People walk at the entrance of Albert Einsten Hospital where Brazilian soccer legend Pele is hospitalized in Sao Paulo, Brazil September 17, 2021. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli
SAO PAULO – Football legend Pele continues to recover from colon surgery, with his family posting a video of the 80-year-old Brazilian smiling while undergoing physiotherapy in his Sao Paulo hospital room.
The former Santos, Brazil and New York Cosmos player had a tumor removed on September 4 and has been in and out of the intensive care unit at the Albert Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo in the days since.
His daughter Kely posted a video of him doing leg exercises and then shadowboxing with the camera on her Instagram feed.
He was attended by two physiotherapists, one of whom is Pele’s daughter.
“Today was two steps forward!” Kely wrote, in reference to a previous post warning fans her father’s recovery was often two steps forward and one step back.
The only player with three World Cup winner’s medals, Pele has suffered from hip problems for years and cannot walk unaided.
His public appearances were already being reduced before the COVID-19 pandemic and since then he has made few unnecessary trips outside his house near Santos.