Before Pele, 10 was just a number, says Neymar of the icon

Neymar led footballrsquos emotional tributes to Pele after the Brazil legendrsquos death on Thursday as the Paris Saint Germain star said his iconic compatriot had transformed the sport ldquointo an artrdquoPele passed away aged 82 after suffering ldquomultiple organ failurerdquo following a long battle with cancer and footballrsquos current and former stars were quick to salute arguably the sportrsquos greatest ever playerNicknamed O Rei The King Pele scored more than 1000 goals before retiring in 1977 Brazil forward Neymar hailed Pele the only man to win three World Cups in a social media post alongside two pictures of himself with the legend ldquoBefore Pele 10 was just a numberrdquo the heir to Pelersquos famed shirt number wrote onInstagramldquoBut that beautiful sentence is incomplete I would say that before Pele football was just a sport He transformed football into an art into entertainmentFootball and Brazil gained status thanks to the King He has gone but his magic will remain Pele is ETERNALrdquoLike Pele France striker Kylian Mbappe shot to stardom after winning the World Cup at a young age in 2018 ldquoThe king of football has left us but his legacy will never be forgotten RIP KINGrdquo tweeted PSG forward Mbappe who scored a hattrick in Francersquos defeat against Argentina in the World Cup final earlier this monthPele also won the World Cup in 1962 and 1970 with Argentina and PSG forward Lionel Messi one of the few players regarded as close to his equal Messi posted a Instagram photo of himself with the Brazilian alongside the message ldquoRest in peace PelerdquoCristiano Ronaldo who showed a photo of Pele giving the Portugal striker an award praised him as an ldquoinspiration to millions a reference from yesterday today foreverrdquo ldquoThe affection he always showed for me was reciprocal in every moment we shared even from a distancerdquo Ronaldo wrote on InstagramldquoHe will never be forgotten and his memory will live on forever in each of us football lovers Rest in peace King Pelerdquo Manchester Cityrsquos recordsetting striker Erling Haaland joined the tributes saying ldquoAnything you see any player doing Pele did it first RIPrdquoAlso Read What it is like to live with Peles name Nascimento in IndiaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever