It was a footballing treat, a Maksimir celebration in which Zagreb fans completely filled the stands and greeted – the world's best footballer. On that September 12, 1969, the famous Brazilian Santos came to play an exhibition match against Dinamo, led by the celebrated football virtuoso, the unforgettable "O Rei" – Pelé.

That day remained memorable as a historic Zagreb football celebration, with the result being 1-1 in front of almost 65,000 spectators in the Maksimir stands. According to many, this was a record attendance at Maksimir, judging by the impression and by the witnesses and participants themselves, who emphasize that the story about the record at the Zagreb – Osijek match is actually a kind of "urban legend".

"We are satisfied with the draw," Pelé said after the match. "Dinamo only ran out of strength after taking the lead. We then rallied, the feeling that water had entered our ears motivated our players. We played more decisively and I think we deservedly earned the draw. One of my first matches for Santos was actually against Dinamo, it was during the Morumbi tournament, for the opening of that great stadium in São Paulo. We were in cooperation with Vasco da Gama from Rio. The match ended 1-1, we played in Rio, and I was the scorer for the 'santistas'."

In the first half, Pelé hit the crossbar, while on the other side Marijan Čerček hit the post. It was Čerček who set up Josip Gutzmirtl from the right side, who found his way to the net. Later, Edu equalized.

Pelé played against Dinamo three times, on three different pitches and – never won. However, he never lost either... He first played against the Zagreb club at just 17 years old, in the summer of 1957, at the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro when Dinamo and a combined team of Brazilian Santos and Vasco da Gama played 1-1... The second attempt followed in this 1969 exhibition in Zagreb, and the third soon after, at the end of January 1970, at the prestigious international club Hexagonal tournament in Santiago, Chile, when they played 2-2.

Later, Pelé associated with Dinamo players once more, coming to Zagreb in 1975 where he was at Maksimir Stadium, as an ambassador in an advertising campaign, demonstrating to children from Dinamo's academy.