Physicists have explained one of football's most spectacular goals.

Brazilian Roberto Carlos's 1997 free-kick against France curved so sharply that it left goalkeeper Fabian Barthez standing still and looking puzzled.

Now, a study published in the New Journal of Physics suggests that the long-held assumption that the goal was a fantastic fluke is wrong.

A French team of scientists discovered the trajectory of the goal and developed an equation to describe it.

They say it could be repeated if a ball was kicked hard enough, with the appropriate spin and, crucially, the kick was taken sufficiently far from goal.

Roberto Carlos scored his wonder goal during the inaugural match of the Tournoi de France, a friendly international football tournament that was held in France ahead of the 1998 World Cup....