Decent article from Jack Lang of the Athletic re Gabigol of Flamengo which also touches on the reach of the club.
Gabriel Barbosa has rediscovered his touch in Brazil and could be on the cusp of a recall to the national team...
theathletic.com
Watch a Flamengo game this season — or rather, watch those watching that Flamengo game — and chances are that a few things will jump out.
The first is the sheer event hysteria shadowing Brazil’s best-supported club. In a part of the world in which capacity crowds are far from the norm, even for matches involving the biggest teams, Flamengo are surfing a wave of jubilation, supporters flooding to the Maracana weekend after weekend to cheer their heroes on.
Then there is the chanting, incessant and rambunctious. There are promises of parties in the favelas — Flamengo have traditionally represented Rio de Janeiro’s less affluent residents — and, in recent weeks, deafening cries of “Miiiister!” in honour of Jorge Jesus, who has guided them to the top of the Brasileirao table at the season’s halfway point. (“Mister” is a respectful way of addressing coaches in Portugal, Jesus’ home country.)
Mainly, though, you’ll notice the placards, lovingly whipped up at kitchen tables around the city with felt-tip feeling. These, like their creators, come in all shapes and sizes. But one design in particular has gained particular traction over the last few months. It carries a simple message but one that has started to carry the weight of prophecy.
“
Hoje tem gol do Gabigol.” Gabigol is going to score today.
Gabriel Barbosa of Flamengo celebrates scoring against Palmeiras for Flamengo (Photo by Buda Mendes/Getty Images)
He probably is, you know, but we’ll return to that in a moment. Because chances are that you’ve heard that name before. Maybe you played Football Manager five or six years ago. Maybe you used to trawl those fuzzy “[Insert player name here] — welcome to Liverpool: sick skills & goals 2015” compilations on YouTube, or really, really wanted to know who the next cab off the Santos academy rank was going to be.
Chances are, too, that you lost sight of his immense potential shortly afterwards. That would be perfectly excusable. For a while, he lost sight of it himself.
Gabigol, or Gabriel Barbosa to his parents, was perfect hype machine material. There was the snappy nickname, of course, but that was merely a reflection of his game – he netted more than 600 times at youth level at Santos, his feats gradually taking on a mythic quality. When he made his first-team debut, at 16, it was as a substitute in Neymar’s tear-stained farewell match. By the time he joined Internazionale, three days before his 20th birthday, he had racked up 56 senior goals and helped Brazil to football gold at the Rio Olympics. Stardom beckoned.
Then… nothing much. Unwanted by Frank de Boer (“Gabriel just arrived out of the blue,” admitted the coach’s brother, Ronald) and untested by his replacement, Stefano Pioli, he played just 183 minutes across the entire 2016-17 season. His frustration boiled over during a 3-1 win against Lazio in May. After watching all three subs run on, he skulked back to the Inter changing room before the match had even finished.
A loan spell with Benfica was even less fruitful. “A pure casting error,”
A Bola called it, suggesting that the decision to sign him was made in the boardroom rather than by the coach, Rui Vitoria. “He needs games to build up momentum,” complained his agent, Wagner Ribeiro. “He can’t play one game then miss the next two or three. Footballers are like aeroplanes: they need to fly.”
When Gabigol was photographed drinking at 6am on the day of a match, it was hard not to despair. Hard, too, not to think of all the other recent Santos youth products who were struggling to live up to their lofty reputations. Victor Andrade, who left the Vila Belmiro for Benfica at 16, has scored seven goals in five years. Giva’s last game was in the Spanish third division. Neílton never even left Brazil.
All were dubbed ‘the new Neymar’. All found that epithet too great a burden to bear.
When Gabigol returned to his homeland in January 2018, tail firmly between his legs, he looked like a solid addition to that list. But since then, slowly but surely, the gloom has lifted.
Credit must firstly go to Santos, who provided him with a soft landing and a familiar arm around the shoulder. “It was great to feel that love again,” he said of the welcome afforded to him by the club and he paid them back the only way he knows how. 53 games (oh, that sweet, sweet game time) yielded 27 goals and a spot in the Serie A Team of the Season.
That, though, proved to be just an appetiser. With three months of the 2019 campaign remaining, he has already netted 30 times for Flamengo, who fought off competition from West Ham, among others, to bring him in on loan at the start of the year. He is gathering momentum, too. Since Jesus took the reins in July, he has averaged over a goal a game. There have been wonder-strikes — his chip against Santos at the weekend was so outrageous that the only appropriate reaction was laughter — and tap-ins, touches of class and moments of luck. But he always seems to score.
Jesus, who initially wanted to bring in a dedicated No 9 because he did not view Gabigol as enough of a “matador”, has been won over. The player may be a strange hybrid of poacher and silky technician — this category confusion probably worked against him in Europe — but he has thrived in Jesus’ free-flowing system, dovetailing brilliantly with Giorgian de Arrascaeta, Everton Ribeiro and Bruno Henrique.
He has also matured, both physically (he is noticeably more muscular now than he was when he first left Santos) and mentally. If those unprofessional moments at Inter and Benfica were a factor of youthful petulance, he is now more grounded, more focused. He has a girlfriend — Neymar’s sister, coincidentally — and while he remains more than capable of winding opposition fans up with his celebrations and flashy demeanour, his flirtation with the bad-boy stereotype is over.
Brazil coach Tite, who was at the Maracana on Saturday, will be well aware that there is a growing lobby for the player to earn a recall to the national team, some three years after his last appearance. “He’s the best forward in Brazil,” former
Selecao striker Paulo Nunes said recently. “He reads the game well, finds pockets of space in the area, and is always available to receive a pass. He always manages to get himself free.”
A Brazil recall is unlikely to be the only objective on Gabigol’s mind. His loan at Flamengo ends in December and while he clearly adores playing for the club he supported as a boy, it would be a surprise if he was not entertaining the notion of a fresh tilt at European football. He will not lack for suitors if Inter decide to cash in on his form at the end of the Brazilian season.
Certainly, Gabigol himself still appears to harbour ambitions beyond Brazil’s borders. “There’s a lot left in front of me,” he told Globo this month. “This is only the start of my journey.”
That is a funny way of looking at it, given how much he has packed into his career already, but he cannot be blamed for seeing this as a fresh beginning. He is, after all, still just 23. There are greater heights to explore, demons to slay, doubters to prove wrong. If he gets a second chance to make it big, he must grasp it with both hands.
Put that way, it all starts to look a bit daunting again. But now that he has rediscovered his confidence, you wouldn’t bet against Gabriel Barbosa chipping away at the edifice, Gabigol by Gabigol.
(Top photo: Bruna Prado/Getty Images)