Pepe on his step in Spain: "Real Madrid was a cemetery of plants when I arrived"

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Pepe, with the passage of time, became one of the benchmarks of Real Madrid in the last decade. The defender, now a Porto player, explained why he stayed so long at the Santiago Bernabéu.

 

"Real Madrid was a central cemetery, and all those who arrived could not take hold," confessed the Portuguese, referring to the discreet steps of Fabio Cannavaro, Gabriel Heinze or Christoph Metzelder, who failed to shine in the 'White House' .

"Porto prepared me for that, I was there for ten seasons, they went through great centers and they could not take hold as I did", added Pepe about his experience with Real Madrid, a club with which he won 14 trophies.

On the other hand, the defender was reunited with an old friend of Real Madrid: Iker Casillas. The center gave details of the first contact with the goalkeeper and also revealed that it would have influenced the decision of the Spaniard to leave with the 'dragons'.

"The reunion was very good, I felt happy because I saw him happy, when I signed for Madrid, I spoke to him about Porto and I may have influenced his decision to come here," the player revealed, recalling an anecdote.

"When I arrived I asked the same question that Iker asked me when I signed up for Real Madrid: 'Do you speak Spanish?' I told him no, I asked him if he speaks Portuguese and he says he understood, but it gives him a bit of shame, so you're better than when I got to Madrid, "Pepe concluded.