Heads up! Ex-Sporting, Real Madrid centre-back retires (video) | OneFootball

Pedro Mendes, former Sporting and Real Madrid center-back, announced on his social media that his career has come to an end after 17 seasons. The player spent time in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, and Switzerland.

The Portuguese player split his youth development between Real Massamá and Sporting. He made his professional debut in the 2009/10 season for the Sintra-based club, in which he scored one goal in 24 matches. This was followed by a few more loans from the green-and-whites, including to Servette and Real Madrid, where he ended up playing one Champions League match, in the 3-0 win over Ajax in 2011/12.

At Sporting, he played mostly for the B team, but he still made three appearances for the first team. Spells at Parma and Sassuolo followed, but it was in France that he truly established himself. He played for Rennes and Montpellier for eight seasons.

In recent years, he played for Estrela da Amadora, FC Dila, and Feirense, where he decided to hang up his boots. Pedro Mendes, who also has one cap for the Portugal national team, made 340 appearances and scored nine goals throughout his career.

It should be noted that Pedro Mendes will return to Sporting to join the coaching staff of Tiago Fernandes, the new manager of the Lions' B team. The staff will also include Vítor Afonso, Tomás Azevedo, Dário Ezequiel, and Rafael Pinto.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.