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The Girona people who suffered Pelé

Considered by many to be the best footballer in history for a long time, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pelé, passed away last Thursday night. At the age of 85, O Rei died in a hospital in Sao Paulo, a victim of cancer. Behind him were three World Cups (1958, 1962 and 1970), 1,366 games played in which he scored more than a thousand goals and a handful of improbable and fascinating feats for the time that elevated him to the category of chosen Except for the last few years at the New York Cosmos, Pelé played almost his entire career at Santos. Aware that it had the hen that laid the golden eggs, the Brazilian group did not hesitate to exploit it and organized a handful of tours around the world.

Europe was a very common destination for Santos and thus Pelé, who never played for any European team, was able to face some of the best teams in the Old Continent. Barça, Madrid, Atlético, Inter, Roma, Lazio, Marseille, Benfica, Sheffield or Hamburg were some of Santos’ rivals during marathon tours with extremely tiring journeys. So much so, that sometimes, the Brazilian star took it quite calmly. “It was as if it didn’t matter to him. It seemed to slip a bit. Not much was done and it really went unnoticed.” This is how Josep Ribera saw him during a friendly match between Santos and Espanyol in Casablanca (Morocco) on June 19, 1960. The result was 2-2 and Pelé was hardly seen. It is true that Santos came from Marseille and arrived just four hours before the match in Casablanca, but the Moroccan leaders were not at all happy with Santos’ performance. “And that was when I was fittest. He had recently won the World Cup and it was really a wonder to watch him play. Of course, that day he did not take the ball and dribble all of us until he reached the goal and scored. Quite the opposite”, remembers Ribera, a former Girona and Espanyol player who is currently 85 years old.

Pelé had done more a year ago on the Camp Nou turf, in 1959, in a match against Barça (1-5). On that day, the Blaugrana team had seven players (Ramallets, Olivella, Gràcia, Segarra, Gensana, Tejada and Luis Suárez) international with Spain absent and also did not have coach Helenio Herrera, also a selector, who had a match in Poland. This led to two Espanyol players (Bartolí and Recaman) strengthening a very young Barça. In the starting eleven of the Blaugrana team, the central player, Pepe Pinto, who would later have a career and roots in Girona. “They went right over us”, remembers Pinto, 92 years old, one of those responsible for having “the honor of trying to score” Pelé at the Camp Nou. “He was a phenomenon,” describes the historic ex-player and ex-coach of Girona, surrendering to his quality.

Pepe Pinto and Josep Ribera faced Pelé only once. Martí Vergés did it more times. The footballer from Vidreres played three games against the Brazilian star. The first was in 1959, training in the defensive line with Pepe Pinto. Then, he would do it again in July of the following year (1960) at the Camp Nou in a match where the Barça of Ramallets, Olivella, Gràcia, Luis Suárez, Kubala and also Vergés beat Santos by 4-3. The Brazilian team managed to make up the score after an initial 4-0 Blaugrana and Pelé scored one of the three visiting goals. The third time that the wild defender, who died in February 2021, would face Pelé again in 1963. On that day, the chronicles of the time speak of a great marking by Vergés on Pelé, which did not go see goal and could not prevent the defeat of Santos against Barça, with goals from Pereda and Zaballa.

The other Girona player who had the honor of facing Pelé on a pitch was Pau Garcia Castany. The former Girona player, who died last June, did it with Zaragoza in 1963 at Romareda in the last game the Brazilian played in Spain. That day, Pelé shone with his own light and he single-handedly overturned a 2-0 deficit to give Santos the victory (2-3).

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