Alexander Barboza
is experiencing a great football moment: he arrived in Botafogo after a
great campaign in Paraguayan soccer, but
he remembered his time at River and stated that they did not give him the necessary confidence
to settle in the starting team.
"I didn't have confidence in River. I played six games in six months. If the player doesn't have confidence it's very difficult
," the player said on DSports Radio and added that he would have
loved to perform and show what he is as a player.
Barboza
trained as a football player at
River
, but not having a chance in the first team,
he went on loan to Atlético Rafaela
.
In the Santa Fe team
he spent all of 2015 playing
11 games and even scored a goal
, precisely against his former club.
He went on loan to
Defensa y Justicia
where he was from 2016 to 2019, he played
128 games
, scored
16 goals
, and became
captain and leader of the team
.
In the middle of his time at the
Varela
institution between 2017 and 2018, he called him
Marcelo Gallardo
because he wanted him in River.
"Marcelo Gallardo called me and ended up convincing me to go to River. I wanted to be there, I prioritized River because I thought it was the best for me
," said the defender and clarified that at that time he had offers from the
MLS
, from
Europe
and from
Brazil
.
Barboza said that since
Javier Pinola
was doing , he was going to run from behind.
“It just so happened that Javi Pinola returned and he was clearly going to play
.
I was going to start from behind, but I had confidence to fight.
It was not so.
As the semester went by
I couldn't have that confidence that I wanted, I couldn't let go and the truth is that I regret that
because one always wants to succeed in the big clubs."
Barbosa and his failed passage through River
During his time at River, Barboza played
six games
, five in the League and one in the
2017 Copa Libertadores
.
Of those five games
he won one
,
lost two
and
drew two
.
He debuted in the 3-1 defeat with
Newell's
and in his second match with
Millo
he lost 4-0 with Talleres
.
For
the Copa Libertadores
he played the last minutes of the
semifinal with Lanús in which River lost 4 to 2
.
He then returned to Defensa y Justicia, then had a stint at
Independiente between 2019 and 2021
.
He arrived in Paraguayan soccer in 2021 where
he spent three seasons with Libertad
.
With the Paraguayan institution
he was champion five times
.
He won the 2021, 2022 and 2023 Apertura Tournament;
and the closing 2023. He also claimed champion in
last year's
Paraguay Cup .
With Libertad
he played 117 games
,
scoring nine goals and seven assists
.
"It's a calmer football in terms of rhythm. I adapted, it was great and today I am where I am because I kept working and I didn't have those bad moments
," said the player.
Today he works in Brazilian soccer.
Botafogo
hired him to reinforce the central defense and
he has already played six games
.