Roberto Carlos

Roberto Carlos da Silva Rocha (born 10 April 1973), often known as Roberto Carlos and sometimes as RC3 is a Brazilian former professional footballer.

He has been described as the "most offensive-minded left-back in the history of the game", and one of the greatest full-backs in history.

Roberto Carlos made his debut for the Brazil national team in 1992.

In 1992, despite playing at what was seen as a lesser club and only being 19 years old, he was called up for the Brazil national team.

In August 1992, aged 19, he joined Atlético Mineiro on loan and went on the club's tour of Europe.

The tour consisted of the B team, as the club was prioritising the first Copa CONMEBOL in South America at the same time.

The tour served as a test for many players, and those who stood out could be integrated definitively to the main group.

Roberto Carlos did not participate in the first two games in Italy but played the full match against Lleida in Spain on 27 August in a match for the Ciutat de Lleida Trophy.

He remained in the team for the next two games, held in Logroño, against Logroñés and Athletic Bilbao.

In 1993, Roberto Carlos joined Palmeiras, where he played for two seasons, winning two consecutive Brazilian league titles.

After almost signing for Aston Villa side in 1995, Roberto Carlos chose a move to Inter Milan, in the Serie A, playing one season for the Nerazzurri.

He scored a 30-yard free-kick on his debut in a 1–0 win over Vicenza but his season at Inter was unsuccessful, with the club finishing seventh in Serie A.

At club level, Roberto Carlos joined Real Madrid from Inter Milan in 1996 to spend 11 highly successful seasons, playing 584 matches in all competitions and scoring 71 goals.

At Real, he won four La Liga titles and the UEFA Champions League three times.

Roberto Carlos joined Real Madrid in the year 1996 close season.

When newly appointed manager Fabio Capello learned that Roberto Carlos had become transferable he barely could believe it, and he asked chairman Lorenzo Sanz to travel to Milan immediately.

An agreement had been reached 24 hours later.

Roberto Carlos was given the number 3 shirt and held the position as the team's first choice left-back from the 1996–97 season until the 2006–07 season.

During his 11 seasons with Madrid, he appeared in 584 matches in all competitions, scoring 71 goals.

In 1997, he was runner-up in the FIFA World Player of the Year.

He is primarily known for his long career at Real Madrid and ever-presence in the Brazilian national team.

He started his career in Brazil as a forward but spent most of his career as a left-back.

With Brazil he is especially known for a bending 40-yard free kick against France in the inaugural match of Tournoi de France 1997.

With 125 caps he has made the fourth-most appearances for his national team.

He played in three World Cups, helping the team reach the final in 1998 in France, and win the 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan.

He was named in the FIFA World Cup All-Star Team in 1998 and 2002.

He was chosen on the FIFA World Cup Dream Team in a 2002 FIFA poll.

In an interview with FourFourTwo in a May 2005 issue, Roberto Carlos said that the then-coach of Inter, Roy Hodgson, wanted him to play as a winger, but Roberto Carlos wanted to play as a left back.

Roberto Carlos spoke to Inter owner Massimo Moratti "to see if he could sort things out and it soon became clear that the only solution was to leave".

He is Real Madrid's most capped foreign-born player in La Liga with 370 appearances, after breaking the previous record of 329 held by Alfredo Di Stéfano in January 2006.

During his Real Madrid career, Roberto Carlos was, alongside Milan and Italy legend Paolo Maldini, considered the greatest left-back in the world.

He announced his retirement from playing at the age of 39 in 2012.

In April 2013, Marca named him in their "Best Foreign Eleven in Real Madrid's History".

He is one of the few players to have made over 1,100 professional career appearances at club and international level.

He took up management and was named as the manager of Sivasspor in the Turkish Süper Lig in June 2013.

He resigned as head coach in December 2014.

Before retiring from football in 2014, Roberto Carlos thanked Atlético Mineiro for the opportunity.

From January to June 2015, he was manager of Akhisarspor.

He briefly came out of retirement in 2015 when he was appointed player/manager of Indian Super League club Delhi Dynamos.

Roberto Carlos began his professional career playing for União São João, a football club based in Araras in the state of São Paulo.