Pele in hospital: daughter says he's recovering well

Brazilian soccer legend Pele underwent surgery on 4 September for a colon tumour, and was kept in intensive care until 14 September.

ESPN then broke the news that he had been taken back into intensive care at the Albert Einstein Hospital in San Paulo. According to the reports, the former player was in a stable condition, but had been readmitted as a precaution. The story was widely reported but was not confirmed by Pele's media team or the hospital.

Pele's daughter publishes update on condition

Pele's daughter, Kelly Nascimento, however published an update on social media: "I don't know what is going on with the rumors out there but my DMs [direct messages] are booming!!!

"There's already a lot of anxiety roaming the world these days and we don't want to be the reason for more.

"This photo was taken just now. He is wearing a vest because he is Santista and the cold in SP bothers him!

"He is recovering well and wthin normal range. Promise!

"He doesn't like it when I say this so please don't tell him but he is an O'Keefe gentleman.

"The normal recovery scenario for a man of his age, after an operation like this , is sometimes two steps forward and one step back.

"Yesterday he was tired and took a little step back. Today he took two forwards!

"I want to thank again, and always, the brilliant team here at Einstein and even more gratitude for all of the good energy that you are transmitting."

Pele: one of football's greatest

Brazil and the entire sporting world are closely following the health of O Rei. Pele, who won three world cups with Brazil (1958, 1962 and 1970) retired from playing on 1 October 1977. He played for Santos for 18 years, and scored 643 goals in competitive fixtures. According to Pele himself he scored 1283 goals, in both competitive and friendly matches. FIFA calculates he scored 767 goals in competitive matches across his whole career.

Discussing how many of Pele's goals were scored in friendlies Santos historian Odir Cunha explained to ESPN: "More than half of those were of more importance to Santos, their opponents and to world football than many of the goals he scored in "official games.'"