Roberto Carlos is a former professional Brazilian footballer who played as a left-back. Most often, this football player is awarded the title of the best lateral in the history of football. His most remarkable and brightest career was in Real Madrid, for which he scored many of his legendary goals from free-kicks and not only. In the period from 1992 to 2006 he played in the national team of Brazil, in which he became the world champion in 2002. In addition, he is a two-time winner of the America's Cup (1997, 1999) and the owner of the Confederations Cup 1997.
Many football experts consider Roberto Carlos the best left back of all time. The player has won the hearts of hundreds of thousands of fans with his unique style of scoring goals. The Brazilian had an incredibly powerful blow, very often scoring goals from long distances.
Biography and a brief football career
Roberto Carlos was born on April 10, 1973 in the city of Garza, São Paulo, Brazil. He is a graduate of the Brazilian Academy of the Union São João Club. The same team made his professional debut in 1991. As part of the national team of Brazil, R. Carlos began playing in 1992. The defender represented the “five-time champions” at three world championships, including the 2002 triumphal mundial.
In 1996, the Brazilian joined Real Madrid, where he subsequently spent 11 successful seasons. Carlos spent 584 matches in all competitions for cream, scoring 71 goals. In the Royal Club, he won four La Liga titles and three times the UEFA Champions League. In 2012, at the age of 39, Carlos left the club, ending his career. However, until 2015 he was a playing coach in such clubs as Anji Makhachkala and Delhi Dinamos.
Legendary free kick: Roberto Carlos in a match with France
His nickname is "bullet man." A powerful bending blow, after which the ball flew at a speed of 105 miles per hour (169 km per hour), is Roberto Carlos's calling card. The kicks of a football player forced the audience to take their heads, wondering how a person is capable of it. The video shows the most famous goal of Roberto Carlos against the gates of the French team (at the gates of Fabian Barthez).
This happened on June 1997 in a friendly match against the French national team. The match then ended with a draw 3: 3. The ball was launched from 35 meters and flew past the stunned "wall" and discouraged Barthez at a speed of 137 kilometers per hour. However, the most amazing and unique thing is not the speed of the ball and the impact force, but the flight path itself. This goal has been studied by experts around the world.
Fantastic goal against Tenerife
On February 21, 1998, Real Madrid met with Tenerife as part of the Spanish Championship. In one of the attacks of “creamy” on Roberto Carlos was given a long pass to the left flank. The ball had already jumped over the front side, when the Brazilian lateral hit the goal from almost a zero angle. The audience was delighted.
It seemed to the Tenerife goalkeeper that Carlos did a mounted serve, but the ball suddenly “changed his mind” and flew into the nine, changing his trajectory magically. Many years later, the Brazilian admits that in this situation he beat deliberately. By the way, Roberto Carlos in one interview said that he considers his goal much cooler than the goal of Zlatan Ibrahimovic against England.
“Goal from another planet”
In October 2005, in the La Liga match between Real Madrid and Mallorca at the Santiago Barnabéu stadium, Carlos scored another unimaginable goal. The game was calm, the “galacticos” dominated throughout the match, leading in the score 1-0. At the end of the first half, a corner was earned, which David Beckham began to play. There were many Madrid players in the penalty box who were able to close the canopy with their head, but Becks saw the oncoming Brazilian diagonally to the penalty area.
The feed flew precisely to the Brazilian, who struck the rally by flashing the opponent’s net. The goal was legendary! "Creamy" for a long time could not "move away" from this masterpiece, congratulating Roberto. The blow was really cannon!
Roberto Carlos legs
The Brazilian admitted that his powerful blow and incredible speed of running are partly the key to the anatomical structure. At the age of fifteen, Roberto knew that he was superior to his peers in terms of impact power and speed. The size of the hip circumference at 15 years old was 59 centimeters, which is extremely high for adolescence. With the 39th foot size, it is very convenient for him to attach to the ball with the outside of the foot. The Brazilian has always admitted that his punches create an unpredictable trajectory for the ball, sometimes he himself could not imagine that the ball could spin like that on the way to the net. It has long been proven that it is this size that allows you to most comfortably deliver a powerful blow to the ball. Ukrainian footballer Alexander Aliyev, who at one time scored chic goals from free-kicks, has exactly the same foot size. Nevertheless, Carlos always coached the execution of standards separately, and also devoted a lot of time to training his legs.
What club games and what have you achieved?
The Brazilian was also known as a hardy, reactive and technically gifted footballer. During his football career, he scored 102 goals, among which at least 10 goals went down in world history as the most beautiful and unique. From 1991 to 2015, Carlos played in clubs such as Unian São João, Palmeiras, Internationale, Real Madrid, Fenerbahçe, Corinthians, Anji and Delhi Dinamos. For 24 seasons, the football player became the champion of Brazil, Spain, Turkey and three-time winner of the UEFA Champions League Cup. The athlete is included in the ranking of 100 of the greatest football players in the world, as well as in the hundred best players according to Pele himself.