The Brazilian, famous throughout the world for his devastating left foot and who went down in history for his set piece in a 1997 France-Brazil match, celebrates his half-century of life
When he kicked that phantasmagorical free-kick from the distance of 34.75 meters which separated the kicking point from the goal defended by Barthez – it was France-Brazil, it was played in Lyon in June 1997 – the ball traveled at around 115 kilometers per hour and the trajectory was so surprising – it seemed that the balloon was going to go out out out, then it veered suddenly changing direction as if it had been pushed by a celestial force or by the movement of a joystick – that even today it is breathless to talk about it and one is seized – in memory – by a vertigo of absolute lust. If there is one gesture that he gave to the legend Roberto Carlos, that is exactly the gesture.