OSSIE ARDILES: Even as an Argentinian Pele is my favourite player of all time...

When I was invited to be in Escape to Victory with Pele in 1980, the British-based contingent — Bobby Moore, Russell Osman, John Wark, Mike Summerbee and me — were lucky enough to have a private jet from London to Budapest, where filming would take place.

We were all casually dressed but when we got close to landing, the pilot let us know that there were up to 40,000 people waiting for us. Bobby, who would never appear in public without thinking about how he looked, quickly nipped into the bathroom and emerged in a suit and tie, looking absolutely the part of a debonair, former England World Cup-winning captain.

We landed and disembarked, ready to fight our way through. But the airport was quiet. There was no one there. ‘Oh, the people were here to see Pele,’ we were told. ‘They’ve all gone now he’s gone.’

I was a World Cup winner at the time and Bobby was one of the most famous footballers in the world. And yet Pele put everybody into context. There was only one global superstar of the game at that stage. And even though he hadn’t played for three years and was 40 years old, he was the man who had changed football. He could draw a crowd, even behind the Iron Curtain.

Pele had always been special for me. All through my childhood he was my idol and that caused a lot of problems. Whenever I was asked, people were expecting someone from Cordoba, my home town, or from Buenos Aires. But I would always say my idol was Pele. People would say: ‘What!? A Brazilian!?’

But I was always in love with Brazilian football and Pele was the No 1 player, so I was in love with him. In 1970, I was 18, and, for me, Brazil was the best team ever and the manager Mario Zagallo was an absolute genius. He played five No 10s up front and I wanted to do the same at Tottenham when I was manager there. It didn’t work then but it is possible. I don’t hold with the idea that Brazil were the last romantic team. I think there is a direct line between how they played and how Pep Guardiola now plays. It may not be five No 10s but it is five attacking players. Normally Manchester City will only have one defensive midfielder.

That team was my inspiration. It wasn’t just Pele, but Jairzinho, Gerson, Clodoaldo, Tostao, Carlos Alberto, Jairzinho and Rivellino. It didn’t make me very popular in Argentina, but if I had to choose a team in history that inspired me, that was it.

The Italian team they played in the final wasn’t just a very good team, they were also the masters of catenaccio or ultra-defensive football. It was the new romantics against cold-hearted realists. So to beat Italy in the way they did, 4-1 in the final, was a huge moment in football. It was a victory for the beautiful game and Pele was the figurehead.

Before that and even after, a lot of defenders were just bad players who kicked people. Pele changed that because after 1970 a generation of coaches and players had an example to follow and a vision of what could be done. As such, they are the inspiration and forerunners of all great teams, like Barcelona in the 2000s. Whenever a coach plays beautiful, attacking football they owe a debt to that team and Pele.

It is no exaggeration to say, as Neymar did last week, that Pele changed the game completely. It was partly because of technology. The 1970 World Cup was the first broadcast globally in colour — and Brazil had the kit and the players to illuminate our screens.

Before then, football was popular in its heartlands, Europe and South America. Suddenly football had a global superstar. Not just football: sport. Muhammad Ali and Pele were figures in that era that transcended national loyalties. In this respect, he was absolutely the forerunner to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Nowadays, everybody can watch all of their games all the time. But Pele paved the way for that global iconography of an individual footballer.

To have such a great player coinciding with the technology to beam him into homes around the world made football what it is today. After 1970 and on the back of Pele’s popularity, it would become a world game. Remember how important it was for Brazil to be represented by a black man. That was a significant moment in the fight against racism.

In real life he was as charming and charismatic as he was on the pitch. When we were filming in Budapest, it was during the days of Communism, so there wasn’t much to do. We would hang out in the evenings in the hotel bars, all the footballers together. Of course, we wanted to talk to Michael Caine and Max von Sydow about films but they just wanted to talk football. Everyone had stories and none more so than Pele.

Sylvester Stallone was annoyed because Pele was far more popular than he was. For me it was a dream to get to know my childhood idol. I was a World Cup winner at the time so a little worried he might be cold with me, with the Argentinian-Brazil rivalry. But he was warm with everyone.

Of course, his death coming so soon after Messi finally won the World Cup and just two years after Diego Maradona’s death, will reopen the debate over who is the greatest ever. This is a generational dispute. I played with Diego, so I would say Maradona. But young people will definitely say Messi.

It’s the season of the three kings right now and in Latin countries we celebrate Reyes. This Reyes we can celebrate the three magical kings of football: Lionel, Diego and Pele. Take your choice as to who you think is the best. But all three exist on a level above the rest of us footballers. Today we may mourn with Pele’s family. But most of all we celebrate his life.