Mom didn’t know Pele was gone
RIO DE JANEIRO: Pele’s mother, Celeste Arantes, was reportedly unaware that the Brazilian football legend had died.
Pele, 82, breathed his last while being treated at Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein in Sao Paulo last Thursday.
Last November, Pele uploaded a status wishing for health and happiness in conjunction with his mother’s 100th birthday on Instagram.
“My mother and I talked about it (Pele’s death) but she seemed insensitive to the situation around him.
“Mother was in her own world,” said Pele’s only surviving sibling, Maria Lucia do Nascimento.
Maria added that her mother gave a little reaction when she mentioned Pele’s name while trying to convey the news of her brother’s death.
“My mother opened her eyes when I mentioned the name Dico (Pele’s middle name), that was her reaction,” said the 78-year-old woman.
It is understood that Pele’s mother is now ill and spends her time in bed at her residence in Santos, Sao Paulo.
Nicknamed ‘O Rei’ or the King, Pele is one of the Brazilian soccer players who has received the most attention from various parties around the world due to his agility on the field.
During his tenure as a professional soccer player, Pele has scored more than 1,000 goals and led the Brazilian team to win the World Cup three times in 1958, 1962 and 1970.