Soccer

Pele is set to leave intensive care within days, daughter says

Three-time World Cup winner is said to be ‘in a good mood’ following colon surgery

Pele has undergone surgery to remove a tumour. File photograph: Nelson Almeida/AFP via Getty Images

Tue Sep 14 2021 - 18:03

Pele is to leave intensive care within days after undergoing surgery to remove a tumour from his colon, his daughter has announced.

Kely Nascimento has revealed the 80-year-old three-time World Cup winner "is not in pain and is in a good mood" at the Albert Einstein Hospital in São Paulo.

In a statement on her Instagram account, she said: "He is doing well post-surgery, he is not in pain and is in a good mood (annoyed that he can only eat jello but will persevere!)

“He will move into a regular room in the next day or two and then go home.

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“He is strong and stubborn and with the support and care of the brilliant team at Einstein and all of the love, energy and light that the world is sending, he will get through this!”

Pele had earlier revealed a “suspicious lesion” had been detected during tests, prompting surgeons to operate, but vowed to tackle it “with a smile on my face”.

Perhaps soccer's first world superstar, he rose to international prominence when he helped Brazil win the 1958 World Cup as a 17-year-old, repeating the feat in 1962 and 1970.

Officially, he scored 757 goals during a glittering career – club Santos claim his tally was closer to 1,000 – leaving him behind only Cristiano Ronaldo and Josef Bican on the all-time list.

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