Born April 10, 1973, Moscow Roberto Carlos completed 50 years of his life, most of which he spent with a ball stuck to his feet in the slums of São Paulo and in the most glamorous stadiums in the world, wearing a Real Madrid jersey and the Brazilian national team.

If it is not top left rear who has ever spawned world football, he is by far one of the best players of all time in that position, with competitive characteristics that have developed him and taken him out of the narrow forms of defensive philosophy. His world football he will be remembered more for everything he did in attack than for his commitment to defence. He broke through the barriers and gave a very modern look to the position, which seemed very unpleasant for someone who was “talking” to the ball, and not just to ruin the opponent’s game.

Roberto Carlos belongs to an inexhaustible list of children born in Brazil and they found through football a way to a much better future than what life had in store for them. He was a child of one very poor family who made his living from coffee plantations, and was forced to work on one textile factory from 12 years oldbut not to be forced to stop playing football by leaving the city. He was especially talented and began his career as aggressive, but he took off when the coach pushed him far enough back to give him the opportunity to better use his speed and very high technique. To achieve this, he had to work hard on his markings so that he could stand in the left-back position, a position that is primarily defensive and essential to the safety of the team.

Associating his name with Real Madrid, few people remember that Roberto Carlos was presented to the European public in an I shirt.der, in which he competed for only one year before winning an Olympic gold medal with Brazil in Atlanta in 1996 and subsequently moving to Madrid permanently. With Selesao, he played in the final of the World Cup in France in 1998, and four years later won the trophy in Tokyo in 2002, counting in total 125 caps for Brazil..

Even greater were his successes with Real Madrid. Played with my jersey for 11 years at the highest level, he celebrated with her 3 Champions Leagues, 2 Intercontinental and 4 Spanish Leagues, as well as many individual awards such as joining a very limited list of players with over 100 Champions League appearances and over 700 (717 for accuracy) . ) in the category A’ corresponds. In total, he played more than 1,150 official matches during his career, which ended in 2015 in India at the age of 42.

The “supernatural” goal of his career

In addition to speed, endurance, strength and excellent technical training, Roberto Carlos was distinguished very strong blows and for that his medicinal shot. He has scored many goals in his career in a very spectacular manner. from great distancesone of which is considered by many, both experts and non-specialists, best foul everfootball, even in a friendly game, which in fact did not decide anything important. It was June 3, 1997, when in a friendly match against France at Gerlain in Lyon, almost a year before the 1998 World Cup final in Paris, where the tricolor won, he put so much power and foul. performed by distance over 35 metersthat the ball in a crazy course went to the gates of Barthez, suddenly turned around, as if driven by a magic hand, and stuck into the goal, having previously hit the post!

The ball speed was measured in 136.7 km per hourin performance is considered “miracleeven scientists who could not quite convincingly explain how the trajectory of the ball changed so spectacularly. It was like running a PlayStation, as neither slopes, strength alone, nor the wind could scientifically explain its insane trajectory. The famous Brazilian professor of physics, Luis Fernando Fontanari, tried to give his explanation: “Although physics can explain the trajectory of the ball, the circumstances of the moment, such as the force of impact, the place where Roberto Carlos found the ball and the distance to the goal is so special that it can be called a football miracle” .

Fifteen years later, in 2012, the specialized journal New Journal of Physics proposed more “earthly” explanation, based on an analysis jointly conducted by four eminent scientists: “The trajectory of the ball can deviate significantly from the circle, provided that the shot travels a long distance. Then the ball can take a strange trajectory and become unpredictable for the goalkeeper. 35 meters is the distance we expect from this unpredictable trajectory. If the kick is too strong, the trajectory can lean towards the goal at a very high speed, which will surprise the goalkeeper.”

The opinion of Roberto Carlos himself is also interesting, when years later he was asked to explain … inexplicable: “People were a little skeptical because of the distance. I should have seen Barthez build the wall. He placed it quite outside. I stood in front of the ball so he wouldn’t see it and think I was going to send it over the wall. Although I started to gain momentum, when I saw that she was not moving, I changed my mind and said to hit her from the outside. Yes, I beat her up badly, but she was at the end of the beam. There was a gap in the stadium through which air entered from the right. The only thing that interested me was to find the hearth. I had power. I wanted to put my foot in the right place to hit it right. It was all I could think of. I will always remember the advertisement behind the stove. I was aiming for the “A” in the word “La Poste” on the sign next to the goal, but when I shot, the ball was far from the target. Move to another billboard. The boy with the ball dived to keep the ball from hitting him, even though he should have trusted me more! When I hit, I saw the ball fly out completely, but the wind carried it back to the goal. After the match I talked to Mario Zagalo and he couldn’t believe it. I consider this the most important goal in my career.. Everything that was said below is important. And there was a big discussion. It really was my career goal!

When he saved Ronaldo’s life

Roberto Carlos is still remembered for another reason. He was the closest witness to one of the darkest moments in the history of football. Ronaldo’s roommate during the collapse before the PK final in 1998 in Paris. Even today, the “phenomenon” suggests that the composure and quick reaction of Roberto Carlos saved his life.

He himself believes that he did nothing important, except that he quickly called for help:

“It could have been worse if no one else was in the room with him, as now players usually prefer to be alone. It was so easy for me to take care of Ronaldo. We shared a room and it was something natural, something instinctive. I called the doctor and the players who were in the next rooms, Leonardo, Edmundo. For Brazil, the World Cup is the main event for our country. When we lost in 1998, especially the way we lost, I felt like trash because I knew we let down 200 million people. This event lasted 53 days – 52 were amazing, but there was one day that ruined everything. In 2002 we did the same as four years ago. The only difference is that on the last day we won, and that changed everything. In fact, there was another difference: we did not let Ronaldo sleep on the day of the final!

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