Iconic Moments in Football No.20
In Summer 1997, it was decided that France would host a mini tournament to practice for the much larger World Cup that would be hosted the following year.
Italy, England, current world champions Brazil and host France were the four participants and the tournament was named Le Tournoi.
The opening fixture of the tournament was probably the most exciting for the French fans as they faced Brazil. The match was on 3rd June, as couple of weeks after the domestic seasons were over.
The first 20 minutes had been largely uneventful until Brazil won a free kick about 35 yards from goal. Brazil’s left back Roberto Carlos put the ball down and started taking large steps back from the ball.
Referee Kim Milton-Nielsen blew his whistle to signal that the free-kick could be taken. What happened next will never be forgotten and became synonymous with Roberto Carlos.
Roberto Carlos began a long run-up to the ball and got an immense amount of power behind his shot. He also managed to get a lot of curl on the ball as it initially flew well wide of the defenders in the French wall.
Suddenly the ball whipped back and in an instant hit the back of the net. French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez stood motionless in the goal, almost mesmerised by the shot.
Nobody in the crowd of 28,193 fans in the stand or those watching on TV had imagined that a shot at goal would even be attempted, let alone be pulled off and a goal scored from it!
The only way that the skill and audacity of the free-kick can be seen is from the camera angle behind the goal. The flight of the ball can be seen perfectly as it showed just how far wide of the goal the ball was going before it suddenly snapped back, clipped the inside of the post and went in.
I interviewed the referee of the match, Kim Milton-Nielsen and he said this of the amazing goal:
“I saw Roberto Carlos take the free kick and thought that it was stupid to shoot direct at goal from that distance. The next thing I saw was the ball in the goal and I thought to myself “how did it get there?” From my position on the pitch, it was difficult to see how good the shot was. It was only later when I saw the goal on television that I saw how fantastic the goal was.”
After this goal and from then on, any mention of Roberto Carlos brings people back to this free-kick on that June night. At Real Madrid, Carlos would take free-kicks ahead of Luis Figo, David Beckham and Raul. The three players mentioned were also world-class, dead-ball specialists but rarely got a look-in as the Brazilian left-back would take the ball!
Many of his efforts would fly into the crowd behind the goal or hit an unfortunate defender in the wall as the Brazilian would try and recreate his effort from Le Tournoi. Nothing ever would beat the goal against the French in terms of the physics of the goal.
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