[2] During the 2010 and 2011 seasons, he also featured as an unused substitute with the first team on four occasions, including one game of the 2011 Campeonato Mineiro,[3] which Cruzeiro eventually won.

[4] At the beginning of the 2012–13 season, Gabriel was signed by AC Milan to serve as backup for Christian Abbiati and Marco Amelia.

[8] Serving as the first-choice goalkeeper, he played 39 league games out of 42, all as a starter, and contributed to the club's successful season, in which they finished at the top of the table and won their first-ever promotion to Serie A.

After returning to Milan for the 2017–18 season, Gabriel once again failed to make any competitive appearance, having fallen back to fourth choice behind the Donnarumma brothers and Marco Storari.

[18] Gabriel was called up by Brazil under-23 to take part in the 2012 Olympic Football tournament as a replacement for the injured Rafael Cabral two days before the start of the competition.

[19][20] After remaining on the bench for the first two games, Gabriel made his debut in the tournament in the third and last match of the group stage against New Zealand,[21] which Brazil won 3–0.