'Pele made you feel like a kid again’ – Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes and Joleon Lescott pay tribute to legend
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Published 31/12/2022 at 12:40 GMT
Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes and Joleon Lescott have paid tribute to Pele after he died at the age of 82 earlier this week. The Brazilian began his playing career as a teenager with Santos and made his Brazil debut at 16. He is Brazil's joint top scorer with 77 goals in 92 matches, and won three World Cups. Former and current players have been paying their respects.
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Rio Ferdinand has paid tribute to Pele, stating he made him “feel like a kid again” when meeting the legendary Brazilian.
Pele died at the age of 82 on Thursday, with the football world paying their respects to a player who is widely regarded as one of the greatest to have ever played the game.
He is regularly mentioned alongside Diego Maradona and, more recently, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
“His impact on the game, generation after generation have been impacted by the way he performs, his iconic status,” Ferdinand told BT Sport.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to be around a lot of legends from the game from different eras and he is the one that made me fall into a fan boy, wanting pictures, a selfie, for what he is and what he stood for.
“He made you feel like a little kid again. Some people you feel they are ready to get out of the room when you interview him, but he was like, ‘Have you got enough? Do you need more?’ You can imagine the requests he gets every day yet to still be like that was amazing.”
Pele remains the only player to ever win three World Cup titles following his triumph with Brazil in 1958, 1962 and 1970.
In 2011, he went to Old Trafford to be at Paul Scholes’ testimonial match and the former Manchester United star admits he was almost starstruck when he met him.
“He was the first global superstar of our game,” said Scholes. “I was lucky enough to come across him for my testimonial.
“Just to be in his presence, he was such a humble and nice man. Just to have a picture I feel lucky just to have met him, it was only for a few minutes but it was special.
“He made the No. 10 shirt famous, the best players now always want to wear that.
“I was never one for autographs but I found a shirt from Pele and he signed it personally. I thought, ‘Wow’ when I got that.”
Joleon Lescott added: “He had a huge impact but the people who inspired me, he inspired them. Every image you see of him, he’s always smiling.
“All of the stuff he did first, such as the Cruyff turn, it took my respect to him to a new level. The skills he inspired players to do is unique.”
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