As soon as the footballing calendar is announced, fans across the globe – regardless of their favorite league or teams – typically circle one date above all others: The El Clasico. The showdown between Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona isn’t just a match. It is a spectacle. And few players experienced its most intense, emotionally-charged era quite like Pepe, the Portuguese warrior who was the mainstay of Real Madrid’s defense.
Now, as he eases into retirement, far from the deafening roars of the Santiago Bernabeu or Camp Nou, Pepe finds himself in a new rhythm — playing in Legends matches. The 42-year-old will lace up his boots this Sunday, this time at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, where icons from Real Madrid and Barcelona will rekindle football’s fiercest rivalry.
Leading Real Madrid will be the iconic Luis Figo, joined by Fernando Morientes, Michael Owen, and, of course, Pepe. On the other side, Barcelona will be captained by Spain’s 2010 World Cup-winning skipper Carles Puyol, who’ll reunite with Xavi, Rivaldo, Jose Edmílson, Javier Saviola, among other celebrated names.
For Pepe, the echoes of those electrifying El Clasico nights feel like they happened just yesterday. “Every Clasico against Barcelona was always something special,” he reflects on the eve of the Legends clash. “But when Mourinho and Guardiola were there… it was something else. Things heated up. It was intense — not just on the pitch, but around it.”
To the players, it may have been just football, but for most watching, it was a theatre of sorts. Mourinho had injected Real Madrid with a siege mentality, determined to shatter Barcelona’s stranglehold on Spanish football. Meanwhile, Guardiola had transformed tiki-taka into an art form, orchestrating a side that moved like clockwork. In that charged atmosphere, defenders like Pepe had to dig deep to stop some of the game’s best attackers.
“There were fights,” Pepe admits, without a iota of remorse. “But football was always the winner. Because when people turned on their TVs to watch those matches, they knew they’d see a real battle. Coaches, players, fans — everyone gave everything.”
That’s no exaggeration. Between 2010 and 2012, El Clasico, apart from being the most-watched game, was also one of the most emotionally charged up fixtures in football. But amidst the chaos, some of the most breathtaking football of the modern era unfolded.
For Pepe, that era was defined by the titanic duel between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, the two men who became the face of that rivalry. “It was a brutality,” Pepe says. “Those years in Spain, what Cristiano and Messi did… it was spectacular. I lived it from the inside, and it was a gift — for the fans, for the players.”
Having trained with Ronaldo daily at Real Madrid, Pepe has no doubts when asked who stood tallest among the game’s elite.
“Cristiano,” he says, with firm conviction. “He brought so much to football, the passion, the discipline, the ambition. I faced him in Italy, in Portugal and trained with him every day. I know how hard it was to keep up. What he gave to Madrid, to Manchester United, to Juventus, to Portugal, no one else has done that.”
While Ronaldo and Messi lit up the headlines, it was the fierce, unrelenting defending of players like Pepe and Sergio Ramos for Madrid, and Puyol and Gerard Pique for Barca, that turned every encounter into tactically intriguing affairs.
Asked about preparing to face the world’s best attackers, Pepe explains that defenders always start on the back foot but have to out-think their rivals. “Before the game, I used to study the forwards closely. You have to be on their level. Forwards always have the advantage because we defenders, we always have to react,” he explains.
Off the pitch, however, Pepe is a striking contrast to the firebrand defender fans once knew. He is calm, thoughtful, and even philosophical. And in Mumbai, he seems to be embracing his new role as an ambassador of the game. “I’m happy to be here,” he says. “Even as a Legends game, this match can mean a lot for Indian football. It can inspire kids to play, to dream. And if it brings more investment, more infrastructure, then we’re proud to be part of that.”
The setting may not be the Santiago Bernabeu or Camp Nou. But for one night in Navi Mumbai, the magic of El Clasico is set to come alive again, giving Indian fans a rare, up-close glimpse of football’s most storied rivalry. And standing tall at the back, just like he always did, will be Pepe. He’s still fierce, still sharp, and, remarkably, still immaculately fit.