ROBERTO CARLOS said Roy Hodgson “destroyed” him at Inter Milan and says the manager “didn’t know much about football” as he made the Brazilian play in midfield.
Retired boss Hodgson worked with legendary full-back Carlos during the 1995-96 season in Milan.
Roberto Carlos said Roy Hodgson ‘destroyed’ him at Inter Milan
Carlos said Hodgson ‘didn’t know much about football’
But despite having a good relationship, Carlos remains fuming he was played in centre-midfield under Hodgson – a move that almost cost him a place in the 1997 Copa America-winning Brazil squad.
Carlos, 49, told Marca in 2020: “Roy Hodgson destroyed me. He made me play in the centre of midfield.
“I wasn’t going to get a chance to play for Brazil like that and there was a Copa America in 1997.
“It’s not that we got on badly, it’s that he didn’t know much about football.
“I spoke with [Inter chairman Massimo] Moratti and I asked him to leave.”
Carlos got his wish as he left that season to join Real Madrid in 1996, and in his 11-year career at the Bernabeu established himself as one of the greatest left-backs of all time.
Hodgson, 75, would only manage Inter for one more season – despite returning briefly in 1999 as caretaker manager – but guided them to the Uefa Cup final in 1997, losing to Schalke on penalties.
In the same season, Carlos won the LaLiga at Madrid, and retired with four league titles and three Champions League winners medals.
Most read in football
Carlos revealed he left Milan for the Spanish capital in order to work with boss Fabio Capello, who like Hodgson managed England.
The 2002 World Cup winner revealed Italian Capello was his most influential manager.
He explained: “I went to Madrid for [Capello], he was the most important coach in my life.”
Hodgson, meanwhile, worked at clubs and countries around the world before returning to England in 2007.
He had spells with Fulham, Liverpool and West Brom before his four-year stint as Three Lions boss and finished his managerial career with Crystal Palace and then lastly Watford in 2022, his 21st permanent post.
Carlos left Hodgson and Inter for Real Madrid in 1996
Hodgson’s final managerial job was at Watford in 2022Richard Pelham / The Sun