In the second half, with the score at 1-1, Barbosa, expecting Uruguay's Alcides Gigghia to cross, was caught off guard when the Uruguayan shot and scored.
Brazil's defeat to their South American rivals was regarded as a national disaster.
Barbosa was made the scapegoat for the defeat and subsequently he was never allowed to forget his error.
In 1993 Barbosa tried to visit the training camp where Brazil were preparing for the 1994 World Cup.
But the superstitious coach Mario Zagallo would not allow Barbosa to meet him in case he brought the team bad luck.
Shortly before his death at the age of 79, Barbosa said that under Brazilian law the maximum prison sentence was 30 years, but that his imprisonment had been for 50 years.
Barbosa's misery explains why Marcos was keen to console Kahn after the game.
Gilmar is widely regarded as the greatest Brazilian goalkeeper and the Soviet Union's Lev Yashin of the Soviet Union considered him the best goalkeeper in the world in the late 50s and early 60s.
Gilmar was part of the he Brazilian World Cup-winning sides of 1958 and 1962.
His best tournament came in Sweden in 1958 when he conceded just four goals in six games.
Yet even Brazil's goalkeeping heroes do not have it easy.
Claudio Taffarel was the hero when Brazil beat Italy on penalties to win the 1994 World Cup.
But immediately after that he spent six months without a club.
His Italain club Parma had more foreigners than they were allowed to field, while Reggiana, where he spent the 1993-94 season on loan, no longer wanted him.
Taffarel kept fit by playing as a centre-forward for a church team in Italy before Atletico Mineiro came along to allow him to return to goalkeeping duties.
Still relatively young for a goalkeeper, Marcos will now look to emulate Gilmar's achievement of winning two World Cup titles.