Cristiano Ronaldo has paid tribute to Aurelio da Silva Pereira, the coach who discovered him at Sporting Lisbon, who passed away at the age of 77 on Tuesday.
Pereira brought teenagers Paulo Futre, Luis Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo to Sporting Lisbon outfit.
He recruited Ronaldo from Nacional’s youth ranks in 1997 at the age of 12.
The 40-year-old made his professional debut at Sporting Lisbon in 2022 before joining Manchester United a year later.
Ronaldo took to social media to mourn the death of Aurélio Pereira, who died on Tuesday.
He wrote on Instagram: “One of the greatest symbols of world youth training has left us, but his legacy will live on forever. I will never stop being grateful for everything he did for me and for so many other players. Until forever, Mr. Aurélio, thank you for everything. Rest in peace.”
Similarly, Sporting Lisbon also paid tribute to their former scouting director in a statement on their website.
The statement reads: “He will forever be remembered as one of the greatest names in the history of national football and, above all, in the history of Sporting Clube de Portugal,”
Portugal’s Football Federation president Pedro Proença also mourned the loss of the legend.
He said: “The death of Aurélio Pereira represents an irreparable loss for Portuguese football,” Proença said.
“In addition to the enormous legacy built by the man who discovered some of the best players in our history … We will have an enormous and eternal debt of gratitude to Aurélio Pereira and we will do everything to honor his legacy.”
Nani wrote, external on social media: “Thank you for everything. You were a great friend, an excellent human being, who gave me good and important advice. I’ll never forget everything I learned from you, my friend.”
Pereira discovered 10 players out of the 23 players that helped Portugal to win the 2019 European Championship trophy.
