Will Gabigol follow in Ronaldo's footsteps to become Inter hero?
Part of the problem could be found in the name. After six months at Inter, Gabigol had still yet to score. Rather cruelly, people had taken to calling him Gabighost because, other than on Instagram, they barely saw him.
The 20-year-old has barely played since moving to Italy in the summer. Sunday’s cameo was his seventh appearance in blue and black, but the €29.5m signing from Santos has only played 67 minutes for his new club.
La Repubblica pointed out that up until now the kid whose full name is Gabriel Barbosa has cost Inter as much as €250k a minute. But Inter fans don’t resent him. Quite the opposite in fact. Just because he has been out of sight does not mean Gabigol has been out of mind. Far from it.
Interisti can’t stop fantasising about him. They haven’t seen enough of him yet to make them think he is anything other than what they were told he was when he joined: a Fenomeno. They still remember the words of Gabigol’s agent Wagner Ribeiro. “He has Ganso’s left foot, Neymar’s skill and Lucas Moura’s speed.” They recall watching him score twice at the Olympics in Rio last summer as Brazil ended their long wait for a gold medal in football. And they remember how Inter beat Juventus to his signature, as they would later do with Roberto Gagliardini as well.
What little they have seen of him left them wanting more. The rabona Gabigol did minutes after coming on against Lazio in Inter’s last game before Christmas. The lob he scored in a friendly against Cadiz at Inter’s winter training camp in Marbella. ‘Why isn’t he playing?’ they asked.
After initially raving about Gabigol’s ability to dribble without ever looking at the ball, Frank de Boer decided he was “not ready for Italy.” Left out of the Europa League squad as part of Inter’s FFP sanctions, opportunities were few and far between in Serie A and as de Boer’s days became numbered at San Siro, he pointedly excluded Gabigol from his squad for Inter’s league games in a dangerous political ploy.
It contributed to their decision to sack him and you can understand why. Inter’s new owners Suning expected to see the wonderkid they’d been persuaded to invest so heavily in. Particularly as Gabigol wasn’t injured. All of this can't have been easy for the boy from Brazil to take. Last December, La Gazzetta dello Sport ran a story claiming that he could often be seen in tears at the end of De Boer’s final training sessions as it became clear that his efforts to make the team had again been considered not good enough.
Initially things did not change under Stefano Pioli. Asked for a comment on Gabigol’s rabona against Lazio, he clearly didn’t delight in it as much as the fans. “I like the enthusiasm but… I personally would like to see more substance and less showboating,” Pioli said. By now Gabigol’s agent was understandably getting frustrated on his client’s behalf. There was talk of him leaving Inter on loan in January, maybe to Las Palmas. Ribeiro ruled out a return to Brazil as it would be portrayed as a “defeat.”
Interisti didn’t know what to think. On the one hand, Gabigol could be a flop. On the other, there was the very real fear that this was going to be a repeat of the Coutinho palaver. Determined not to make the same mistake twice, Inter have decided to show more patience with Gabigol. Now flush with Suning’s cash, they are not under any pressure to sell like they were when Liverpool came calling for Cou.
Pioli has drip-fed Gabigol minutes. His one start this season came against Bologna in the Coppa Italia in mid-January. It didn’t help Gabigol’s cause that his second half replacement Antonio Candreva scored an extra-time winner, settling the tie. A few days later, Gabriel Jesus made his debut for Man City. Inter had been the first big club in Europe to make a serious effort to sign him in the summer. Representing Jesus was Giovanni Branchini, the agent who helped bring Ronaldo to San Siro in 1997.
Parallels were drawn. The hype machine went into overdrive. For a long time Inter looked in pole position to get the deal done. However, a phone call from Pep Guardiola apparently made up Jesus' mind to move to City instead. It was only then that Inter shifted their attention to Gabigol. Watching Jesus score three goals in his first three starts for City, led people in Italy to ask: “Did Inter buy the wrong Gabriel?” They had the same name, same nationality, same price but very different impacts.
One of them, in particular, has a big fan at Inter. “I have seen a player who has made me fall in love again with football,” Inter’s former owner Massimo Moratti told Sky Italia on Valentines’ Day. “It happens every once in a while like, for example, when a great boxer comes through and suddenly makes you want to follow boxing.” The player Moratti was talking about was Gabriel Jesus, not Gabigol.
Perhaps events like last Sunday's will make him change his mind, as Gabigol finally lived up to his name. It was the opposite of what happened in the Coppa Italia. Gabigol came on for Candreva and this time he was the one who won the game, scoring the only goal at the Dall'Area to clinch a precious win for the Nerazzurri. That Ronaldo also scored his first goal for Inter against Bologna did not go unnoticed. It was seized upon as a possible sign of great things to come, not only for the player but the team.
Inter have won nine of their last 10 games in Serie A. They have kept a clean sheet in seven of them and have found ways to win without Mauro Icardi. Last weekend it was Eder who stepped up in the absence of their suspended captain, scoring the opener and setting up another against Empoli. This weekend, it was Gabigol’s turn. Ever Banega, another second half sub, was instrumental in the build up to the goal.
All of this showcases Inter's depth, which will be tested again on Sunday when they have to do without Miranda against Roma. It promises to be a fantastic game. Gabigol is unlikely to start but last Sunday’s goal could kickstart his Inter career. “I’m very happy,” he said. “I’ll have to take everybody out for dinner. We’ll go for a carbonara.”
