Roberto Carlos was a phenomenon unto himself. With thighs the size of a continent, the Brazilian had a left-footed shot that often broke the laws of physics and speed. Most famous for his insanely sweving banana kicks, the little man was also a helluve defender – arguably Real Madrid’s greatest fullback. His boundless energy enabled him to maraud up and down the left flank – most games, it appeared he was everywhere on that side all the time. In fact, it can even be argued that the experiment of putting Zinedine Zidane out on the left wing, succeeded because of their enigmatic left-back. Even though Zizou kept drifting inside, no one ever missed service from the left wing – such was Carlos’ attacking ability.
Needless to say then, the signing of Carlos is one of the most important that Real Madrid have made over then years – and they have made some!
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He arrived at the Santiago Bernabeu in the summer of 1996 when Fabio Capello was at the helm. The great Italian coach recently opened up to Fox Sports about how he managed to sign the left-back from Internazionale Milan. In fact, according to him it was one of his easiest and quickest signings he’s ever made!
"I couldn't believe it," stated Capello referring to the fact that the player was to be sold, "I had received some reports saying that he [Carlos] was annoyed with his manager at Inter, Roy Hodgson.
“Shortly after I arrived at Real, an agent called me to say that Inter were selling Roberto Carlos. I sent a fax, spoke with the president and the next day the deal was done. It could have been the quickest signing in history," jested the Italian.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Carlos and Capello would go on to win the La Liga title that year, but unfortunately the coach wouldn’t stay for longer than that year. And that was because of the man’s intense attachment to AC Milan.
“My adventure at Madrid ended with a phone call from Berlusconi, who asked me to go back to Milan. I owed everything to him and couldn’t say ‘no’.”
Carlos meanwhile stayed on at Madrid and went on to be the bulwark of the great “Galacticos” era of the new millenium where he was an integral component of the celebrity-footballer team that included Zidane, Luis Figo, Ronaldo, Raul and David Beckham amongst a host of others. Carlos was never outshone though, and in fact, at one point in time he was arguably the most popular defender on the planet.
