“When I was told I was playing against Pelé, I prayed”: the former Blues goalkeeper remembers

Meet Pelé's Brazil, double reigning world champion in 1958 and 1962, for his first selection with the Blues... It's hard to dream of better for Georges Carnus.

On April 28, 1963, he was aligned in goal at the Yves-du-Manoir stadium in Colombes.

“I had some good club matches with Stade Français.

There was no reason why it shouldn't be me who started, tells us the former goalkeeper of the France team.

But when they told me that I was playing against Pelé, I got a lot of worries like everyone else.

I prayed.

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Read alsoPelé, the greatest footballer in history, is dead

The 82-year-old man no longer remembers the score (3-2 defeat), nor the goals he conceded.

He admits: “I can't say, it went there or there… I think I took two goals from Pelé.

» These are not two but three goals that Georges Carnus could not avoid against King Pelé.

“Everyone was running behind him.

We did what we could, what”

“I think I had made the match that I could make.

When you only take two goals from Pelé, it was good news

Everyone was running after him.

We did what we could, what ”, rewinds the former goalkeeper of AS Saint-Étienne and Marseille.

Born in 1940 as the Brazilian star, Georges Carnus remembers above all having admired this extraordinary number 10: “He was able to do everything on the ground.

He was a phenomenon everywhere he went, for more than ten years.

There was nothing to complain about.

He had everything.

He was very smart, fast.

Nothing was missing.

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And obviously the ex-keeper of the Blues with 36 selections was not the only fan of Pelé.

"We did not exchange shirts at the time, otherwise it would have taken 12 shirts for Pelé in each match", assures Georges Carnus, whose career came to a tragic end in 1974 following a terrible accident at the road that cost the lives of his wife and three daughters.

And if it were necessary to make a comparison with a player of the modern era, the octogenarian does not hesitate for a single second: "Messi is Pelé 2."