#BornToday Pele - a man credited with more than 1000 goals.
A man who despised penalties, his 1000th goal was ironically a penalty.
He could have scored his 1000th on the day he scored his 999th.
But his team's goalkeeper was injured and SURPRISE SURPRISE, Pele stood in goal.
Almost as bad as having Messi as your draught excluder.
Mohun Bagan paid $5000 to the New York Cosmos who had signed Pele to play an exhibition game in India.
According to @SGanguly99, Pele is the greatest player to have played at the Eden Gardens.
His trip to Kolkata can be a subject of a book itself. The West Bengal government set up an 18-member team under its public works minister to prepare for the trip.
Tickets to the game were the most sought-after possession in the city.
The King of Bhutan wrote to the Bengal chief minister, requesting tickets.
For than 20,000 security personnel were fielded to prevent rioting. But when the legend’s flight landed the airport staff who were supposed to maintain law and order rushed to see the man!
Pele is no stranger to large crowds. But the legend’s influence is such that when he traveled to Lagos Nigerian military and Biafran rebels agreed to a 48-hour cease-fire.
Just to watch him!
Back to India, The game at Eden Gardens turned out to be his penultimate match and saw crowds in excess of 55000.
The game ended in a 2-2 draw, but Pele’s performance was quite disappointing.
Now, the keen pop culture enthusiast in you will remember Amol Palekar mistaking the Black Pearl Pele for Prof Rele.
But if things had worked out, we could have had Pele make an appearance in the film.
A portion of the song 'Ek din sapne mein dekha sapna' had Amol Palekar dreaming of playing with Pele.
This was eventually dropped from the movie.
Happy Birthday Pele!!
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