Former Real Madrid defender Pepe slept in bed with his mum until he was 17

Pepe is regarded as one of the toughest footballers around today but the veteran defender slept in his mother's bed until he was 17.

Although he's been capped 123 times for Portugal, Pepe grew up in Brazil and moved country to further his football career in his late teens.

And while he had developed physically, he still required a great amount of love and attention from his mum.

Speaking to Portuguese outlet Tribuna Expresso, he said: "Until I came to Portugal, at the age of 17, I slept with my mother, so imagine what it was like [laughter].

"I was already big and I slept with my parents, so I imagine my father did not like to have me there [laughs].

"This is interesting: the other day I was talking to my mother and she was telling me that I really liked to run my hand through her hair and I told her that maybe I already knew it would be too much time away from her."

Pepe signed for Maritimo and made 64 appearances for the club before joining Porto for the first time, winning back-to-back league titles.

It was at Real Madrid where he earned his reputation as a tough-tackling defender, going on to win three La Liga titles and three Champions Leagues in 334 games across nine seasons.

After a spell with Besiktas in Turkey, the 39-year-old now finds himself back at Porto, captaining the side to a league and cup double in 2019/20.

He continues to be an absolute s**thouse in every sense of the world and has been central to some wild brawls over the last year or so.

According to Transfer Markt, the centre-back has received a massive 170 yellow cards and 13 red cards for club and country.

His most recent came after the final whistle at the end of Porto vs Sporting, with a total of four player seeing red.

But even with all that, like a lot of us, he was still mollycoddled by his mum.