Roberto Carlos to leave Real Madrid

Madrid, April 12: Veteran full-back Roberto Carlos has said he will leave Real Madrid at the end of this season after 11 years with the Spanish giants.The Brazilian has been close to departing Spain in the last two seasons, but has in the end decided to stay on.

This time he says, it is different and he will be on his way. "This time, I really am leaving," he told the El Pais daily newspaper. "In previous years, I did not leave in the end because the club did not want me to leave." Roberto Carlos, who hung up his international boots after Brazil's failed World Cup campaign in Germany last summer, said that he has been talking to several European sides which would be involved in next year's Champions League. But he would give no further details until the Spanish league season finishes on June 19. The defender ruled out any return to Brazil saying that there would be too much pressure on him to win in his homeland. "I am no longer a youngster and I no longer want to have to put up with all the pressure and polemics. These days I just want a quiet life of it," he said. In his 11 years with Real, Roberto Carlos has won three Champions League titles (1998, 2000 and 2002), and three Spanish league titles (1997, 2001 and 2003). Bureau Report