Of Pelé, we know the talent, infinite, the love of the game, inexhaustible, but also the emotionality, which his tears betrayed as a 17-year-old kid when he won his first World Cup in 1958 in Sweden.

Of Pelé, on the other hand, we know less about the tenacious character, the iron will, the detestation of failure.

And the worst of those he suffered dates back to 1966, when his dream of achieving a historic hat-trick vanished during the English World Cup under the blows of Bulgarian and Portuguese executioners named Zhechev and Morais, with an elimination in the 1st turn as a chalice drunk to the dregs.

Bruised by injuries, by so much will to harm and by this broken dream, Pelé swears that he will not play a World Cup anymore.

For two years, he did not wear the Auriverde jersey once.

But from 1968, around him, a talented young generation reached maturity and he understood that with Jairzinho, Tostao, Rivellino or Carlos Alberto, he had a chance to put his name on the charts one last time.

The conviction even becomes certainty, when the big brother Zagallo, world champion with him in 1958 and 1962, agrees to take the reins of the Seleçao.

Unreleased lob

Back in shape, fresh and never so determined at 29, Pelé will write the most beautiful page of his history, while settling their account with more than one bad luck.

This stroke of genius calls for others, even if it means making the opponent shine.

In this case Banks, the English goalkeeper, who made the next match "the stop of the century" on his powerful pricked head.

And the "King" joked: "Today I scored a goal, but Banks stopped it".

Pelé with the World Cup, the Jules-Rimet trophy after the final won against Italy, June 21, 1970 in Mexico © STF / AFP / Archives

No frustration with Pelé, however.

Jairzinho himself is responsible for deceiving Banks for the only time in the World Cup and showing England, defending champion, that the best is Brazil (1-0).

After a double against Romania (3-2), which could have turned into a hat-trick if the referee had not refused him a goal, and a formal quarter-final against Peru (4-2), Pelé sees profile Uruguay on its way.

And with him the ghost of the terrible "Maracanazo" of 1950.

Blind pass final touch

Twenty years after the cruel defeat at home against Celeste, which deprived Brazil of their first world title, it is time for the hero of the nation to dry the tears of an entire country and of his father whom he had seen crying that day.

The revenge is dazzling (3-1) and Pelé is still just short of scoring a prodigious goal.

In a wild inspiration, launched in the middle of a race, he manages a large bridge on the goalkeeper without even touching the ball, which he finally takes over with a shot that is barely too cross.

Pelé or the art of pretense, to which he will also give his name.

Again no disappointment.

Pelé knows that his time is approaching.

And his genius was rewarded on D-Day, in the final against Italy, with his opening header that launched Brazil's resounding success.

This weightless goal could not better symbolize the state of grace of a player at the top of his game.

It was written that this third coronation, more than the first two, would be above all his.

But it was with an altruistic gesture that Pelé put the finishing touches to his masterpiece, with a decisive blind pass for the 4-1 goal of his captain Carlos Alberto.

Carried in triumph by his youngest teammates at the end of the match, as he had been 12 years earlier by his elders at the time, Pelé is not crying this time.

The eye always shines with a thousand lights but its joy is seen above all with full teeth.

The "King" has just bequeathed his work to posterity.

© 2022 AFP