As a teenager, Pepe landed at Lisbon airport from faraway Brazil. Scouts from Madeira had discovered him in the provinces, and he was now to be trained as a professional footballer on the island of flowers. He only had five euros in his pocket for his one-day stopover in Lisbon. Pepe invested it in a phone call to his mother at home. There was nothing left for food. An employee of a sandwich chain gave him a baguette.
At the same time, a boy from Madeira was beginning to stand out in the academy of the prestigious Lisbon club Sporting. Cristiano Ronaldo had overcome terrible homesickness, which had initially caused him to cry and call his mother, as well as the mockery of the other students, who were amused by the island accent in his Portuguese. The following summer he would play his first professional match for Sporting. The century lay ahead of him. It was 2001.
Pepe and Ronaldo: On Monday (9 p.m., in the WELT sports ticker) they will play for Portugal in the European Championship round of 16 against Slovenia in Frankfurt. 23 years have passed. Pepe is now 41, Ronaldo 39, they are the oldest players in this European Championship, Pepe is even the oldest player in the tournament’s history, Ronaldo their oldest assist provider. The fact that he is still not their oldest goalscorer made him so angry during Portugal’s surprising defeat in the last group match against Georgia that he almost complained his way to being sent off and maltreated a water bottle when he was substituted.
Cristiano Ronaldo (r.) and Pepe – they are the oldest players in this European Championship
Source: dpa/Jan Woitas
On the one hand, Portugal is one of the favourites with a squad that is well-stocked in all areas, with stars like Bernardo Silva and Bruno Fernandes and many young talents. On the other hand, it is still the Portugal of the old men. Pepe and Ronaldo have had epochal careers, but they are far from finished.
Competition of homages
At their last joint appearance last weekend against Turkey – Pepe was rested in the Georgia match, Portugal had already secured first place in the group – they experienced a real competition of tributes. Tournament great Ronaldo was stalked by streakers, and the Portuguese fans sang their usual praises, as a reward when he succeeded at something, as encouragement when he failed. What was surprising, however, was that in the closing stages and after the final whistle, another name was chanted even more often in their stands: Pepe’s.
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The monstrosity was simply due to the outstanding performance of the defender. Twice, as the last man, he prevented an opposing player from appearing alone in front of the Portuguese goalkeeper by tackling – the supreme discipline of defence. He won every duel, cleared everything on the ground and in the air, and joined in attacks. Pepe, not his highly rated defensive partner Rúben Dias, is the man who gives the orders, starts the game, and shows the others the possible running routes. When he was substituted shortly before the end, even opposing fans applauded, and his coach Roberto Martínez stated without contradiction: “If someone without prior knowledge saw him play, they would never believe that Pepe is already 41.”
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Ronaldo’s tournament has been more contradictory so far. Before the 3-0 against Turkey, he selflessly passed up the ball for Fernandes instead of scoring, and was congratulated profusely for it. Martínez said it was “spectacular” that such a “goal-getter through and through” had refrained from scoring a goal himself. The press wrote of a mature, altruistic Ronaldo. This is consistent with information from the team headquarters that the star has become more approachable after Martínez took away his privilege of allowing his entourage of close friends and advisors to stay in the team hotel, as had previously been the case.
Against Georgia, however, it was the familiar Ronaldo who was once again on the pitch, wanting to play in an unimportant match to improve his statistics. In his sixth European Championship finals – a record – the footballer with the most international matches (210) and international goals (130) is still one goal away from scoring. He even managed his fastest European Championship sprint since these data began to be recorded (2012), at a speed of 32.7 kilometers per hour. However, he does not make it into the 100 fastest players in the tournament. Age, sometimes you just can’t dribble out of it.
“I am what I am because Portugal gave me everything”
“We don’t talk about records, but about how we can help the team,” says Pepe. A true love story began between him and Portugal at Lisbon airport. The sandwich seller’s gesture made a deep impression on him and left a lasting impression, he once said. And on Madeira, too, they were good to him; they didn’t mind that he came with a broken foot; in fact, they nursed him back to health. He played for Marítimo there for three years until the bigger clubs came along, first FC Porto, then Real Madrid. Shortly after moving to Spain in the summer of 2007, he took Portuguese citizenship. “I am what I am because Portugal gave me everything,” he said at the last European Championships. “Representing the national team is a way of giving some of that back.”
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Kepler Laveran Lima Ferreira – that’s his real name, named after the astronomer Johannes Kepler and the physician Alphonse Laveran (“I thought he’d be a scientist with those names,” said his father) – has now played 139 international matches. Pepe was “Man of the Match” in Portugal’s biggest match in history, the 2016 European Championship final. He and Ronaldo get on perfectly after 17 years together in the national team and eight at Real Madrid. Pepe is the only one who is allowed to give him his opinion during a match.
Pepe says the secret of his longevity is total professionalism. This is consistent with the observations of his national coach. “He lives for football 24 hours a day.” However, Martínez also suspects “genes that you can’t buy anywhere.” Pepe – even for the brilliant scientists Kepler and Laveran, their namesake would have been a phenomenon.
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