In the early 1980s , he starred in a movie with the British veteran Michael Caine in Escape to Victory ( 1981 ) , a sports drama where he plays a prisoner of war involved in a Nazi propaganda fuÃ ball ( soccer ) tournament . In the early 1980s , he starred alongside British veteran Michael Caine in Escape to Victory ( 1981 ) , a sports drama in which he plays a prisoner of war involved in a Nazi propaganda soccer game .