Sylvester Stallone has revealed that football legend Pele broke his finger during the filming of the 1981 war-sports film 'Escape to Victory', recounting the painful on-set incident as a firsthand testament to the late Brazilian icon's extraordinary striking power. The Hollywood actor shared the story on a recent episode of the 'The Rest Is Entertainment' podcast, hosted by Marina Hyde.

What Happened on Set

In the film, Stallone played Captain Robert Hatch while Pele portrayed Corporal Luis Fernandez — characters caught up in an exhibition football match between a German side and Allied prisoners of war in a World War 2-era German prison camp. During production, Pele invited Stallone to stand in goal while he demonstrated a strike, assuring the actor he would tell him exactly where the ball was headed.

Stallone, by his own admission, knew nothing about football going in and badly underestimated both Pele's power and the nature of the period-authentic equipment. He said: 'Pele broke my finger in that thing. Soccer didn't look so hard, and in World War 2, the balls were like bowling balls. They're smaller, thick, brown leather. And it was steel toe shoes. Can you imagine? And so he goes, Sly, 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. God damn.'

The Force That Tore Through a Net

Stallone went on to describe the aftermath of Pele's strike in vivid detail. The ball tore clean through an old World War 2-era net and shattered a metal-grated window on a prisoner-of-war bunker behind the goal. He added: '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.'

Notably, Stallone told podcast host Marina Hyde, 52, that he had learned the hard way about the sport. This comes amid continued global interest in Pele's legacy, with the football world regularly revisiting tributes to the icon since his passing.

Stallone's Broader Revelations

The podcast appearance also touched on other aspects of Stallone's life away from the screen. The 'Rocky' star separately revealed that some of his biggest financial windfalls have come not from film roles but from an art collection he began building in the 1980s, using his Hollywood earnings to purchase paintings that have since appreciated significantly in value.

About 'Escape to Victory'

Released in 1981, 'Escape to Victory' remains a cult classic at the intersection of sport and war cinema. Beyond Stallone and Pele, the film featured several real-world professional footballers, lending its match sequences an authenticity unusual for the era. The production's period-correct heavy leather balls and steel-toed boots were apparently as punishing off-camera as they were on it, as Stallone's broken finger attests.