Lula da Silva gathers in front of Pelé’s coffin at the Santos stadium

The Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, was collected this Tuesday at the Santos stadium before the open coffin of Pelein the last goodbye to the “king” of football before his funeral.

Accompanied by the first lady, Janja, Lula arrived at the Vila Belmiro stadium and went to the center of the pitch where the remains of the player, who died on December 29 at the age of 82, have been on display since Monday.

Lula goes to Vila Belmiro to accompany Pelé’s wake

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In the presence of Pelé’s widow, Marcia Cibele Aoki, and the star’s children Edinho, Flavia and Kely, the left-wing president, sworn in on Sunday, attended a mass officiated by a priest who spoke about religion and soccer.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, accompanied by First Lady Rosângela “Janja” da Silva, attends the second and final day of the wake for soccer legend Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pelé. (EFE / Sebastiao Moreira). (Sebastiao Moreira/)

“Pele knocked on heaven’s door. And God said: ‘Who are you?’ ‘The king’. ‘Ok, here it will also be the king but I am the lord’”, said the priest, who also explained that Pelé will now be able to play a game with other deceased stars such as Johan Cruyff and Alfredo Di Stefano.

The 24-hour wake began Monday with a parade of thousands of people, some of whom lined up all night.verified the AFP.

Katia Cruz, 58 years old and whose husband stayed at home in Santos because he was “inconsolable”, stood in line for four hours until finally accessing the coffin at 01:30 in the morning.

“There were many, many people. It was very cute. (Pelé) deserves it.” “It was the king” but also “a very good person, with his feet on the ground (…) he had a humility that today’s players do not have,” he said.

A funeral procession will leave the stadium in the morning and tour Santos, a port city of 433,000 people near Sao Paulo.

The convoy will pass by the house of the mother of PeleDoña Celeste, 100 years old and who is unaware of the death of her son, and finally the coffin will be taken to a cemetery overlooking Vila Belmiro.

Over there, In a mausoleum of the Ecumenical Necropole Memorial, the highest vertical cemetery in the world, according to Guinness Records, Pelé will rest after a religious ceremony reserved for the family, a local source told AFP.

In the luxurious cemetery with the air of a vacation complex and which has an aviary and a small collection of classic cars and motorcycles, there are also the remains of his father, his brother and his aunt.

“We exist thanks to him”

The funeral will officially end several days of mourning in Brazil, which owes three of its five World Cups to the former scorer, who claimed 1,283 goals scored in a 21-year career playing for Santos, the New York Cosmos and the ‘Seleçao’ .

“He was the greatest Brazilian in history, we exist thanks to him. I owe my love to this team (Santos)”, said Paulo José Ribeiro, a 21-year-old communicator, holding back his tears.

The albinegro ‘torcedor’ lined up for two hours on Monday with his friends to say goodbye to his idol.

Like thousands, he endured the high temperatures and the scorching sun that derailed the rain forecasts, the same ones that warn of high possibilities of precipitation this Tuesday.

“It was worth it, I was never so close to him. There remains a void that we will never be able to fill,” she added.

The Brazilians who said goodbye to the exastro on Monday, some who came from other cities, gave a solemn atmosphere to the wake, with few signs of overflowing passion as evidenced in that of another legend, the Argentine Diego Maradona, in 2020 in Buenos Aires.

other tributes

“I felt emotion, he was a very loved guy in Brazil. He made history,” Bruna Riveira, a 23-year-old fashion worker, said as she left the sports venue.

At the home of the ‘Peixe’, which owes the “king” six of its eight league titles, two of its three Libertadores and its two Intercontinentals, family members, ex-soccer players and football authorities such as FIFA presidents, Gianni Infantino; from Conmebol, Alejandro Domínguez; and from the Brazilian Football Confederation, Ednaldo Rodrigues.

Infantino assured that FIFA will ask “all the federations in the entire world, the 211 countries, to name a stadium in each country with the name of Pelé, because young people have to know and remember who he was.”

The proposal joins other possible tributes to Pelé, such as retiring the ’10′ Santos shirt that the legendary ex-athlete immortalized, or replacing three of the five stars on the ‘Seleçao’ shield with three hearts, in honor of Três Corações, the town where he was born in the state of Minas Gerais (southeast).

Source: Elcomercio