7 greatest Brazilian defenders of all time

#3 Carlos Alberto Torres

Brazilian captain Carlos Alberto holds aloft the Jules Rimet World Cup trophy to thousands of fans in the Azteca Stadium after they defeated Italy in the World Cup Final.

The progenitor of marauding right-backs, Nilton Santos invented the role, while Carlos Alberto reinvented it and laid the template for future full-backs to follow after his eye-catching performances in Brazil's 1970 World Cup triumph was propagated to millions all over the world due to an increased global audience.

'O Capitão do Tri' or 'The Third Captain' in reference to his role as the third Brazilian captain to lift the World Cup is considered one of the greatest defenders of all time and made a name for himself due to his excellent tackling, reading of the game, dribbling and playmaking (which were quite rare at that time for a defender) in the Brazilian league with Fluminense with whom he won 4 trophies between 1963 and 1966, before teaming up with Pele at Santos.

At Santos, the fame of Pele had thrust the club into international prominence and Carlos Alberto benefited from this as he became a mainstay of the national team during this period and was handed the captain's armband heading into the 1970 World Cup. His time at Santos yielded six trophies.

With Brazil, Torres earned 58 caps scoring 8 goals and those figures would undoubtedly have been higher but for a knee injury that hampered him from 1973 on. He captained Brazil to its third World Cup in Mexico 1970 and scored a beautiful team goal in the final against Italy which is considered by many to be one of the greatest goals in World Cup history.

A true legend of the game, Carlos Alberto was part of the 1970 World Cup All-Star Team and, the World Team of the 20th Century in 1998, he was also included in Pele's FIFA 100 list in 2004 and is a member of the Brazilian Football Museum Hall of Fame.