IMPOSSIBLE GOAL: When Roberto Carlos scored ‘THAT’ freekick against France 25 years ago
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Roberto Carlos
Roberto Carlos was part of the generation of Brazilian football that gave the world stars like Cafu, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, and more. But during Brazil’s game against France in the Tournoi de France, he scored arguably history’s best free-kick goal. Scored from 40 yards out wide, the goal has often been termed the ‘Impossible goal’.
Many of the greatest analysts also termed that goal as a miracle, defying physics as it sailed through to the net to give Brazil the lead. The ball speed of the shot by Roberto Carlos was clocked at 136.7 kmph. One of the fastest in the history of the game.
His exploits that year with Brazil were also the reason he was that summer by Real Madrid and went on to win numerous accolades for the Spanish giants. Carlos went on to score many more such wonder goals for both club and country in his career.
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“I struck it on the valve” – Roberto Carlos breaking down his freekick technique
In 2015, the Brazilian fullback finally explained his technique of taking free-kick after many scholars failed to explain how he actually did it. Speaking to FourFourTwo, he said, “I always struck set pieces on the valve because that’s the hardest part of the ball and you get more power. I always kicked the ball from its bottom-left to the top-right, which helped it swerve.”
“I’ll always remember the advertising behind the goal. I was aiming for the ‘A’ in La Poste, but when I hit the shot it was miles away from that – going towards a different advert! The ball boy was diving out of the way of the shot, too. He should have had more confidence in me!”
Carlos further also spoke about the wager he and English freekick master, David Beckham to play during the duo’s time at Real Madrid. The loser of the weekly set-piece wager had to buy dinner and more often than not it was David Beckham reaching out for his wallet to pay the check.
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Shubham Mohta
(334 Articles Published)