On January 8, 2019, Flamengo announced Gabriel Barbosa as a new reinforcement in the attack. The forward arrived on loan from Inter Italy and scored his first goal with 'Mengão' in the second match he played in the 4-1 victory over Americano in the Carioca Championship. Since then, he has been anticipating a promising future with the 'Rojinegros'.
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In that same year, 'Gabigol' became the champion of the tournament that brings together all the clubs in Rio de Janeiro, scoring seven goals in twelve matches and being considered in the best team of the year. Later, almost at the end of the season, 'Fla' had to play the grand final of the Copa Libertadores against River Plate at the Monumental stadium in Lima.
The dispute with the Argentinians was the perfect scenario for the striker to leave an indelible mark on the club. During the match, the Brazilians were losing 1-0 and, seconds before full time, 'Gabi' scored the equalizer to unleash a tremendous madness among the crowd. Not satisfied with the result, on the last play of the match, the 25-year-old forward scored a brace and ended up lifting the most important trophy in South American club football.
After that historic victory against the 'Millonarios', Flamengo became champion of the Brasileirão, where Barbosa scored no less than 25 goals and had a lot of prominence for the title. Undoubtedly, his good numbers made it possible for his permanent transfer until the end of 2024 to be finalized, after mutual agreement with the Italian team.
How did Gabigol perform in Europe?
Gabriel Barbosa made his debut for Santos when he was only 16 years old. His great appearances led to him being signed by Inter Milan in 2016 for 25 million euros. All the 'Nerazzurri' fans were hopeful that he would be the team's top scorer, however, he could only score 1 goal in 10 matches, so they could not tolerate it anymore and loaned him to Benfica.
After arriving at the Portuguese club, 'Gabigol' could not recover the level that had allowed him to make his leap to the old continent, so he only played two games in six months and scored only one goal in the Portuguese Cup. His adaptation was not what was expected, and for that reason, in 2018 he decided to return to Brazil. Before joining 'Fla', he had a brief return to Santos.
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