Undisputedly the best goalkeeper in our stadiums
The quintessence of the sport is the goal. All players aim for the opposition net, all without exception want to score and celebrate, rousing the stands. But there is one place on the field that, more than any other, is meant to prevent that from happening. This is the goalie position. In football there have been and still are great goalkeepers who wrote and are writing history.
In Cyprus there is a goalkeeper of a very high class. He has already made history with what he has done in Omonia, based on what we have seen and are seeing, he is by far the best (no exaggeration because we are talking about a high level and a long time) who has set foot on Cypriot courts to play in our league .
Fabiano, in addition to his other skills, is a specialist in saving penalties
The Brazilian Fabiano Ribeiro is the one in question. With his amazing performance in “Stelios Kyriakidis” he was the main reason for Omonia's victory, reminding us all again of his special quality. The Brazilian put down the rolls and suggested a continuous “no” to the opposing players.
Fabiano in a 12-year career with Porto played in 67 league games and 17 in the cup. He played in 9 games in the Champions League with Porto and in 9 in the Europa League with Fenerbahce, while in the Turkish league he played 15 times.
At 35 years old, he is very athletic (1.97 m tall ), trained, quick in thinking and reactions. He guides the defense perfectly, inspiring his teammates with his presence and only since 2019, when he has been on our island, he has maintained a very high level of performance on a stable basis, one of the main reasons for the great successes of Omonia in recent years.
Fabiano, in addition to his other skills, is a specialist in saving penalties. He neutralized extremely important penalties during his tenure in Omonia. Extremely important because they brought titles and qualifications. Let's remember them
16.9.20 Omonia – Red Star 4-2 penalties (1-1): Fabiano saves Fasinelli Degenek's penalty and Omonia, after the accurate execution by Leciaks, celebrates qualification in the Europa League groups for the first time in its history!
13.7.21 Anorthosis – Omonia 2-3 penalties (1-1): The Brazilian saved three penalties from Anorthosis footballers (Kaltsas, Avraham, Lafferty) and the clover won the 17th Super Cup in its history.
10.8.21 Flora Tallinn – Omonia 4-5 penalties (2-1): The Brazilian took the last and decisive penalty (Rinecourt)
and the “greens” celebrated their entry into a European competition group (Europa Conference Ling for the second year in a row.
25.5.2022 Omonia – Ethnikis Achnas 5-4 penalty (0-0): Fabi twice said “no” to the penalty kicks of the players of Ethnikis Achnas (Peratikos, Zakpa) and Omonia with scorer Charalambous in the last execution won the 15th cup in its history.
This is the account of STOPs in penalties so far. And it seems that we are not finished yet. Of course, penalty saves are part of the abilities of this huge goalkeeper, who fortunately descended to our island. The repertoire is very rich.
