Portugal defender Pepe becomes oldest player to play at a European Championship

LEIPZIG, Germany (AP) — Portugal defender Pepe grew to become the oldest participant to function at a European Championship after serving to his workforce to a 2-1 win over the Czech Republic of their opening sport on Tuesday.

Pepe was 41 years and 113 days outdated, taking the file from the earlier holder, Hungary goalkeeper Gábor Király. Király was 40 years and 86 days outdated when he performed towards Belgium within the spherical of 16 at Euro 2016.

It got here simply days after Spain’s Lamine Yamal grew to become the youngest participant to function on the match.

The Brazil-born Pepe was 24 when he made his Portugal debut underneath Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari in November 2007 when he was nonetheless a Actual Madrid participant. He has made 138 appearances for Portugal, scoring eight targets, getting 25 yellow playing cards. His one purple card got here in Portugal’s opening sport on the 2014 World Cup towards Germany.

Pepe has performed in 20 video games at 5 European Championships, a file solely bettered by worldwide teammate Cristiano Ronaldo.

The 39-year-old Ronaldo, who made his match debut at Euro 2004 the place Portugal reached the ultimate, on Tuesday grew to become the primary participant to function at six European Championships.

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AP Euro 2024: https://apnews.com/hub/euro-2024