Gabriel Barbosa Almeida, or Gabigol, Gabi or Gabriel Barbosa, is a brazilian striker that plays for Flamengo. He was born in São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo, in 1996 – he is 26 years old now.
Gabriel Barbosa played for the Santos’ Academy when he was a child and teenager, becoming the top scorer of all of the youth teams – U12, U14, U17; thus creating a big expectation about his potential.
He debuted as a professional in 2013 for Santos, playing against Flamengo, when he was 17 years old.
The Brazilian forward was evaluated as one of the best players of the new generation in Brazil. Many people have compared him to Neymar, Robinho, and other Santos famous players.
After being the top scorer of the Copa do Brasil and other competitions in Brazil, Gabigol went to Inter Milan; one of the most traditional football teams in the entire world.
He didn’t do so well over there and then he moved to Benfica on loan in 2017. Benfica had great strikers on the squad, such as Jonas, Raul Jimenez, and Seferovic, making Gabigol’s chances to play decrease day by day.
He returned to Santos in 2018 and became the Brasileirão top scorer of that year. One year later, Inter Milan agreed to send him on loan to Flamengo and this story is still being told.
Gabriel Barbosa – Characteristics
Gabriel Barbosa is a modern football product. He has good skills with the ball, but he also does an excellent job without it; running after defenders, moving to the spaces – opening chances for himself, and creating opportunities for his teammates.
Being a left-footed player is also a big advantage for him because he can play in different positions, such as Right-Winger, Left-Winger, and Forward.
He is fast and uses his speed to attack and also to defend, always looking for defenders’ mistakes, chasing them to steal the ball close to the opponent’s goal.
Gabigol is also a specialist penalty taker. In four seasons playing from Flamengo, Gabriel has taken 30 penalty kicks, scored 28, and only missed 2 – both hit the post. This performance makes 93% of converted penalties.
Gabriel Barbosa – Current Performance
Gabriel Barbosa is still playing for Flamengo this season, but his performances are not the same anymore. He’s been missing a lot of easy goals; so, at the moment his chances to be in the Brazilian group to play the World Cup in Qatar seem almost gone.
That’s because he is not the top scorer in the Brazilian League and neither in the other national and international competitions. Flamengo has come through a difficult moment in recent months, after changing coaches, but it looks like things will go back to normal with Dorival Junior in command.
Gabigol scored 20 times this year and gave 3 assists playing for Flamengo in all competitions. He scored 5 goals in the Brazilian league – much less than expected. The Argentinian Germán Cano, the top scorer of Brasileirão, has 12.
We can say that Gabriel Barbosa is a great player even if he is not living the best moment right now.
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