Socceroos legend claims he was hardest opponent Pele ever faced after pair clashed in Sydney game

Australian football great Ray Richards said Pele praised him as the toughest opponent he’d ever faced after he marked the football immortal during a game in Sydney in 1972.

Richards was a key member of the Socceroos side that faced the Brazilian legend’s Santos club side at the Sydney Sports Ground, which was packed to overflowing as fans rushed to see his debut on Australian soil.

Pele was two years removed from steering Brazil to their third World Cup title and he was known not just as the game’s greatest player, but one of the most famous athletes on the planet.

Richards was given the daunting task of keeping the legend quiet – and managed to keep him scoreless during the two-all draw.

Ray Richards is pictured marking Pele during the 1972 Socceroos vs Santos game in Sydney. The Aussie pulled off one of the hardest jobs any footballer could have, keeping the Brazilian icon scoreless

Richards and then-Socceroos coach Rale Rasic remember Pele’s high praise for the Australian midfielder after the match 

‘My role basically was to shut him out of the game. My aim was to stop him from getting the ball and I succeeded but in doing so I ruined the day for thousands of fans who had paid to watch him play,’ Richards told SBS.

‘Pele would later tell a German newspaper that he had played against the world’s top defenders including Franz Beckenbauer and Bobby Moore, and the hardest game of his career was against “this moustachioed player from Australia who were preparing for their World Cup campaign.’

Then-Socceroos coach Rale Rasic also remembered Pele’s words about Richards being his toughest foe, calling the account ‘the gospel truth’ to the ABC. 

Footage of the match shows Pele setting up one of his side’s goals and being marked heavily on other occasions as he failed to find the net.

Richards insists that while he did fall foul of the ref as he carried out one of football’s all-time toughest assignments, he never crossed the line into dirty play.

Pele (wearing the No.10 jersey) looks to gather a pass near goal during the match. Thanks in large part to Richards, he never found the back of the net during his first game in Australia 

Football’s all-time great is pictured being tackled a split-second after getting the ball away at the Sydney Sports Ground

‘I am pleased to say that I never fouled him once,’ he explained. ‘I was booked when we both went for a high ball with our feet but that was about it.

‘One time he anticipated my move and got before me and, while facing his goal, he let the ball run between his legs and back-heeled it to the right winger. By the time I turned to make the tackle the ball was already 50 metres away.

‘I take massive pride in the fact that one of the the world’s all-time great players would say what he said. And he was not talking about physicality or cynicism on my part, mind you.

‘He admitted I shut him out of the game, so yes, I regard this as a feather in my cap.’

The Aussie said the key to shutting Pele down was intercepting the ball before the Brazilian maestro could come into possession of it. 

Midfielder Richards went on to star for the Socceroos as they played in their first World Cup in 1974 and was on the pitch for their historic debut game against East Germany.

He first made the national side in 1967 in a surprise call-up while he was playing for a State League side in Queensland, and also took the field for Sydney team Marconi and London’s Croydon FC.