Pele in full flow was the most beautiful sight in football long before that adjective defined the game.
Even today his name is a byword not just for beauty, but for excellence, breath-taking skill and the highest quality of sportsmanship. Long before Maradona, Ronaldo and Messi, there was never even a debate about the greatest footballer of all time. Every fan knew it was Pele and they adored him.
As his Brazilian team-mate Clodoaldo remarked: “In some countries they wanted to touch him, in some they wanted to kiss him. In others they even kissed the ground he walked on.”