'It's an honour to wear Pele's number 10'

Real Madrid striker Rodrygo Goes said it would be "an honour" to wear the Brazil national team jersey worn by the late Pele, whom they honoured in Saturday's friendly against Morocco.

"I hope he is in a good place. Here, we are going to run for him to honour everything he did. We are aware that today we are known thanks to him," said Rodrygo, in statements released Saturday by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF).

Edson Arantes do Nascimento 'Pele' died on 29th December at the age of 82, a victim of cancer, and on Saturday it was  the first time that the Brazilian national team, with which he won three World Cups (1958, 1962 and 1970), took the field since his death.

"I went to his house before I went to Real Madrid and we had a very good chat. I already admired him before I met him and after that conversation I started to admire him a lot more", the Real Madrid player recalled.

Rodrygo also stressed that, like Pele and more recently Neymar, absent from this call-up due to a serious ankle injury, he too was trained at Santos and will now have the "honour" of following in the footsteps of both by wearing the number 10 jersey for the national team.

"For me it's an honour to follow in the footsteps of Pele, Neymar.... We all left Santos. I'm very happy and it's an honour for me," he said.