CARLOS Alberto, who has died at the age of 72, will be remembered as the captain of Brazil’s brilliant 1970 World Cup-winning side and the scorer of the tournament’s defining goal.
The manner in which Brazil swept to victory in Mexico enchanted fans around the world. It was the first tournament broadcast globally in colour and the Brazilians, their excellence amplified in their bright yellow shirts, were spellbinding.
Their magnificence culminated, and was encapsulated, by the last goal in their 4-1 defeat of Italy in the final.
A flowing move involved all bar one of Brazil’s outfield players and was finished in style when Carlos Alberto charged forward from right-back and thrashed Pele’s pass into the net.
Rarely has the phrase “the beautiful game” been more apt and it earned Carlos Alberto, who thereafter became known as Brazil’s “Eternal Captain”, a lasting place in history.
“I realise how beautiful and how important that goal was because everybody is still talking about it,” he said years later, in an interview with the BBC.
“Nobody talks about Pele’s goal, the first goal, the second goal. It is always about the fourth goal. I think it was the best goal ever scored in a World Cup.
“Anybody can score a goal, but in that move nine different players touched the ball before the goal. I was lucky though, because I scored it.”
Carlos Alberto Torres, to give him his full name, was born in Rio’s Vila da Penha neighbourhood and was just 25 when he won the World Cup, making him the youngest captain to win the tournament.
He was a gifted, attacking full-back, coming through the ranks at Fluminense before moving on to Santos, where he was a team-mate of Pele’s.
He won Brazilian titles with both clubs and was a regular in the Brazil side by the age of 20. He was surprisingly dropped for the 1966 World Cup but was the obvious choice as next skipper when the role became vacant in 1968.
By that time he was already the Santos captain and his leadership skills stood out, earning him the armband ahead of other more senior, and World Cup-winning, candidates.
It was a shrewd decision, vindicated when Carlos Alberto kissed and held aloft the Jules Rimet trophy in Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium.
“When I received the trophy as the captain, my first instinct was to kiss it,” he said. “In fact, I was the first to kiss the trophy before lifting it.”
Mexico’s 1970 edition was to prove his only World Cup in a career that saw him win 53 international caps in total.
In all, his playing career spanned 19 years and also included spells with Botafogo, Flamengo, New York Cosmos and California Surf.
He won further honours as a coach with Flamengo, Fluminense and Botafogo and also took charge of sides in the United States, Colombia, Mexico, Oman and Azerbaijan before retiring in 2005.
His life away from football kept him firmly in the spotlight as a politician and, in his later years, as a football commentator, while he was married three times, including to Brazilian actress Terezinha Sodre.
Carlos Alberto had two children with his first wife, Sueli, with his son Alexander making a single appearance for Brazil in 1992.
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