Brazil football legend Pelé leaves hospital after prostate surgery

A general view of the hospital where Brazilian soccer legend Pele is hospitalized in Sao Paulo May 8, 2015. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian football legend Pelé left hospital on Saturday after undergoing prostate surgery and tests showed he has a benign condition. Pelé, 74, whose given name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento, left Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein at around 6:30 p.m. local time (5:30 p.m. Eastern time), a statement from the hospital said. This was the second time the former footballer has been hospitalized in six months. With more than 1,280 career goals, and an unequalled three World Cup titles during his playing career, Pelé is widely considered the greatest football player of all time. He was recuperating after a transurethral resection of the prostate, a procedure that involves the removal of an internal part of the prostate gland. Pelé had been treated for benign prostatic hyperplasia, or enlargement of the prostate, and tests undertaken after surgery indicated that no tumours were found. (Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal and Camila Moreira; Editing by Christian Plumb)