For the young people who are going to read this article, let’s try a comparison: it’s a bit like if Cristiano Ronaldo and Margot Robbie met on a football field. Impossible ? Yet this is what happened on March 31, 1971.
At the time, Pelé, the best footballer in the world, met Brigitte Bardot, film star, during a friendly match at the Colombes stadium. The three-time Brazilian world champion came to the Paris region with his club, Santos, to play this charity match for the benefit of cancer research against a team made up of players from Saint-Étienne and Olympique de Marseille, the two popular clubs in French football.
And the star of the seventh art had completely eclipsed that of football. Dressed in a blue top, white mini-shorts and red boots, which recall the colors of France, Brigitte Bardot gave the fictitious kick-off of the match under the photographers’ flashes.
« It was fun but unfortunately there was a wall of photographers and when I kicked off, the ball landed on the face of a photographer on all fours who took it in the face! Pelé, adorable, was dying of laughter and so was I,” laughed the actress, who died this Sunday at the age of 91, in comments reported by L’Équipe.
While the journalists crowded towards her and under the crush of the public, the actress managed to keep her calm and smile while explaining that she “loved football on television” and that she found Pelé “extraordinary”.
For his part, “O Rei” was much less diplomatic by showing a certain annoyance during the photos. This meeting ended in a rather pitiful 0-0 before determining the winner in a penalty shootout. But that was not the important thing.
