Rafael Cabral Barbosa (born 20 May 1990), known as Rafael Cabral or simply Rafael, is a Brazilian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Cruzeiro.

Club career

Santos

Born in Sorocaba, Rafael joined Santos youth system in 2003. In 2010, he was promoted to the first team, but broke his right leg in a split with the

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either ...

Domingos and sidelined for four months. Rafael played in the second half of the match between Santos and the

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

in the United States. It was won by Red Bull by 3–1 but Rafael did not concede a goal, the three goals from New York were scored in the first half, when the goalkeeper was

Fábio Costa Fabio Costa (born 27 November 1977 in Camaçari, Bahia) is a former Brazilian goalkeeper. Career Costa played for Brazil under-23 and won the 1996 Toulon Tournament and the 2000 South American Pre-Olympic Tournament. He was part of the Brazi ...

. His debut in the first team for Santos in an official game took place on 2 June 2010, the match between Santos and Cruzeiro in

Mineirão Mineirão (), officially Estádio Governador Magalhães Pinto (''Governor Magalhães Pinto Stadium'') is the largest football stadium in the state of Minas Gerais. It was established in 1965, and it is located in Belo Horizonte. It served as a ...

, where the score was 0–0. He took the place of Felipe, who had played all previous 37 matches that season. On 20 August 2012, Rafael Cabral's right eye started bleeding when he collided with

Juan Manuel Martínez Juan Manuel Martínez (born October 25, 1985), nicknamed ''Burrito'' (in English, "Little Donkey"), is an Argentine football forward who plays for Almirante Brown. He also holds a Portuguese passport. Martínez is best known for his agility, ...

in a 2012 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A fixture between Santos and

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...

. He then recovered and was able to continue the game. Santos won the game 3–2.

Napoli

On 28 June 2013, Rafael was sold from Santos to Italian side

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. The '' Azzurri'' paid €5 million for the Brazilian goalkeeper. Rafael made his

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

debut against Arsenal in a group stage match in Naples. Napoli won the match 2–0 and Rafael was able to keep a clean sheet against the English side. Nevertheless, Napoli was unable to advance out of the group stages. He was manager

Rafael Benítez Rafael Benítez Maudes (born 16 April 1960) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who most recently managed club Everton. Benítez joined Real Madrid's coaching staff at the age of 26, going on to work as the under- ...

's first-choice goalkeeper for the 2014–15 season following the departure of the loaned-in

Pepe Reina José Manuel "Pepe" Reina Páez (; born 31 August 1982) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for La Liga club Villarreal. The son of famed Barcelona and Atlético Madrid goalkeeper Miguel Reina, Pepe Reina began his ...

. On 22 December, in the 2014 Supercoppa Italiana in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the count ...

, he gave Napoli victory over Juventus by saving from Simone Padoin in sudden death at the end of a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

Sampdoria

On 22 July 2018, Rafael Cabral signed with

U.C. Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

on a free transfer. On 5 August 2019, Sampdoria announced that Rafael Cabral’s contract with the club had been terminated by mutual agreement.

Reading

On 6 August 2019,

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

announced the signing of Rafael on a three-year contract. Rafael made his debut against

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their ho ...

in the EFL Cup and saved two penalties in the penalty shootout win. Rafael made his Sky Bet Championship debut against Cardiff City and gained his first clean sheet for the club in a 3–0 victory. He then went on to claim the No. 1 spot, beating out Everton loanee João Virginia and Sam Walker. Rafael’s heroics during consecutive games in the month of December earned him a spot on WhoScored.com Team of the Month for December 2019. On 22 July 2020, ahead of the final game of the 2019–20 season, Rafael was announced as the clubs player of the season. On 17 January 2022, Rafael left Reading after his contract was terminated by mutual consent.

Cruzeiro

On 19 January 2022, Rafael returned to Brazil after 9 years in Europe, signing for Série B club Cruzeiro on a two-year contract.

International career

Rafael made his debut for

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

on 30 May 2012, in a 4–1 win. He was called up to the

Brazil national under-23 football team The Brazil Olympic football team (also known as Brazil under-23, Brazil U23) represents Brazil in international football competitions during Olympic Games and Pan American Games. The selection is limited to players under the age of 23, except th ...

at the London 2012 Summer Olympics but was later replaced due to injury.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Santos * São Paulo State League: 2010, 2011,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil ( en, Brazil Cup) is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de P ...

: 2010 * Copa Libertadores: 2011 * Recopa Sudamericana:

Napoli *

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

: 2013–14 * Supercoppa Italiana:

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Cruzeiro * Campeonato Brasileiro - Série B:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

Individual *

Player of the Season: 2019–20

References

External links

sambafoot

Rafael Cabral in Brazil: the talent factory 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cabral, Rafael 1990 births Living people People from Sorocaba Brazilian footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Association football goalkeepers Santos FC players Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players S.S.C. Napoli players U.C. Sampdoria players Reading F.C. players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Serie A players English Football League players Brazil international footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Footballers from São Paulo (state)