Pepe wins defender of the month in Portugal

Porto defender Pepe and Vitória Guimarães keeper Bruno Varela were chosen as the best defender and goalkeeper in the Liga NOS for the months of September and October.

According to the league on Monday, Pepe got 40.77% of the votes from the managers of the Portuguese top flight, beating Ricardo Esgaio of Braga (13.85%), and Nuno Mendes of Sporting Lisbon (10.77%).

The Portuguese international played the 90 minutes in the last 5 matches of the league and scored 1 goal in the match against Maritimo, although they ended up losing that match.

He was also chosen as the best player in the match against Sporting.

For his part, Bruno Varela received 19.70% of the votes as best keeper and beat Odysseas of Benfica (18,94%) and Matheus of Braga (12,88%).

The keeper, who in 2016 was sub to Kepa at Real Valladolid, also played the 90 minutes in the 5 matchdays, in which he let in just two goals.