Roberto Carlos recounts the sleepless night before the Champions League final

For Roberto Carlos, 1998 was not just about Brazil’s stinging defeat in the World Cup final against France. A few weeks before undergoing Zinedine Zidane’s law at the Stade de France, the left-back beat the Frenchman, then Juventus’ playmaker, in the Champions League final.

The 47-year-old left-hander didn’t forget the match at the Amsterdam Arena. Nor the night before it. He remembers that there was enormous pressure on the players of Real Madrid, the most successful club in history: “But at that time, we had not won the Champions League for 32 years, recalls the Brazilian to The Players Tribune. We had to fight all season in the Liga. And Juve was in the final for the third year in a row. We weren’t favorites. “

In the hotel lobby at 4 a.m.

And Roberto Carlos to continue: “The night before the final, none of us managed to sleep. Normally, we go to bed at 10 pm but that night, we were all in the hotel hall at four in the morning telling us stories. We were not afraid. We had a lot of respect for Juve. We were impatient for the match to start. ”

The sleepless night had no negative impact on the Jupp Heynckes team. Thanks to a goal from Pedrag Mijatovic, Real Madrid dominated Zizou and Deschamps (1-0), winning the 7th of their 13 Champions Leagues. As for Roberto Carlos, he won two others in 2000 and 2002.

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