Pepe and the complicated arrival in Portugal: “I had five euros, I had to decide whether to eat or call my mother …”

Pepe, a legend of Portuguese football and beyond. Some time ago the central told several details of his life and his career to Expresso. And the 2016 European champion and former Real Madrid flag has a lot to say. Among the many things that can be told about twenty years of career, Pepe dwells on the moment that ultimately changed his life forever: his arrival in Portugal. For him, the Iberian country has become a second home, to the point that he has played and won with the national team. But the beginnings were complicated.

5 € – Normal, when a boy of just 18 arrives alone in a foreign country, with the only good fortune to already know the language … The year is 2001 and a very young Pepe arrives and is invited by Maritimo, a team from Madeira, to fly to Portugal. The problem is that the defender is not exactly in the best economic conditions … “When I arrived, I had the equivalent of five euros in my pocket. I was in the immigration sector, because I arrived from Brazil alone, at the age of 18. I had to bring with me a fax from the Maritimo, requesting that I enter Portugal. With that money I had to buy a phone card to call my mother and tell her I was fine. The other option was to buy something to eat. And I thought ‘ok, let’s calm mom ‘”.

EAT – Not quite the scene one imagines when it comes to the arrival of a football player at the airport. Also because for Madeira … you have to make a stopover. “I arrived at six in the morning and my next flight was at eleven at night. And I had to eat something. So I went to an airport shop and I asked, ‘Do you have anything to eat?’. He said yes, but I explained that I had no money. He looked at me and brought me an envelope with a baguette. From that moment I felt like helping those who are more unfortunate, it is something that marked me a lot. Especially because that person did not know who I was, how I still don’t know who he was and I’m sorry. But that gesture helped me for the rest of my life. ” And of a career that made history …