Carlos Bacca is a Colombian professional footballer who plays for Serie A club, Milan as well as the Colombian national team as a striker.
Carlos is best described as a fast, powerful, skilful and determined striker, with good movement, good concentration and an eye for goal. Recognized as a prolific goalscorer, he is hailed for his finishing skill and tremendous knowledge of the game which is nothing short of exceptional. His success is the result of a pure love for hard work and a determination to rise above the status quo he faced.
Here’s everything you want to know about Carlos Bacca, his meteoric rise to stardom from being a part-time fisherman and assistant bus driver to being one of football’s most wanted strikers.
Carlos Bacca Bio
The Milan striker has great skills and qualities and is exceptionally competitive wanting more and more with every game he takes part in. It is however some of the best ingredients that make the champions. Added to the fact that he comes from a poor background, his thirst for success carries him higher, even beyond his eyes. He refused to let his background keep his back on the ground. Carlos, with what it takes to be a world-class champion, however, didn’t earn a spot in the arena until he was in his twenties.
He understood that the likes of champions are not those who always win races, but those who go out and try, who keep playing until they succeed. With this knowledge, Carlos has developed the spirit to win with enough courage to try harder whenever the mark seems out of reach. In the end, he not only got there, but on a grand scale.
That said, the Colombian prolific goalscorer was born on September 8, 1986 in Puerto Colombia, Colombia to Gilberto Bacca and Eloisa Ahumada. In an effort to help his family, he worked as a bus driver’s assistant, sold bus tickets, and also worked part-time as a fisherman to make ends meet while he played football. Apart from his love for hard work, he is also very religious and always credits God for his successes in interviews. He belongs to the evangelical Christian faith.
A skilled and determined striker with an eye for goal, Carlos is also a married man and a father. He is the husband of Shayira Santiago and father of their two children, a son Carlos Daniel Bacca and a daughter Karla Valentina Bacca. He is of mixed ethnicity and has Spanish ancestry.
His professional career
His professional career started with Colombian club, Atletico Junior in 2006. As is usually the case, every player’s hope is to make appearances and prove their talents and skills in the game, thus, the opportunities for such players are generally welcome. Carlos didn’t have many playing opportunities at his parent club and was loaned out to Barranquilla FC in 2007 where he played 27 games and scored 12 goals. He thus sealed his destiny as top scorer. After his rise, he was loaned a second time to Venezuelan club Minervén for one season. There he led them to second place in the league and scored a dozen goals in 29 games before moving to Barranquilla for a second time.
He maintained his scoring streak and eventually became the league’s top scorer with 14 goals in 19 games. Wow! Upon his return to Atletico Junior, he became the 2009 Copa Colombia top scorer as a first-team regular. Additionally, Carlos became the winner and top scorer of the Categoría Primera A for two consecutive years, which gave the club their sixth and seventh Colombian titles.
With a longtime dream of playing for a European club, Carlos eventually secured a contract with Belgian side Club Brugge, signing a three-year contract for £1.5m in early 2012. He continued with his goalscoring streak, although he had to face some difficulties before he could break through. In the 2012–13 season, he finished as the league’s top scorer and was named Belgium’s Player of the Year. After staying the course at Brugge, he ended his career with them with a record 28 goals in 45 league appearances.
His next tent was Spanish club Sevilla who on July 9, 2013, he signed a €7 million deal on a five-year deal with a €30 million release clause. He helped the club qualify for the 2015-16 Champions League after his seven European goals which also helped them retain their Europa League crown.
Carlos’ €30m buyout clause was activated by Serie A club Milan, which reached an agreement in July 2015. Two years later, in August 2017, he was loaned to the Spanish club for a year. Villarreal for an amount of 2.5 million euros.
He made his senior national team debut in 2010 and made his international debut in 2012. He was part of the 23-man squad that represented his nation at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. He also made the 2015 Copa América 23-man roster and scored the winning goal that put Colombia third in the Copa América Centenario game. Carlos Bacca has also been named among his national team’s preliminary 35 players for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Carlos Bacca Height, Weight, Net Worth
He is 5 ft 11 in (1.81 m) tall and has a body weight of 77 kg (170 lb). Her body measurements are:
- Chest: 39 inches
- Size: 30 inches
- Biceps: 14 inches
Carlos Bacca Other Facts
-
- He hadn’t played in a professional league until he was 23.
- Carlos is known for his pace, strength, aggression and striking accuracy as a striker as well as his solid first touch.
- He’s not just a footballer, he’s also a ballet master as he is, he can finish well with his head as well as his feet and is very effective in the air.
- After his outstanding performance at Atletico Junior, he became the most wanted by many European clubs including Lokomotiv Moscow and Chievo.
- He was banned for two games in a game against Brazil in the 2015 Copa America after a rift with Barcelona player Neymar who simultaneously received a four-game ban for hitting Jeison Murillo.
- During the 2014-2015 season, Carlos Bacca finished ahead of big players like Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Luis Suarez in the La Liga rankings with a total of 20 goals and was only behind Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Antoine Griezmann.