The Angel with Bent Legs

How a boy from Pau Grande became Brazil's most beloved footballer — and died forgotten at 49

Pau Grande is not the kind of place that produces gods.

A factory town wedged into the hills north of Rio de Janeiro, it owes its existence to a British-owned textile mill that employed most of its residents and dictated the rhythms of their days. The houses are small. The streets are narrow. The nearest beach is an hour away. In the 1930s, when Manuel F…