Vitor Roque: Palmeiras' first 20-goal debutant in 13 years | OneFootball

In the 2-1 defeat to Mirassol last Sunday, Vitor Roque scored a bicycle kick goal and reached 20 goals in the season for Palmeiras. Thus, the striker became the first player to reach this milestone in a debut season for Verdão in 13 years, since 2012.

The last player to reach 20 goals in his first year with Alviverde was Hernán Barcos. In 2012, the Argentine was signed from LDU and scored 28 goals.

The center forward was also responsible for important goals during Palmeiras’ campaign for their second Copa do Brasil title. In the following season, Barcos did not remain with the São Paulo team and was sold to Grêmio.

Bad phase and comeback

Despite his goal-scoring season, Vitor Roque did not start his time at Palmeiras in the best way. Signed from Barcelona, the striker took 12 matches to score his first goal wearing the alviverde shirt and faced criticism at the beginning of his stint at the club.

In his first four months with Verdão, Vitor Roque scored only three goals and lacked confidence in the Palmeiras squad. However, since then, the number 9 has taken off and become one of the pillars of Abel Ferreira’s team.

In the last 10 matches, the striker has scored eight goals and, last week, was called up by Carlo Ancelotti to represent the Brazilian National Team in friendlies against Tunisia and Senegal.

Upcoming Palmeiras matches

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.