9 matches that adversely affected the reputation of great footballers

#8 Roberto Carlos vs France - 2006 World Cup

Roberto Carlos vs France brings great memories to fans of the game all over the world; who can forget his curling, banana free kick away from the French wall and into the goal against Les Bleus? Unfortunately, for the former Ballon d’Or nominee, this fixture holds no such rosy memories for the Selecao faithful – partly due to his fault.

Seen as the torch bearer of outright favourites Brazil in the 2006 World Cup along with the likes of Ronaldo, Kaka and Ronaldinho; Carlos was arguably the best full-back in the world at the time. And when the favourites were drawn against France in the quarter-finals, Carlos had his task cut out as he had Thierry Henry to deal with.

Things went fine until the 56th minute when Carlos read his team’s offside trap horribly wrong, letting Henry through for a simple finish from Zinedine Zidane’s free kick. To make things worse, his error looked particularly bad because of the time he took to judge the trajectory of the ball. He was seen resting and didn’t even move until after the free kick was taken!

The ensuing criticism resulted in him never playing for the Selecao again, and he received the kind of flak that David Luiz got in 2014. His career went downhill ever since, and Real Madrid sold him soon after, resulting in him becoming a veteran journeyman like many of his compatriots.