Roberto Carlos to Leave Real Madrid at Season’s End

By: Bob | March 9th, 2007

Sunday’s El Clasico between Real Madrid and Barcelona likely will be the last one for Roberto Carlos. He announced today that he will not renew his contract with Madrid after this season. It is hard to believe that he has played with the club for 11 years. I can remember when they signed him. I can never remember my niece’s birthday. Football has done a terrible thing to my brain.

It has been painfully obvious the past couple of years that Roberto Carlos has lost a step or three. Sometimes when I watch him play I feel like I am playing a video game. I want to be able to mash the buttons harder so that he can move faster. I want him to do well, but he just doesn’t seem to have it.

The wakeup call, or at least a convenient excuse to leave, occurred during the Champions League this week when his blunder led to a record setting goal and basically doomed Real Madrid’s chances.

“It’s a signal that God brought me to wake up, to understand that this decision is best for me,” Roberto Carlos said. “I’m 33 years old and I don’t deserve more suffering. I’ve been at this club 11 years, in which in 7 1/2 years we won many things, but we lose one game and all of the fault has landed on me.

“I don’t accept this.”

It is tough for older players to accept that they aren’t the players they used to be. And make no bones about it Roberto Carlos in his prime was a hell of a player. When he lined up for a free kick the whole stadium would collectively hold its breath and opposing players would cringe. When he marked his man on the wing you knew he would shut him down. He was both flashy and reliable. He was a joy to watch.

Some are making the case that age shouldn’t play a factor in players’ contracts. That might be true for some keepers and some field players, but in the case of Roberto Carlos age is a factor. He’ll surely be able to land a nice contract somewhere else in Europe or in the Middle East or in MLS and that is all well and good. He still has the bending free kick and he still has some game, but we all know what his game used to be and he doesn’t have that anymore.

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Beth

My dream? Roberto Carlos playing out his career in the US. Dallas, perhaps?
Louise

The Real fans and media are vicious. On the weekend against Getafe, he played very well in tandum with Robinho and they were singing his praises, and before suffering a series of injuries that kept him out for a couple of months, he'd been having a decent season. But they turned on him in the blink of an eye. He is getting older and has lost a step, but you'd think there would be a little more loyalty to a man that had been so important to their club for so long. It's too bad he has to exit on such a sour note.

I say this after making a joke at his expense in the escaping Romanian prisoners comments, of course.

Laurie: LA LA LA I won't listen to you talk about Thuram getting old LA LA LA
Laurie

I'm seeing this same thing with both Thuram and Makelele on the France team. Very sad to watch it play out and you want to badly for it not to be true. Your "video game" metaphor was apt -- I'll think of that from now on every time I watch an aging player.