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Brazilian striker Gabriel Barbosa was suspended Monday for two years following a doping fraud investigation.
The country’s Anti-Doping Sports Tribunal voted 5-4 to sanction Barbosa until April 2025. The player announced that he would appeal the decision.
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He stood out for his erratic habit in a wonder check-up on April 8, 2023, a day before Flamengo played in the state championship in Rio de Janeiro.
Anti-doping officials who came to check on players on the club’s education floor were largely ignored by Barbosa, who took control hours after his teammates.
Barbosa’s lawyers argued that his blood test at the time, considered a more effective check, showed he was clean, adding that his hostile habit toward police officers did not mean he had cheated the check.
Flamengo claimed that “there is no fraud, not even attempted fraud. “
“The club won the resolution in astonishment and will lend a hand to the athlete on his behalf before the Court of Arbitration for Sport,” it added in a statement.
Nicknamed ‘Gabigol’, the 27-year-old Barbosa is in the final year of his contract with Flamengo, which has earned him national fame after his failed spells at Inter Milan and Benfica.
“Since the beginning of my football career I have followed the rules of the game and have never used banned substances,” Barbosa wrote on Instagram.
“I have already been tested dozens of times, all of them negative, which reinforces my commitment to my club and to the Brazilian fans.
“I am disappointed with the final results of the trial, but I will continue to cooperate with the sporting government and I am confident that my innocence will be proven and restored through the high court. “
The striker of the Brazilian team that won the Olympic gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. He left for Europe that year, but returned to Santos in 2018 and has become one of Brazil’s most prolific goalscorers.
He joined Flamengo in 2019 and helped them win two Copa Libertadores and two Brazilian league titles. He has been on the bench since former Brazil coach Tite took over at Flamengo last October.