Gabriel Vasconcelos Ferreira (born 27 September 1992), mononymously known as Gabriel (), 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

Coritiba Coritiba Foot Ball Club, commonly known as Coritiba and colloquially referred to as "Coxa-Branca" or "Coxa", is a Brazilian football club from Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest f ...

. A product of Cruzeiro's youth system, Gabriel was signed by Milan at the age of 19. He has since spent time both at the club and on various loans. At the international level, Gabriel made a single appearance for the Brazil national team in August 2012. Previously, he was part of the under-23 squad that won the silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Club career

Cruzeiro (2007–2012)

Gabriel started his footballing career in the youth teams of Cruzeiro in 2007. During the 2010 and 2011 seasons, he also featured as an unused substitute with the first team on four occasions, including one game of the

2011 Campeonato Mineiro The 2011 Campeonato da Primera Divisåo de Profissionais - Módulo I , better known as the 2011 Campeonato Mineiro, was the 97th season of Minas Gerais's top-flight football league. The season began on January 29 and ended on May 15. Format The f ...

, which Cruzeiro eventually won.

Milan (2012–2018)

Early seasons (2012–2014)

At the beginning of the 2012–13 season, Gabriel was signed by

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

to serve as backup for

Christian Abbiati Christian Abbiati (born 8 July 1977) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Abbiati, who had been with AC Milan since 1998, started his career with Monza, and later played more than 300 official matches for Mil ...

and

Marco Amelia Marco may refer to: People * Marco (given name), people with the given name Marco * Marco (actor) (born 1977), South Korean model and actor * Georg Marco (1863–1923), Romanian chess player of German origin * Tomás Marco (born 1942), Spanish c ...

. After making no official appearances during his first year at the club, Gabriel's official debut came on 19 October 2013, as manager

Massimiliano Allegri Massimiliano Allegri (; born 11 August 1967), also known as Max Allegri, is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Juventus. During his playing career, Allegri played in the Serie A as a midfielder ...

chose him to start in place of an injured Abbiati for a

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

game at home against

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a ...

; the Brazilian kept a clean sheet in the 1–0 win. He finished his second season at Milan with seven appearances.

Loan spells (2014–2018)

On 1 September 2014, Gabriel joined

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

side Carpi on a season-long loan from Milan. Serving as the first-choice goalkeeper, he played 39 league games out of 42, all as a starter, and contributed to the club's successful season, in which they finished at the top of the table and won their first-ever promotion to

. For the 2015–16 season, Gabriel moved to Serie A club

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 ...

, once again on a season-long loan. Serving as

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 ...

's understudy, Gabriel finished the season with four appearances (one in the league, three in

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

). Gabriel went back to Milan for the 2016–17 season. However, being second-choice to

Gianluigi Donnarumma Gianluigi Donnarumma (born 25 February 1999) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the Italy national team. He is widely regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in world footbal ...

, he didn't get any playing time in the competitive games during the first half of the season. In January 2017, he was loaned out to Cagliari for the rest of the season. However, he still didn't get regular playing time, making only three appreances. After returning to Milan for the 2017–18 season, Gabriel once again failed to make any competitive appearance, having fallen back to fourth choice behind the Donnarumma brothers and

Marco Storari Marco Storari (born 7 January 1977) is an Italian former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. After a lengthy spell in Italy's lower leagues, he arrived in Serie A aged 27. Steady performances for Messina prompted his signing by A.C. Milan ...

. On 30 January 2018, he was loaned out to Serie B side Empoli for the remainder of the season.

Perugia

On 17 August 2018, Gabriel signed with

club

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and pa ...

for free.

Lecce

On 3 July 2019, Gabriel signed with

club

U.S. Lecce Unione Sportiva Lecce, commonly referred to as Lecce (), is an Italian football club based in Lecce, Apulia. The club play in Serie A in the 2022–23 season, the top level of the Italian football pyramid, having been promoted from Serie B. ...

a 2-years contract.

International career

Brazil Under-20

Gabriel was part of the Brazil under-20 squad that won the

South American Youth Championship The South American Youth Football Championship, also known as U-20 South American Championship and es, Torneo Juventudes de América, "Campeonato Sudamericano Sub 20" or pt, Juventude da América (English: "America's Youth") is a South American f ...

in February 2011, appearing in eight games out of nine. The following August he was called up by manager

Ney Franco Ney Franco da Silveira Júnior (born 22 July 1966), known as Ney Franco, is a Brazilian football manager. Career Born in Vargem Alegre, Minas Gerais, Franco worked in Atlético Mineiro and Cruzeiro's youth categories before being named the ...

to take part also in the FIFA under-20 World Cup. He played in all seven games as a starter, as Brazil claimed the trophy by defeating

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

3–2 in the final at El Campín stadium.

Brazil Under-23

Gabriel was called up by Brazil under-23 to take part in the 2012 Olympic Football tournament as a replacement for the injured

Rafael Cabral Rafael Cabral Barbosa (born 20 May 1990), known as Rafael Cabral or simply Rafael, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Cruzeiro. Club career Santos Born in Sorocaba, Rafael joined Santos youth system in 2003. ...

two days before the start of the competition. After remaining on the bench for the first two games, Gabriel made his debut in the tournament in the third and last match of the group stage against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, which Brazil won 3–0. He retained his place as a starter in each of the following three games, as Brazil went on to win the silver medal after being defeated 2–1 by

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

in the final.

Brazil

Three days after playing in the Olympic final, on 15 August 2012, Gabriel made his senior 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 ...

, featuring as a starter in a 3–0 friendly win over Sweden, having the distinction of playing his first professional match at full international level.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

Cruzeiro * Campeonato Mineiro: 2011 Carpi *

: 2014–15 Milan * Supercoppa Italiana:

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

Empoli *

: 2017–18

International

Brazil *

: 2011 *

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 whe ...

: 2011 * Olympic Silver Medal:

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 ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gabriel 1992 births AC Milan players Men's association football goalkeepers Brazil men's international footballers Brazil men's under-20 international footballers Brazil men's youth international footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian men's footballers Cagliari Calcio players AC Carpi players Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players SSC Napoli players Empoli FC players AC Perugia Calcio players US Lecce players Coritiba Foot Ball Club players Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Living people Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Footballers from Minas Gerais Olympic footballers for Brazil Olympic medalists in football Olympic silver medalists for Brazil Serie A players Serie B players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players