Pelé is one of the best players in all of history, three times World Champion with Brazil, two times in the Libertadores with Santos and many other trophies, including being Extraordinary Minister of Sports of the Brazilian government and countless individual distinctions. He is undoubtedly one of the most virtuous footballers who played the beautiful game.
On the other hand, Sylvester Stallone is an American actor of Italian descent who is recognized worldwide for his roles as Rocky Balboa in the film with the same name, where he is not only the protagonist but also the screenwriter. The movie that brought him to stardom portrays the so famous American dream and the fight against evil. Years later his fame would give him a second turn with the Creed saga.
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But, how is it that these two worlds, in principle so far apart, intersect and one day the soccer star broke the movie star"s finger? The situation in question goes back to 1981, by then Pelé had already retired from soccer playing for the New York Cosmos and was a world-renowned figure. On the other hand, Stallone had already risen to fame thanks to Rocky I and II and was preparing the third part, but before that both met to film another movie: Escape to Victory.
In said film, which, although it is based on a true event, has several licences, a soccer game is played between a group of Nazi soldiers against a group of prisoner soldiers. Stallone would star as Robert Hatch, a soldier who doesn"t know how to play soccer and joins the team with the sole intention of escaping during the game, and Pelé would play Luis Fernández, a soldier who would play forward.
The incident would take place before the recordings since in the first instance Stallone would also be a striker but he could not do a bicycle kick. So what better teacher than Pelé himself? The Brazilian star set out to show him how to do it while the actor was in the goal defending him, after the demonstration Pelé shot some penalties so vehemently that the accident occurred where Stallone broke a finger.
This is how the actor explained it: “He broke my butt and my finger for trying to stop a penalty. He told me where he was going to kick and he didn"t lie. He took the penalty on that side, only this time he took the net from the goal, my finger and a window", affirmed the actor in an interview with Fox Sports.
