Cristiano Ronaldo shared an emotional post after Pepe announced his retirement from football
Ronaldo and Pepe are close teammates in the Portuguese national team. (Source: Getty Images)
Throughout his great career, Ronaldo has worked closely with many players but Pepe is a special case. They played together for almost a decade at Real Madrid and almost two decades in the Portuguese national team.
CR7 always considers Pepe his teammate, brother and closest friend. That is why, just after Pepe announced the end of his professional career at the age of 41, Ronaldo expressed his gratitude to his friend “on and off the boat”.
On his personal X page, Ronaldo shared emotionally: “There are no words to describe how much you mean to me, my friend.”
“We fought together and won everything on the field but the greatest achievement is the friendship and respect I have for you. You are the only one, my brother.”
“Many thanks for everything”.
Ronaldo’s post attracted 30 million views, 500,000 hearts and 7,000 comments, with most fans praising the teamwork and rare friendship between the two Real Madrid and Portugal legends.
During his time at Real Madrid, Pepe was known for being a “fiery” central defender, tough and never afraid to clash with anyone. He is also always the first person ready to defend and protect Ronaldo whenever an argument or fight occurs on the pitch.
EURO 2024 was the last tournament that Pepe and Ronaldo played together. Despite being 41 years old, Pepe still played impressively, but unfortunately Portugal, under coach Roberto Martinez, had to stop at the quarter-finals when they lost to France on penalties.
