Roberto Carlos Biography - Introduction -If you look on YouTube or some other video website for the best soccer goals of the 20th century, I'm pretty sure you'll find two Roberto Carlos goals that are undoubtedly deemed masterpieces in all compilations.
The first one, a 35 meter free kick that went flying with a physics-defying curve to hit the post and go in the goal was voted the Free Kick of the Century and another famous goal of his, a volley taken from the corner flag that went straight in the back of the net, are bound to make you rub your eyes a couple of times when you see them for the first time.
But obviously, Roberto is a soccer player that thrived off his defensive qualities, not on his goals, having played left back for most of his career. The following biography will take you through this wonderful career that saw the player take on the shirt of Palmeiras, Internazionale Milano, Real Madrid and nowadays, Fenerbahce Istanbul.
Full name : Roberto Carlos da Silva
Date of birth : April 10, 1973
Place of birth : Garca, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Height : 5.6FT - 1.68M
Playing position : Left Back
Palmeiras
Roberto, unlike other Brazilian players that ended up being world class super stars, was not an early bloomer. Actually, he only got his first professional contract in 1993, when he was 20 years of age, when Brazilian club Palmeiras signed him from his youth club, Uniao Sao Joao.
Despite his rather late debut on the stage of professional soccer, he made an immediate impact at Palmeiras and he played most of the games in his two seasons with the club, scoring 5 times in his 68 appearances. As with many talented Brazilians that stand up from the crowd in the local championship, Roberto drew the attention of big European clubs and in 1995, Internazionale Milano offered him the deal of his lifetime.
Internazionale Milano
His time with Inter, although short (he only played one season with the Italian club) was very important to the Brazilian left back, as he tasted the strength of European championships and with the Italian Serie A being one of the most defensive ones in the World, he had his hands full all throughout the 1995-1996 season. It was this season that he was also taken to the Brazilian national team, with which he won the 1996 Summer Olympics bronze medal.
For Roberto Carlos, Brazil was far away, but his national side fueled him to continue in Europe with Inter. But his real European career would start with his move to Real Madrid, the following year...
Season Club Games Goals
1993-1995 Palmeiras 68 5
1995-1996 Internazionale 30 5
1996-2007 Real Madrid 370 47
2007-Present Fenerbahce 0 0
Real Madrid
At Real, Carlos played for 11 seasons and amassed 47 league goals in 370 matches, an impressive tally considering the fact that he played as a left back for most of the time. His high goal tally is mostly due to his trademark Roberto Carlos free kicks, full on, powered-up, straight-through-the-wall shots.
In 1997 while playing for Brazil, he scored the famous Roberto Carlos freekick goal that I mentioned in the introduction, in a match against France but he also had a lot of successful free kicks with Real Madrid in the league.
Although he was the only free-kick taker in Real's squad for his first few seasons, when Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham came to the squad, Roberto Carlos' free kicks were reduced as both the Frenchman and the Englishman were excellent free kick takers and needed their tries.
In the 2006-2007 season, he entered a cone of shadow, his performances being unrecognizable. Falling out of favor of coach Fabio Capello and the rest of Real's staff as well as having some disputes with the club's fans, he decided it was time for a move and chose Turkish side Fenerbahce, for which he will play in the next season. Although he is 34 at the moment, he clearly stated that he wants to end his career at the Turkish side, with which he has two years of contract.
Years National Team Games Goals
1992-2006 Brazil 125 19
0 comments:
Post a Comment