Football legend Pele leaves hospital after surgery

Baku. 10 May. REPORT.AZ/ Brazilian footballing legend Pele has been discharged from a hospital in Sao Paulo after undergoing prostate surgery, Report informs citing foreign media. doctors have said.

Staff at the Albert Einstein Hospital confirmed the 74-year-old left on Saturday evening. They released a photograph of the three-time World Cup champion with his girlfriend, Marcia Aoki, taken shortly before he returned home.

According to the information, Pele had been treated for benign prostatic hyperplasia, or enlargement of the prostate, and no tumours were found, the hospital said.

Pele has suffered a number of health problems in recent months.

He underwent surgery for kidney stones in November, and then came down with an infection that required treatment in a hospital intensive care unit for several days.

His one remaining kidney - the other was removed following a rib injury during his playing days - stopped working and had to be treated with dialysis.

Pele, whose real name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento, is widely regarded as the greatest football player of all time.

He scored 77 goals during his 91-match career as an international player.

He won his first World Cup at the age of 17, scoring twice to secure Brazil's victory over Sweden in 1958.