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Pepe Compilation Vs Juventus Showed Him Roll Back The Years To His Prime Real Madrid Form

Pepe Compilation Vs Juventus Showed Him Roll Back The Years To His Prime Real Madrid Form

Man United legend Rio Ferdinand said Pepe's defensive display for Porto was "almost perfect performance in terms of defending your box."

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz

Pepe showed exactly why he was lauded as "one of the top centre-backs around for the last decade" after a compilation highlighted his stunning performance against Juventus.

Porto shocked the defending Italian champions last month with a 2-1 victory at the Estadio do Dragao in the first leg of the Champions League round-of-16 ties.

The Portuguese side suffered a 3-2 defeat against Juventus in the second leg in Turin on Tuesday.

However, Juventus crashed out of the Champions League as Porto progressed to the next round thanks to a 4-4 aggregate scoreline.

Now, a compilation has showcased Pepe's fine performance against the Old Lady as he rolled back the years to his prime Real Madrid days.

The 38-year-old Porto captain stole the show and even pulled off a stunning overhead clearance in the fourth minute of stoppage time during extra-time.

Pepe's heroic display earned him praise from Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand and former West Ham star Joe Cole.

Cole, 39, insisted that the Portuguese defender still has the skills to be "one of the top centre-halves in Europe."

The ex-England international told BT Sport: "Me and Rio were talking about what centre-halves you'd take at Man United and Chelsea, the young ones and that.

"And here is a 38-year-old who has been one of the top centre-backs around for the last decade just reading the game.

"By the way, he still covers the ground. On the ball he was on point, just doing everything you want your centre half to do. And he has still got to be one of the top centre-halves in Europe.

"We don't get to see him regularly but just the way he controlled distance, eased players out.

"Imagine being a young centre half and having been able to play next to him and learn."

Ferdinand echoed Cole's sentiments on Pepe, saying the former Madrid man delivered an "almost perfect performance in terms of defending your box."

The 42-year-old BT Sport pundit explained: "If I am coaching at a football club now, I'd get these clips, and give them to every young centre half at the club to watch -- in terms of positional, desire, communication, awareness, sensing and smelling danger of where to be and using your body, as well in terms of defending the box.

"What we normally see with young defenders nowadays is are they good on the ball, but how about defending your box.

"And far too often we see these young defenders, and defenders of maturity still in the game today, they get their feet muddled up, their body positions are wrong.

"That was an almost perfect performance in terms of defending your box and that is something that should be sent around to all the young centre-halves."

Meanwhile, Pepe's former Madrid teammate Cristiano Ronaldo was slammed for his 'disasterclass' performance against Porto.

Featured Image Credit: Twitter/BT Sport

Topics: Football, Serie A, UEFA, Primeira Liga, Portugal, Juventus, Champions League, Pepe, Italy, Allianz Stadium