Legendary Brazilian captain Carlos Alberto dies at 72

Brazilian football legend Carlos Alberto, who captained the Selecao to victory at the 1970 World Cup - scoring one of the tournament's most iconic goals in the process - died Tuesday. He was 72.

Multiple media reports suggest Alberto, who won 53 caps for his national team and made over 400 appearances at club level with Santos and Fluminense, died of a heart attack in his hometown of Rio de Janeiro.

In his heyday a rampaging right-back whose attacking verve is viewed by many as the archetype for the modern Brazilian full-back, Alberto rounded out the scoring in the 1970 World Cup final, finishing off arguably the best team goal the competition has ever seen to cap a 4-1 win over Italy.

While the likes of Pele and Jairzinho also found the net in that contest, it is Alberto's screamer - one of eight goals he scored for Brazil in his illustrious career - that went down in football lore.

(Courtesy: FIFA)

Alberto, who spent the majority of his playing career at Santos, would eventually make his way to North America, with two separate spells with the star-studded New York Cosmos sandwiching a brief stint with the California Surf.

He retired in 1982 before going on to manage no less than 15 different clubs, his last job on the touchline coming in 2005 when he was at the helm of Azerbaijan.

In the aftermath of Tuesday's news, the football world came together to pay tribute to one of Brazil's finest talents ever: