Pepe lauded for his heroic display in Porto’s Champions League triumph over Juventus

Sergio Oliveira may have been the hero in front of goal for Porto as they stunned Juventus in the Champions League, but it was veteran centre back Pepe who won the plaudits following the final whistle.

Porto booked their place in the Champions League quarter finals through away goals despite going down 3-2 on Tuesday night and drawing 4-4 on aggregate, after Oliveira netted an extra-time free-kick which sealed the triumph for the visitors.

But as Juventus desperately looked to land the knockout blow on Porto throughout the 90 minutes and extra-time, it was Pepe who stood tallest for the Portuguese outfit – producing a heroic defensive display.

Pepe was everywhere as Porto hung onto clinch their place in Champions League quarters

Pepe made a last-ditch clearance to deny Matthijs de Ligt from potentially scoring a winner

In the fourth minute of stoppage time during extra-time with Juve launching the ball forward into the box, Pepe was on hand to make a stunning flying clearance to deny Matthijs de Ligt from potentially scoring a dramatic winner.

And after Juventus were left reeling by their exit, Joe Cole and Rio Ferdinand heaped praise on the ex-Real Madrid man for his excellent display – with the former hailing the 38-year-old as one of the best centre halves around still.

Cole 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.’

Joe Cole and Rio Ferdinand sung the praises of the veteran centre back after the final whistle

Former United defender Ferdinand agreed with Cole, and claimed that aspiring young centre halves should watch Pepe’s performance against Juventus for the perfect lesson in how to play at the back.

Ferdinand added: ‘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.’

Porto defender Pepe got the better of his former Real Madrid team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo

Gary Lineker was full of praise too for ‘fierce competitor’ Pepe before insisting that he is ‘one of those you’d hate to play against but you’d love to have him on your side.’

And Cole was in full agreement: ‘Oh sure, he is the most annoying player in world football over the past 20 years without a shadow of a doubt. He has wound up everyone. 

‘But like Rio said, the body position, just little things like when the ball comes in and a cross is coming in and he gets the right distance on it. He is not putting it into a dangerous area. He is leaning into players at the right time. You never ever feel with him like he is going to do something rash. 

‘At 38, by the way, Thiago Silva is 36, these young centre halves need to watch these players and do what they do.’