Sylvester Stallone gushes over late Brazilian footballer Pele: ‘That’s his power’

Sylvester Stallone recently shared how filming Escape to Victory with Pele became an evergreen memory.

For those unaware, the 80-year-old American actor and filmmaker played the role of Captain Robert Hatch while the legendary Brazilian footballer breathed life into Corporal Luis Fernandez in the 1981 war sports film.

Stallone sat with The Rest Is Entertainment for an interview, where he reminisced about being in the film with Pele and how his view of soccer changed after his finger was accidentally broken by the legendary player.

The Rocky star revealed that Pele was showing him how to kick a soccer ball into a goal and during that drill, he “broke my finger.”

Stallone, who initially considered soccer “a difficult game,” stated that he found it way more challenging when he actually played it for the movie.

“And in World War II, the balls were like bowling balls. They’re smaller, thick, brown leather. And it was steel toe shoes. Can you imagine? And so [Pelé] goes, ‘Why don’t you get into the goal? I’m going to tell you exactly where I’m going to hit — like right there. You stand there and you won’t even see it.’”

“I go, ‘Pssh, try your best.’ And he goes back, and he kicks it, and I hear a sound and I put my hands up.”

“And there was an old World War II net. So it tears through the net, and we have prisoner of war bunkers with a metal grate over the window. Bang. Broke the windows. That’s the power of his [kick]. That’s how good he was,” Stallone explained.

It is pertinent to mention that the film starred Sylvester Stallone and Pele, alongside other top-notch stars, including Michael Caine, Bobby Moore, Werner Roth, Co Prins, and others.

Escape to Victory chronicled the story of “Allied prisoners of war who are interned in a German prison camp during the Second World War who play an exhibition match of football against a German team,” according to Wikipedia.