Pele takes to Instagram, ‘doing very well’ after removal of tumour

In a message that will come as a huge relief for football fans around the world, the great Brazilian footballer Pele took to Instagram to convey that he is on the mend after surgery to remove a tumour from his colon earlier this month.

“My friends, I am still recovering very well. Today I received visits from family members and I continue to smile every day. Thank you for all the love I get from you,” Pele said on Instagram.

The three-time World Cup winner was expected to return home shortly after he left intensive care at the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo on Tuesday.

Hours before, his daughter Kely Nascimento, who was one of his visitors on Friday, had revealed the latest on her father’s progress following the procedure in September.

“There’s already a lot of anxiety roaming the world these days and we don’t want to be the reason for more,” she wrote on Instagram in a post which included a picture with her dad in hospital.