Manchester United‘s Antony led Premier League tributes to the late Pele as he revealed a t-shirt bearing the message “descanse em paz”, meaning “rest in peace”, as English football paid its respects to the great on Saturday.
Wolves and United, playing the early kick-off, led a day of tributes to Pele, one of the greatest footballers of all-time, who passed away at the age of 82 on Thursday.
The crowd at Molineux took part in a minute’s applause with both teams gathered around the centre circle, while each player also wore a black armband as a mark of respect.
Before the game, Wolves manager Julen Lopetegui said: “He will be remembered for the kind of person he was in football. I have seen images of him playing, and I think he was one of the best players in history.
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“He was a man with a big mentality, so it’s a pity for football, but above all else, for his family.”
Brazilian Antony almost twice had cause to dedicate a goal to Pele too, his best chance coming right before half-time when the ball came to him just three yards out and he stooped to head the ball home. Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa though was able to claw the ball off the line, only for the referee to indicate he had been offside nevertheless.
Meanwhile at St James’ Park, one of the two Brazilians in the Newcastle starting line-up Bruno Guimaraes wore a Brazil shirt bearing Pele’s name and number, and seemingly signed by the late striker, and wore the shirt for the minute’s applause joined by both home and away fans.
Similar tributes were paid at Bournemouth vs Crystal Palace and Manchester City vs Everton, while there was a celebration of the lives of two great footballers at Fulham.
Ahead of their clash with Southampton, there were floral tributes outside the ground and on the pitch to George Cohen, the 1966 World Cup winner with England who enjoyed a 13-year professional career played entirely at Fulham. Cohen died two days before Christmas at the age of 83: his portrait was featured on the front of the programme for Fulham’s first home game since his passing and flowers spelling out, simply, “GEORGE” were laid in the centre circle before kick-off.
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