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Gabriel Barbosa Almeida (born 30 August 1996), commonly known as Gabigol or Gabi, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Santos, on loan from Cruzeiro.

A graduate of the Santos academy, Gabriel made his professional debut at the age of 16 and made over 200 appearances for the club across all competitions. He joined Flamengo in 2019, where he played 306 games and scored 161 goals. He scored twice in the dying minutes of the 2019 Copa Libertadores final, and the only goal of the 2022 final. In 2019, he won the Bola de Ouro and South American Footballer of the Year. After six seasons with Flamengo, he joined fellow Brazilian club Cruzeiro.

Gabriel played 18 games for Brazil between 2016 and 2022, and scored five goals. He was part of the squads for the Copa América Centenario and the 2021 Copa América, finishing as runners-up at the latter. He also won a gold medal at the 2016 Olympic tournament.

Early career

Born in São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo, Gabriel joined Santos's youth setup in 2004, at the age of 8; his prolific goalscoring with the club's youth sides saw him earn the nickname Gabigol. On 25 September 2012, he signed a professional contract, with a €50 million buyout clause, and made his first team debut on 17 January of the following year, in a friendly match against Grêmio Barueri.

Santos

On 26 May 2013, Gabriel made his league debut, at only 16 years old, in a 0–0 draw against Flamengo. He scored his first professional goal on 22 August, netting the game's only goal in a home success against Grêmio, for the year's Copa do Brasil.

On 1 February 2014, Gabriel scored a brace and Santos' 12,000th goal in a 5–1 victory against Botafogo-SP, for that year's Campeonato Paulista championship. He finished the tournament with seven goals, as Peixe finished second.

Gabriel netted his first Série A goal on 20 April 2014, scoring his side's only in a 1–1 home draw against Sport Recife. He signed a new five-year deal with the club on 23 September, and finished the season with 21 goals, ten ahead of big money signing Leandro Damião.

After starting the 2015 campaign on the bench, Gabriel was appointed as first-choice after the departure of Robinho. He scored ten goals in the year's Brasileirão, and was the top scorer in Copa do Brasil with eight goals, with highlights including braces against Sport Recife, Joinville and Atlético Mineiro, and the winner in the first leg of the national cup's final against Palmeiras. His impressive form for the season with Santos also saw him named by Spanish sport magazine Don Balón as one of 101 best young talents in world football in 2015.

Gabriel started the 2016 season with two back-to-back goals against São Bernardo and Ponte Preta. On 24 April he scored a double in a 2–2 home draw against Palmeiras (3–2 win on penalties), as his side reached the finals of the Paulistão for the eight consecutive time.

Inter Milan

On 27 August 2016, after being warmly welcomed by Inter Milan fans when he landed in Milan the day before, Gabriel signed for the club on a five-year contract in a deal reportedly worth €29.5m.

On 22 September 2016, the club officially introduced Gabriel as an Inter player in the Pirelli auditorium with a media show: the striker entered the press room after a video showing him below the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro and then on Milan rooftops, evoking the image Inter had made to introduce Il Fenomeno Ronaldo 1997.

Gabigol made his first appearance on 25 September 2016, as a 73rd-mijute substitute for Antonio Candreva. He scored his first goal for Inter on 19 February after coming on as a substitute in a 1–0 away victory against Bologna.

Benfica (loan)

On 31 August 2017, Gabriel joined Portuguese club Benfica on a season-long loan deal. He made his debut on 12 September in a UEFA Champions League match against CSKA Moscow, replacing Álex Grimaldo in the 77th minute.

Gabriel made his Primeira Liga debut in a 2–1 loss at Boavista on 16 September 2017; he replaced Andrija Živković, again in the 77th minute. He left the club in January with just 165 minutes of playtime and one goal scored, against Olhanense for the Taça de Portugal.

Return to Santos (loan)

On 25 January 2018, Gabriel's former club Santos announced that they had reached an agreement with Inter for his return to the club on a one-year loan deal. He made the first appearance of his loan on 11 February, starting and scoring his team's second in a 2–2 away draw against Ferroviária.

Gabriel made his Copa Libertadores debut on 1 March 2018, starting in a 2–0 away loss against Real Garcilaso. On 11 May, he scored a hat-trick – the first of his professional career – in a 5–1 home routing of Luverdense, for the year's national cup.

On 1 September 2018, Gabriel scored all his team's goals in a 3–0 away win against Vasco da Gama.

Flamengo (loan)

On 11 January 2019, Flamengo officially announced an agreement with Inter Milan to sign Gabriel on loan until 31 December 2019.

Gabriel debuted for Flamengo on 23 January 2019 in a Campeonato Carioca 1–1 draw against Resende; he started the match and played all 90 minutes. He scored his first goal for Flamengo on 24 February 2019 in a 4–1 win against Americano, this was the first match of a six-game streak scoring including goals in Copa Libertadores matches against San José and LDU Quito and a brace against Portuguesa (RJ) and Madureira in the Campeonato Carioca. Flamengo won the 2019 Campeonato Carioca with Gabriel scoring 7 goals in 12 matches, also being selected to the tournament team of the year.

On 23 November 2019, Gabriel scored two late goals in the 2019 Copa Libertadores Final, in a 2–1 win over River Plate, when he was also sent off in the game, and became the top scorer of the competition with nine goals. Less than 24 hours later, Flamengo became champions of the Campeonato Brasileiro, with Gabriel having scored 25 league goals in the championship and becoming the first player since Túlio Maravilha in 1995 to be the nation's top goalscorer in two consecutive years; he also became the top goalscorer of the Brasileirão in the double round-robin-era, established in 2003.

Flamengo's supporters quickly adopted Gabriel as one of their favourite players and chanted the slogan Hoje tem gol do Gabigol (today Gabigol will score) frequently in the stadiums. He was awarded with the Bola de Ouro award for his efforts in Brazil and was crowned South American Footballer of the Year by Uruguayan newspaper El País.

Flamengo

On 27 January 2020, Flamengo announced that the club agreed on a permanent transfer and Gabriel signed a contract with the club until December 2024 with a deal reportedly worth €17.5m.

Gabriel became the youngest player to reach 100 goals in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, on 4 September 2022. On this date, Flamengo and Ceará drew 1–1, at Maracanã, in the 25th round of the Campeonato Brasileiro.

On 1 July 2023, Flamengo won a Campeonato Brasileiro Série A match against Fortaleza at home 2–0, with Gabriel scoring the first goal of the evening and reaching the mark of 150 total goals for Flamengo, becoming the ninth player in club's history to achieve this number.

The Brazilian Doping Control Authority voted on 24 March 2024 to suspend Gabriel for two years for attempted anti-doping fraud, after he was accused of making it difficult to carry out an anti-doping test before a Flamengo game in the Rio de Janeiro state league. The anti-doping body added that the ban would count from the date of the violation which occurred on 8 April 2023. Gabriel issued a statement denying the allegations stating he has "never tried to obstruct or defraud any test" and that he plans to appeal the decision with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Flamengo said in a separate statement that they were surprised by the verdict and would support the player with his appeal "because there was no type of…