrase no nonsense defending. Pepe has taken the phrase "taking one for the team" too seriously in accumulating so many yellow cards, but he has become wiser over the years.
Pepe's last red card for Real Madrid was in 2011. He has not been in double figures for yellow cards for the last four seasons. There, he is not as bad a guy as you might have thought, eh?