Rio Ferdinand reveals what Pepe privately told him after Porto's stunning win over Arsenal

Rio Ferdinand has opened up on his private chat with Pepe in the aftermath of Porto's 1-0 Champions League win over Arsenal.

The Portuguese international marshalled the likes of Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli across the 90 minutes, with Galeno's strike securing a first-leg victory for his side against the Gunners.

Becoming the oldest player to play in the Champions League in the process at 40 years and 360 days old, fans at the Estadio do Dragao celebrated long after the full-time whistle.

Ferdinand, who was joined by both Laura Woods and Martin Keown as part of the TNT Sports panel, caught up with the former Real Madrid man following Porto's triumph.

"They were marshalled by that man in there. I think he’s 41 on Monday. It’s ridiculous to think how he’s getting his body through," Ferdinand said.

"That’s what I was saying to him, “How are you doing this?!”, and he was like: “I’m still strong!”

"He still feels confident.

"A lot of it, Martin Keown said it off air, it’s in the mind at that point."

Having spent 10 long years at Real Madrid from 2007-2017, Pepe's consistent routines have continued to help him perform at the very top level.

Image: Getty

Showing no signs of letting up, the 40-year-old has so far played 23 times for Sergio Conceicao's side this season.

As for the Gunners, they must quickly dust themselves off ahead of a return to Premier League action this weekend.

Mikel Arteta's side are set to take on Newcastle United on Saturday with the onus on keeping pressure on both Liverpool and Manchester in the quest for top-flight glory.

"No, obviously we’re very disappointed by the way we gave the game away at the end, and not managing that situation well enough, and you get punished in the Champions League - if you cannot win it, you don’t lose it," he told the media after his team's defeat.

"We really dominated the game, but we lacked purpose, especially in the first half to have much more aggression, to break lines, to play forward, to generate much more threat in their backline."