Pepe could go from calm to furious faster than most defenders can turn. The Portuguese centre-back stamped on Lionel Messi's hand, kicked an opponent who was already on the floor and headbutted Thomas Müller at a World Cup. At Real Madrid he played as if somebody had left the rulebook in another dressing room.
He came through Marítimo and FC Porto, spent 10 years at Real Madrid, had a spell at Beşiktaş and later turned up at Porto again, still in a bad mood.
What Pepe did, and what it cost him
- The Messi stamp came during an El Clásico, and the cameras caught it clearly.
- In 2009 he kicked and stamped on Getafe's Casquero while the man lay on the ground. That earned him a 10-game ban.
- Müller took a headbutt from him at the 2014 World Cup. Pepe took a red card.
- At 40 he was still at Porto and still collecting bookings for aggressive challenges.
None of it stopped him winning. He lifted Champions League titles with Madrid and the European Championship with Portugal, and for long spells he was one of the best defenders in the world. Even so, there were nights when Real Madrid's own supporters struggled to defend him. Opponents found him genuinely frightening, and he did little to change their minds.
Pepe's worst moments on film
Tomorrow: number seven.
