During his professional career, Pepe played for Marítimo, Porto, Real Madrid, and Beciktas, with individual and team success with the middle two clubs. A quick, aggressive, physically strong, and tenacious defender, Pepe is known for his work-rate and hard-tackling style of play; due to his height, he is also an aerial threat on set-pieces. While he usually plays as a centre-back, he has also been deployed as a defensive midfielder at international level. However, despite his defensive abilities, he has also drawn criticism in the media due to his tendency to pick up cards, as he has often shown violent or unsportsmanlike behaviour, which includes diving, on the pitch. He hold 47 yellow cards and 3 red cards.