(Madrid) Pele or Diego Maradona? Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo?
The endless debates about who is the best player in the history of men’s soccer often results in dirty tricks aimed at Pelé, who died Thursday at the age of 82, saying he did not prove his worth in European championships.
The argument is that Pele hasn’t proven himself against some of the best clubs in the world – while other big names in football have.
But although he had played most of his career with Brazilian club Santos, and later with NASL’s New York Cosmos, Pelé did face some of the best clubs in Europe.
And he filled the net.
Pelé played seven times against Benfica, which was led by the great Portuguese striker Eusébio and was considered one of the most prestigious clubs in Europe. Santos won six of those duels, with the last one ending in a draw. Pelé has scored nine goals overall.
As Santos traveled the world in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s presenting his brightest star, Pelé got to compete against teams like Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Juventus, Inter Milan, AC Milan and AS Roma.
Dennis Tueart, a former England player who replaced Pele at Cosmos, said the fact that the soccer icon had never played in a European league was irrelevant.
“You had European players at the World Cup and he won it three times. You can’t say anything against him, Tueart told The Associated Press. We used to play exhibition matches and we traveled all over the world. We went to Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and Australia and the one everyone wanted to talk to was Pelé. It was a lesson in humility for all of us. »
Pelé and Santos often faced weak opponents during these tours, which were mainly aimed at making money. If the great part of the overseas rivals were manipulated like dolls, it is not for lack of effort. Beating Pele’s Santos was a challenge taken seriously by the host clubs, who offered their best XI, unlike current pre-season tournaments.
Everyone wanted to see Pelé walk the field. Some 110,000 fans are said to have seen Santos beat Inter Milan 4-1 at the San Siro stadium in Italy in 1961. In 1972, newspapers at the time reported that 50 people were injured before Santos’ game against the ‘AS Roma in Italy as 70,000 fans packed into the 50,000 seater stadium.
Some of Pele’s matches in Europe were in the Intercontinental Cup, which is today the equivalent of the FIFA Club World Cup. Pelé remains the top scorer in Intercontinental Cup history with seven goals.
Pele said he had received offers to play for European clubs, including Real Madrid and Inter Milan, but that at the time “there was not that need” for the big players of move to the Old Continent. He instead decided to move to the United States after ending his career with Santos in 1974.
“It wouldn’t have made any difference to go to Europe,” Pelé noted.
Pelé has scored 12 goals in 14 World Cup appearances and is the only three-time World Cup champion, having triumphed in 1958, 1962 and 1970.
He never received a Ballon d’Or as the best player in the world, because the award did not take into account non-European players during Pelé’s time.
According to Santos, Pele has played 353 games abroad, scoring 361 goals. In Europe alone, he played almost 200 games and scored over 200 goals.