Quick Facts about Firmino
| Full Name | Roberto Firmino Barbosa de Oliveira |
| Age | 30 years as of 2021 |
| Date of Birth | 2 October 1991 |
| Place of Birth | Maceio, Brazil |
| Nationality | Brazilian |
| Position | Forward/ Attacking midfielder |
| Number | 9 |
Who Is Roberto Firmino?
Roberto Firmino (Roberto Firmino Barbosa de Oliveira) is a Brazilian football star currently, playing for Liverpool, a Premier League Club. He plays as an attacking midfielder for Liverpool and Brazil’s national team. While playing for Bundesliga in the 2013-14 season he won the league’s Breakthrough Player.
He joined Liverpool in 2015 and he has grown to be one of the key pillars of the club. Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp describes him as the “engine” that propels the club’s counter-attacking system. With Liverpool, he has won the UEFA Champions League during the 2018-19 season. In addition, he also won the UEFA Super Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup, and the 2019-20 Premiere League title. The 2019-20 Premiere League win was Liverpool’s first for the last 30 years.
In international football, he plays for Brazil and made his debut for the senior club in November 2014. He was selected to be part of the team that represented the nation at the 2015 Copa America. In addition, he also represented Brazil in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the 2019 Copa America, and the 2021 Copa America where they won the 2019 tournament.
Roberto Firmino Background
He was born in Maceio, the largest and the capital city of the coastal state of Alagoas, Brazil. He grew up in a middle-class family and they didn’t have much but his parents could afford basic needs. While growing up his parents really protected him since they didn’t want him to end up joining the wrong gang or to be associated with gangs around the area.
According to his mother, he used to ground him in his room for fear of the streets. However, despite being banned from going out he used to sneak and go out to play football. As time went by his parents realized his passion and they also noticed he had potential and they permitted him to go out and play only football.
Growing up in that town was tough as he used to borrow money in order to get to training. Firmino at the of 14 got lucky when his local club coach Luiz assisted him and he got signed by Tombense at the age of 16 and from there, his journey to greatness started.
Roberto Firmino Family, Parents
He is the only son of Jose Roberto Cordeiro and Mariana Cicera Barbosa de Oliveira. However much is not known about his parents.
Roberto Firmino Salary
He earns a weekly salary of £180,000
Roberto Firmino Net Worth
He has not yet disclosed his actual net worth but is estimated to be around $32 million.
Career
Early career
Firmino began his professional career in 2009, playing for the Toninho. He made his first debut for the team on October 24th, 2009 coming in as a substitute. His tactics impressed the team manager and he was promoted to the first team in January 2010. With Toninho, he scored his first goal for the club and his first professional goal on 8th May 2010. At the end of the season, he had scored 8 goals in 36 appearances.
Move to Hoffenheim
He moved to Hoffenheim, a Bundesliga club on 1st January 2011, after signing a five-year contract in December 2010 and it was going to expire in June 2015. He made his first debut for the team in February, one month after his move, coming in as a substitute in the 75th-minute against Mainz. With Hoffenheim, he scored his first goal for the club and his first Bundesliga goal on April 16th, 2011 in a 1-0 win against Eintracht Frankfurt.
However, at the end of November 2011, he was trickled from the first team alongside his teammate Chinedu Obasi for being late for training and missing the league game over Bayern Leverkusen. Later, he came back to the field and scored twice against Wolfsburg and Borussia Monchengladbach. He finished 2012-14 with 7 goals and 36 appearances.
At the start of the 2013-14 season, Hoffenheim was offered €12 million by Lokomotiv Moscow, a Russian club in exchange for Firmino. However, they refused the offer and Firmino increased the contract by three years in March 2014, He compiled the season with 16 goals and he went ahead to be named as a League’s Breakthrough Player.
Liverpool
Firmino moved to Liverpool on 23rd June 2015, at the time his transfer was being discussed by the two teams he was playing for Brazil Copa America. His transfer costed Liverpool £29 million, upon the completion of the tournament. After the transfer process was over Liverpool announced the next day that they had signed Firmino. He then underwent medical at the cloud and eventually the transfer was finally complete.
He made his first debut for the club on 2nd August, in a friendly game against Swindon Town. In addition, his first League debut came one week later, coming in the 78 minute playing for only 12 minutes. Firmino scored his first goal for the club on November 21st in a 4-1 win against Manchester City. He managed to finish the season as the club’s top scorer with 10 goals. In addition, he was also voted as Liverpool’s Player of the Month in January.
Firmino was the starter in the 2018 UEFA Champions League Final, however, they lost the game. Still, in the 2017-18 season, he joined hands with Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané, and Phillippe Coutinho and formed the “Fab Four”. However, Coutinho later left the club in the midseason and they were nicknamed as “Fab three”. The three best players had a total of 91 goals at the end of the season. Together with Mohamed Salah, they finished as the joint top scorer with 11 goals at the end of the UEFA Champions League. In addition, at the end of the season, he had scored 27 goals in all matches. Firmino has scored two hat-tricks, the latest one being on 16th October 2021 in a 5-0 win.
International Career
According to Firmino, it has always been his dream to play for his country. However, he didn’t have contact with Brazil’s team manager. On 23rd October 2014, his dream came true after he was called for the first time to play in a friendly match against Turkey and Austria. He made his first debut for the national team on the 12th of, November coming in as a substitute in the 73 minute playing for only 17 minutes. Moreover, Firmino scored his first goal for Brazil on 18th November 2014.
He was named in the squad that represented Brazil in the 2015 Copa America which was hosted in Chile. He scored his first goal in that tournament on June 21st in a 2-1 loss against Venezuela. In addition, he was part of the squad that represented Brazil in the 2018 FIFA 2018 World Cup in Russia. During the round of 16, he scored helping Brazil to win a 2-0 against Mexico despite him coming in as a late substitute. He also played the 2019 Copa America and 2021 Copa America.