Goal · 5 March 1961
The gol de placa
Pelé's solo goal against Fluminense at the Maracanã in 1961, which gave Brazil the phrase gol de placa.
Near the end of the first half against Fluminense, Pelé took the ball in his own half and ran at the defence. He beat several players with changes of pace and feints, then beat goalkeeper Castilho.
A bronze plaque was put up at the Maracanã to mark it. Accounts differ on who paid for it: some credit the journalist Joelmir Beting, others the journalist Mário Filho. Since then Brazilians have called any exceptional goal a gol de placa.
The match it came in
The chapters it appears in
Questions this answers
What was Pelé's best goal?
There is no agreed answer. The best known are his volley in the 1958 World Cup final and the solo run against Fluminense in 1961 that gave Brazil the phrase gol de placa.