Brazilian football legend Pele’s family members gathered at the Albert Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo on Saturday, where the 82-yearold, widely considered one of the greatest footballers of all time, has been since late November.

Doctors said this week that Pele’s cancer had advanced and that he requires care related to renal and cardiac dysfunction. His family said he would remain in a Sao Paulo hospital over Christmas.

Pele has received regular medical treatment since a tumor was removed from his colon in September last year.

“Almost all of them. Merry Christmas. Gratitude, love, togetherness, family. The essence of Christmas. We thank you all for all the love and light you send,” his daughter Kely Nascimento wrote on Instagram with a picture of their family in the hospital.

Pele’s son Edinho, who played in goal for Santos in the 1990s, posted a picture of himself holding his father’s hand to Instagram on Saturday, with the caption “Father... my strength is yours.”

Pele’s daughter shared a heart-wrenching photo of herself and the footballer with the caption “one more night together” on Twitter.

Kely can be seen hugging her dad with only one side of the footballer’s face visible. Nascimento earlier this week announced that her father would have to spend Christmas in the hospital.

She also revealed that her father has contracted Covid19, despite being vaccinated “with all doses.” He got a lung infection because the chemotherapy had made him more vulnerable. Kylian Mbappe sent Pele a letter of support following his hospitalisation.

Written with inputs from Reuters