Pele paid England star the ultimate compliment and said he 'taught us the way football should be played'

Pele is hailed as among the greatest ever to grace a football pitch - but the Brazil legend once said an England player was the one who 'taught' how football should be played.

Pele - who was born as Edson Arantes do Nascimento - spent most of his club playing career with Santos in his native Brazil, before a spell towards the end with the New York Cosmos.

But it was his exploits with Brazil which captured the imagination of football fans worldwide with 77 goals in 92 appearances for his country.

And the forward helped inspire the South American nation to three World Cup triumphs in 1958, 1962 and 1970.

Pele passed away at the age of 82 in 2022 and many have hailed him as the greatest player of all time, though the likes of Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are contenders for that crown too.

But the man himself once named an England forward as the man who 'taught us the way football should be played' in an ultimate compliment.

And that player was the late great Sir Stanley Matthews, who scored 11 goals in 54 England caps between 1934 and 1957.

Matthews came through the youth ranks at hometown club Stoke City and won the Second Division title there, before moving to Blackpool in 1947 after the Second World War.

Sir Stanley Matthews. (Image: Getty)

Matthews spent much of the next decade and a half at Bloomfield Road, helping the Seasiders win the 1953 FA Cup with a notable personal performance in the 4-3 victory over Bolton Wanderers which saw the clash christened the "Matthews final".

He was named the winner of the inaugural Ballon d'Or in 1956 and later return to the Potters in 1961 for a second spell, helping Stoke to win the Second Division crown again in the 1962-63 season.

A short managerial spell at Port Vale followed the conclusion of his long playing career at the age of 50.

Matthews explained his long career was down to being a strict trainer and having a disciplined diet, and he neither smoke nor drank alcohol.

He once told the FA: "I wanted to play as long as I could because I was in love with the game and enthusiastic about it.

"I had some very good advice and started to eat more salads and fruit, and every Monday I had no food. Just one day, on a Monday, but I felt better."

Matthews died in 2000 at the age of 85 and his ashes are buried beneath the centre circle of Stoke's bet365 Stadium, which he officially opened in August 1997.