Both Messi and Ronaldo took action to congratulate Pepe, after the Portuguese midfielder set an unprecedented record. The captain of Porto Club became the oldest player to score in the Champions League, after tearing the net against Antwerp.
36-year-old Lionel Messi had to travel to the US to “retire” with Inter Miami Club since July this year. At the age of 38, Cristiano Ronaldo is also settling down in a remote Middle Eastern country with Al Nassr Club. Both of these GOATs no longer have the opportunity to improve their scoring performance in the UEFA Champions League arena.
But Pepe is still doing great in the European arena, even though he is over 40 years old. This morning, November 8, Ronaldo’s teammate in Portugal scored a goal to seal a 2-0 victory for Porto against host Antwerp in the final minutes of extra time. In Group H, Porto has 9 points equal to Barca – the team lost 0-1 to Shakhtar Donetsk in this match. Thereby, the Portuguese midfielder set an unprecedented record.
Pepe scored against Antwerp when he was 40 years and 254 days old. He became the oldest player to celebrate a goal in the UEFA Champions League. Previously, the star holding the record for the oldest person to score in Europe’s most prestigious arena was Francesco Totti – the player who scored for Roma in 2014 (against CSKA Moscow) at the age of 38 years and 59 days.
Next is former famous player Ryan Giggs (scored for MU against Benfica in 2011, at the age of 37 years and 290 days).