MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Pelé discharged from ICU but stays hospitalized

Pelé also has other health problems which have kept him at home during most of the COVID-19 pandemic

Brazilian football legend Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known worldwide as Pelé, has been discharged from São Paulo's Albert Einstein hospital's Intensive Care Unit Tuesday but will remain in the institution to continue with his recovery from a colon tumour surgery.

Pele, 80, is in “good clinical evolution” and “will remain, from now on, in recovery in the room,” according to a press release from the hospital where he was admitted on August 31.

The tumour was identified during routine examinations that, according to Pele himself, were carried out this year after having been postponed in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has kept him semi-confined at his São Paulo coastline home.

Kely Nascimento, one of Pelé's daughter, said on social media her father was “well” and in a “good mood.”

She added: “He is strong, and with the help of all the incredible Einstein team, as well as all the love and energy and light that the world is sending him, he will come out of this.”

The three-time world champion with Brazil's national team in 1958, 1962 and 1970, has been hospitalized several times in recent years to treat health problems and is walking with difficulty due to a hip problem that has already required two surgeries.

In 2019, Pelé spent a few days in a hospital in Paris to treat a urinary tract infection diagnosed after participating in an event in the French capital with Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappé. On his return to Brazil, he also spent a few days at the Albert Einstein hospital. He is also said to have prostate and kidney problems.