‘Greatest of all time’: Pele as described by his peers

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>Pele has been praised over the decades by everyone from world leaders to artists&period; Here are superlatives from over the years about Pele&comma; who died on Thursday in Brazil at the age of 82&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>– &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;To watch him play was to watch the delight of a child combined with the extraordinary grace of a man in full&period;” — Nelson Mandela&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>– &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I told myself before the game&comma; he’s made of skin and bones just like everyone else — but I was wrong&period;” — Italy’s Tarcisio Burgnich&comma; after playing against Pele in the 1970 World Cup Final&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>– &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Pele was one of the few who contradicted my theory&colon; Instead of 15 minutes of fame&comma; he will have 15 centuries&period;” — Andy Warhol&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>– I sometimes feel as though football was invented for this magical player&period;” — Sir Bobby Charlton&comma; retired England great who won 1966 World Cup and Ballon d’Or in same year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>– &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Pele was the only footballer who surpassed the boundaries of logic&period;” — Johan Cruyff&comma; the late Dutch star and standout manager who won the Ballon d’Or three times&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>– &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;He is the most complete player I ever saw&period;” — Retired German great Franz Beckenbauer&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>– &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;If you take the qualities of Cristiano Ronaldo and &lpar;Lionel&rpar; Messi&comma; put them together&comma; then you’d have a player to compare to Pele&excl;” — Retired Brazil forward Tostao&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>– &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The best player ever&quest; Pele&period; &lpar;Lionel&rpar; Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are both great players with specific qualities&comma; but Pele was better&period;” — Alfredo Di Stefano&comma; the late Argentine star for Real Madrid&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>– &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;His great secret was improvisation&period; Those things he did were in one moment&period; He had an extraordinary perception of the game&period;” — Brazil defender Carlos Alberto Torres&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>– &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This debate about the player of the century is absurd&period; There’s only one possible answer&colon; Pele&period; He’s the greatest player of all time&comma; and by some distance&comma; I might add&period;” — Retired Brazil star Zico&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>– &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The greatest player in history was Di Stefano&period; I refuse to classify Pele as a player&period; He was above that&period;” — Hungary star Ferenc Puskas&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>– &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We went up together to head a ball&period; I was taller&comma; had a better impulse&period; When I came back down&comma; I looked up in astonishment&period; Pele was still there&comma; in the air&comma; heading that ball&period; It was like he could stay suspended for as long as he wanted to&period;” — Italy defender Giacinto Facchetti&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>– When I saw Pele play&comma; it made me feel I should hang up my boots&period;” — Just Fontaine&comma; the Morocco-born French star who scored 13 goals in six games in the 1958 World Cup&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>– &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The moment the ball arrived at Pele’s feet&comma; football transformed into poetry&period;” — Italian poet Pier Paolo Pasolini&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>– &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The difficulty&comma; the extraordinary&comma; is not to score 1&comma;000 goals like Pele — it’s to score one goal like Pele&period;” — Carlos Drummond de Andrade&comma; Brazilian poet&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>– &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Pele was the most complete player I’ve ever seen&period; Two good feet&period; Magic in the air&period; Quick&period; Powerful&period; Could beat people with skill&period; Could outrun people&period; Only 5ft 8in tall&comma; yet he seemed a giant of an athlete on the pitch&period; Perfect balance and impossible vision&period;” — Bobby Moore&comma; captain of England’s 1966 World Cup winners&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>– &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I arrived hoping to stop a great man&comma; but I went away convinced I had been undone by someone who was not born on the same planet as the rest of us&period;” — Benfica goalkeeper Costa Pereira after 5-2 loss to Santos&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>– There’s Pele the man&comma; and then Pele the player&period; And to play like Pele is to play like God&period;” — Retired France star and three-time Ballon d’Or winner Michel Platini&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>– Pele is the greatest player in football history&comma; and there will only be one Pele in the world&period;” — Cristiano Ronaldo&comma; Portugal forward&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>– Pele not only filled football stadiums with exhilaration but he filled hearts and homes with hope and the knowledge that adversity was surmountable&period; His endurance and impact on the field of play inspired the resilience with which Pele worked for peace and justice globally&period;” — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed15024fb86">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; function &lpar;&rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;if &lpar; false &equals;&equals;&equals; &lpar; window&period;isWatlV1 &quest;&quest; 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