As quickly because the footballing calendar is introduced, followers throughout the globe – no matter their favourite league or groups – sometimes circle one date above all others: The El Clasico. The showdown between Spanish giants Actual Madrid and Barcelona isn’t only a match. It’s a spectacle. And few gamers skilled its most intense, emotionally-charged period fairly like Pepe, the Portuguese warrior who was the mainstay of Actual Madrid’s protection.
Now, as he eases into retirement, removed from the deafening roars of the Santiago Bernabeu or Camp Nou, Pepe finds himself in a brand new rhythm — enjoying in Legends matches. The 42-year-old will lace up his boots this Sunday, this time on the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, the place icons from Actual Madrid and Barcelona will rekindle soccer’s fiercest rivalry.
Main Actual Madrid would be the iconic Luis Figo, joined by Fernando Morientes, Michael Owen, and, in fact, Pepe. On the opposite facet, Barcelona can be captained by Spain’s 2010 World Cup-winning skipper Carles Puyol, who’ll reunite with Xavi, Rivaldo, Jose Edmílson, Javier Saviola, amongst different celebrated names.
For Pepe, the echoes of these electrifying El Clasico nights really feel like they occurred simply yesterday. “Each Clasico towards Barcelona was all the time one thing particular,” he displays on the eve of the Legends conflict. “However when Mourinho and Guardiola had been there… it was one thing else. Issues heated up. It was intense — not simply on the pitch, however round it.”
To the gamers, it could have been simply soccer, however for many watching, it was a theatre of types. Mourinho had injected Actual Madrid with a siege mentality, decided to shatter Barcelona’s stranglehold on Spanish soccer. In the meantime, Guardiola had reworked tiki-taka into an artwork type, orchestrating a facet that moved like clockwork. In that charged ambiance, defenders like Pepe needed to dig deep to cease among the sport’s finest attackers.
“There have been fights,” Pepe admits, with no iota of regret. “However soccer was all the time the winner. As a result of when folks turned on their TVs to look at these matches, they knew they’d see an actual battle. Coaches, gamers, followers — everybody gave the whole lot.”
That’s no exaggeration. Between 2010 and 2012, El Clasico, aside from being the most-watched sport, was additionally probably the most emotionally charged up fixtures in soccer. However amidst the chaos, among the most breathtaking soccer of the trendy period unfolded.
Story continues beneath this advert
For Pepe, that period was outlined by the titanic duel between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, the 2 males who turned the face of that rivalry. “It was a brutality,” Pepe says. “These years in Spain, what Cristiano and Messi did… it was spectacular. I lived it from the within, and it was a present — for the followers, for the gamers.”
Having skilled with Ronaldo each day at Actual Madrid, Pepe has no doubts when requested who stood tallest among the many sport’s elite.
“Cristiano,” he says, with agency conviction. “He introduced a lot to soccer, the eagerness, the self-discipline, the ambition. I confronted him in Italy, in Portugal and skilled with him daily. I understand how laborious it was to maintain up. What he gave to Madrid, to Manchester United, to Juventus, to Portugal, nobody else has carried out that.”
Whereas Ronaldo and Messi lit up the headlines, it was the fierce, unrelenting defending of gamers like Pepe and Sergio Ramos for Madrid, and Puyol and Gerard Pique for Barca, that turned each encounter into tactically intriguing affairs.
Story continues beneath this advert
Requested about making ready to face the world’s finest attackers, Pepe explains that defenders all the time begin on the again foot however need to out-think their rivals. “Earlier than the sport, I used to check the forwards intently. You must be on their stage. Forwards all the time have the benefit as a result of we defenders, we all the time need to react,” he explains.
Off the pitch, nonetheless, Pepe is a putting distinction to the firebrand defender followers as soon as knew. He’s calm, considerate, and even philosophical. And in Mumbai, he appears to be embracing his new position as an envoy of the sport. “I’m blissful to be right here,” he says. “Whilst a Legends sport, this match can imply rather a lot for Indian soccer. It could encourage youngsters to play, to dream. And if it brings extra funding, extra infrastructure, then we’re proud to be a part of that.”
The setting will not be the Santiago Bernabeu or Camp Nou. However for one night time in Navi Mumbai, the magic of El Clasico is about to come back alive once more, giving Indian followers a uncommon, up-close glimpse of soccer’s most storied rivalry. And standing tall on the again, similar to he all the time did, can be Pepe. He’s nonetheless fierce, nonetheless sharp, and, remarkably, nonetheless immaculately match.
