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Carlos Alberto was the prototype for players such as Roberto Carlos and Cafu. Allsport Hulton/Archive |
Pele may have been the creative heart of Brazil's brilliant World Cup-winning side in 1970, but Carlos Alberto was its captain and the scorer of the goal that remains the defining image of a team generally acknowledged to have taken soccer to its aesthetic zenith.
Leading 3-1 against Italy with a few minutes to play, Brazil casually passed the ball through the midfield until it reached the edge of the Italian box where Pele nonchalantly rolled the ball a couple of yards to his right, seemingly into empty space. But, framed perfectly by TV screens around the world, Carlos Alberto suddenly burst into view to fire a thundering strike low into the Italian net.
A hard-tackling defender with an adventurous streak, Carlos Alberto played 74 times for Brazil and was the prototype for the sort of forward-minded fullbacks such as Cafu and Roberto Carlos who have patrolled the Selecao's flanks ever since.
A teammate of Pele in the great Santos side of the 1960s, Carlos Alberto later followed him to the New York Cosmos.
