Fabiano continues to prove that age is just a number. A few weeks before turning 35, the Brazilian center back is off to one of his best starts to a season since joining Aris, having even become one of the biggest offensive “headaches” for opposing defenses.
With four goals in his first seven league games, Fabiano is currently the top scorer for the “yellow-and-blacks.” Of the 13 goals Aris has scored in total this season, four were scored by a center back—a fact that in itself shows just how important his presence has become on the offensive end as well.
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His stats are impressive. He has 17 shots on goal and scores on average once every 4.3 shots, while also remaining a key player in building up the team’s offense. He leads Aris in passes between the lines with 5.9 per game and ranks among the team’s top four in steals in this season’s league.
His outstanding performance continued in the 3-1 victory over Atromitos at “Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium,” in a game where Aris put on perhaps its best performance of the season. Michalis Grigoriou’s team thus secured its third consecutive victory and fifth overall in the league, confirming its upward trajectory.
In fact, the Thessaloniki-based team also achieved a remarkable historic feat. For the first time in their history, they scored three goals in the first half in two consecutive home league matches. Prior to their 3-1 win over Atromitos, they had done the same against Volos, in a match that ended in a 3-2 victory.
For Fabiano, however, a major personal record lies ahead. With 16 goals in an Aris jersey, he has now tied Avraam Papadopoulos and is just three behind Nikos Papadopoulos, who, with 19 goals, tops the list of the club’s center backs.
At the same time, the Brazilian continues to climb the list of foreign players with the most appearances in Aris’s history. He has reached 174 appearances and is in fourth place, now just a breath away from Koke’s 176. Next is Neto with 186, while Julián Cuesta remains at the top with 224 appearances.
On November 18, Fabiano will turn 35, but his performance on the field suggests he is in the prime of his career. Since 2021, when he first donned the Aris jersey, he has never had such a productive start, combining his consistency in defense with unprecedented effectiveness in the opponent’s box.
*photo source: KYPE
