‘Mere goodbye not enough’, says Cristiano Ronaldo; ‘RIP KING’, tweets Mbappe

TIL Desk Sports/ Arguably the greatest player to play football, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, aka Pele (82), breathed his last at a Sao Paulo hospital on Thursday after losing a prolonged battle against cancer.

The three-time World Cup winner had a colon tumour removed in September 2021 and neither his family, nor doctors, specified whether it had spread to other organs. He was recently under ‘elevated care’ related to kidney and cardiac dysfunction. Portuguese soccer great Cristiano Ronaldo paid a heart-touching tribute to the ‘Black Pearl’, soon after the news of his demise was made public.

Taking to his Instagram handle, Ronaldo wrote: “My deep condolences to all of Brazil, and in particular to the family of Edson Arantes do Nascimento. A mere ‘goodbye’ to the eternal King Pele will never be enough to express the pain that the entire football world is currently embracing. Taking to Twitter, France’s World Cup winner and PSG forward Kylian Mbappe said, “The king of football has left us but his legacy will never be forgotten. RIP KING.”