Pele, who is widely considered to be the greatest football player to have walked the face of this earth, revealed he was very close to joining Spanish club Real Madrid on several instances.
Pele having played his entire career in South America representing Santos had never played for any major European club. Although, he did have a brief stint outside South America when he played for the New York Cosmos at the end of his career.
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“There were many times when I was very close to signing with Real Madrid.” He was quoted saying in New York on Thursday.
Pele received major success with his time representing the Brazil national team having been a very prolific scorer. He won three world cups and is the only footballer to do so. He is the record goal scorer for both Brazil and Santos. The forward was also the first player to have scored 1000 goals, and he was listed in the Guinness World Records for achieving this feat.
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Real Madrid happen to be the most successful European side, having won the European Cup for a record ten times.
While in New York city, when he was asked about the Champions League, Pele had kind words to say about the current holders.
“It’s clear that during the last 15 years, Barcelona have been the best team, just like the Dutch sides played the most attractive football in previous years,” he was quoted saying.
Barcelona are the only club to have won the treble twice, having won the Champions League four times in the last 10 years.
The current holders were knocked out of the Champions League quarter-finals last week by a determined Atletico Madrid side, with Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Real Madrid completing the semi-final setup.
Real Madrid recently defeated Barcelona in La Liga, by a score of 2-1 at Barcelona’s home, the Nou Camp stadium courtesy a late goal from Real Madrid talisman, Cristiano Ronaldo. Madrid won the game despite playing with 10 men with Sergio Ramos being sent off for receiving two yellow cards.
In the reverse fixture, Barcelona beat Real Madrid 4-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu, earlier this season, when Real Madrid was being managed by Rafa Benitez. The Spaniard was sacked as manager of Real Madrid at the turn of the new year and was subsequently replaced by Madrid legend, Zinedine Zidane.
