Carlos Arturo Bacca Ahumada is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Italian club Milan and the Colombia national team. Bacca began his career at Atlético Junior, where he was top scorer in the 2010 Categoría Primera A Apertura. In January 2012, he moved to Club Brugge, where he was the Belgian Pro League's top scorer in his only full season before joining Sevilla for €7 million. He won the UEFA Europa League in both of his first two seasons with the club, scoring twice in the 2015 final. In the summer of 2015, he joined Serie A side Milan for €30 million. An international for Colombia since 2012, Bacca represented the country at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the 2015 Copa América, and the Copa América Centenario, in which they finished third. He is renowned for his pace, aggression, eye for goal, and determination as a forward. Style of play
A quick, powerful, skilful, and determined striker, with good movement, concentration, and an eye for goal, Bacca is renowned for his pace, strength, aggression, and striking accuracy as a forward, as well as his solid first touch. A prolific goalscorer, he is known for his composure in front of goal, as well as his speed, technique, and dribbling skills, which allow him to beat opponents or create space for himself in the area; he is also known for his use of tricks and feints, such as the rabona, which has seen him score some spectacular goals. He is also effective in the air, and can finish well with his head as well as his feet. During his time under manager Unai Emery at Sevilla, Bacca modified his playing style, improving his mentality, work-rate, and the defensive aspect of his game; he was also often deployed in deeper areas of the pitch, which allowed him to drop into midfield to be more involved in the buildup of plays and linkup with his teammates. This new role also gave him more opportunities to find spaces from deeper positions, lose his markers, and make attacking runs into the area, which enabled to maintain his consistent goalscoring record, despite being played further back from goal. With Milan, however, Bacca has at times had a difficult relationship with his manager Vincenzo Montella playing in a more advanced and offensive role as a centre-forward, due to his low defensive and creative contribution, as well as his limited movement off the ball outside the box. Although Bacca has been praised in the media for his goalscoring record, ability to make attacking runs, and his ratio of goals per minutes played at the club, often requiring few touches and chances to score, he has also been criticised for the overall quality of some of his performances, in spite of his goalscoring and finishing ability. Frequent criticisms of Bacca include his tendency to mainly operate in the centre of the penalty area, not contribute to the build-up of attacking moves, and not attempt to create chances for himself; this, in turn, has led him to be isolated from his team's overall play when Milan struggle to create chances. Bacca's positional sense, goalscoring ability, opportunism in the area, and tendency to play off the last defender and receive offside calls, as well as his limited work-rate off the ball, have drawn comparisons with former Milan striker Filippo Inzaghi. |
