Soccer Legend Pele Gets Hero’s Welcome on His Return to Kolkata 

The three-time World Cup winner landed in the Kolkata on Sunday, 38 years after his first visit.
PTI
Sports
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Brazilian Soccer Legend Pele being welcome by former Indian Footballer Chuni Goswami at a city hotel in Kolkata on Sunday. (Photo: PTI)
Brazilian Soccer Legend Pele being welcome  by former Indian Footballer Chuni Goswami at a city hotel in Kolkata on Sunday. (Photo: PTI)
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Frenzied scenes were witnessed at the airport this morning when the ‘king of football’ Pele landed in the ‘City of Joy’ after 38 years as the 74-year-old Brazilian turned emotional and stood on the floor of his SUV to wave at the crowd, who kept chanting his name.

Brazilian Soccer Legend Pele after his arrival at a city hotel in Kolkata on Sunday. (Photo: PTI)

Clad in a black suit and matching watch, the three-time World Cup winner, however, looked fresh as he was escorted out by state minister Firhad Hakim and the organisers.

‘Thank you Kolkata’, Pele said with a broad grin as he kept on waving at the crowd standing on the floor of his car and the fans reciprocated by chanting ‘Pele, Pele’.

Legendary soccer player Pele arrives at the NSCBI Airport in Kolkata on Sunday. (Photo: PTI)

Such was the crowd’s response that Pele’s high security convoy struggled to make its way through to the five-star hotel in Alipore where he will be staying for three days in his return to the city, 38 years after he had enthralled football fans with his team New York Cosmos in a 2-2 draw against local powerhouse Mohun Bagan in an exhibition match way back in 1977.

Indian football icon Chuni Goswami received Pele at the hotel with another former player Dipendu Biswas as he was given a traditional welcome by the students of NSHM Knowledge Campus, one of the organisers of his visit.

“In a lighter vein, I asked him, ‘can you play football?’ to which Pele humbly replied: ‘Not at all, I’m not very fit’,” Goswami, a former Olympian, told reporters.

“I also asked him how do you rate Messi? ‘He’s very close to Maradona and Pele’,” he added.

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