For many Spurs fans, the sight of Paulinho winning a Spanish Double in his first season at Barcelona is a source of utter bewilderment.This, after all, was a player labelled at flop when he was at White Hart Lane. How times have changed.Now a regular in the Barcelona side, he’s also a key member of a Brazil side that are many commentators’ tip for the title this summer…
Paulinho first moved to Europe in 2006 when he signed for Lithuanian side FC Vilnius.The following season he moved to Poland, joining Lodz, but both clubs left him considering his future in the game. At Vilnius he was subjected to racial abuse while at Lodz they failed to pay his wages, experiences that eventually saw him return to Brazil. It was only his wife that prevented him from quitting football when she pointed out that he couldn’t do anything other than play football.
Paulinho came on as a substitute at half-time of that momentous match in Belo Horizonte with Brazil already 5-0 down.He rarely speaks about that game today – because he doesn’t see the point.“If you lose 7-1 what can you say?,” he told the press. “It is something that can’t happen. But it happened.”
He never really cut it at Tottenham…Paulnho arrived at White Hart Lane in the summer splurge of 2013 when then manager Andre Villas-Boas took the money from the sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid and attempted to buy every professional footballer in Europe. He joined the North Londoners along with Etienen Capoue, Roberto Soldado, Vlad Chiriches, Christian Eriksen, Erik Lamela and Nacer Chadli and his transfer fee of £17 million was, for a brief time, a club record.He started 28 games in his first season at Spurs but then Villas-Boas gave way to Tim Sherwood who, in turn, was replaced by Mauricio Pochettino.He started just three matches in his second and final season.
When he left Spurs for the relative comfort of the Chinese Super League and Guangzhou Evergrande, there was a feeling that Paulinho’s career was all but over.But he made it work, winning an impressive six trophies in his two seasons in China, including the Asian Champions League.
He made history in the qualifiers…During the qualifiers for the World Cup, Paulinho managed to score his first ever hat-trick in professional football when he helped Brazil come from a goal down to beat Uruguay 4-1 in Montevideo.It was the first time any side had won in Uruguay in the campaign. “I’d never dreamt of a hat-trick that would help the national squad to win a very important three points,” he said later.
He found out about Barcelona’s interest from a unique source…When Brazil played Argentina in a friendly in Australia in June 2017, Paulinho was teeing the ball up for a free-kick when he was approached by Lionel Messi.“Are you coming to Barcelona?” asked the Argentinian.Paulinho was flabberghasted. “If you’re taking me,” he replied. “I’m going.”He finally joined the Catalan giants in August last year for a fee of £36million. Paulinho is in the form of his life. He’s nailed down a starting berth in the Barca and Brazil sides and, as we mentioned, has capped his first season at the Camp Nou with a league and cup double.And even he can’t believe it.“If someone had said that I would be preparing to play in the World Cup and at Barcelona, I would have said: Never!’ Never, ever.”
Paulinho made his debut for the Seleção on 14 September 2011 in the first leg of the 2011 Superclásico de las Américas against rivals Argentina in Córdoba, with the game ending in a goalless draw. His first goal for his international side came against Argentina a year later on 20 September 2012, when he netted Brazil’s equalizing goal in an eventual 2–1 in the first leg of the 2012 Superclásico de las Américas. Paulinho started in the squad for the 5–0 friendly against South Africa on 5 March 2014. He was included in Scolari’s 2014 World Cup squad as well.
Paulinho was selected by Luiz Felipe Scolari for the 23-man Brazil squad for the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup held in his home country. In Brazil’s final warm-up match for the competition against England at the Maracanã on 2 June 2013, Paulinho volleyed home Lucas Moura’s cross to level the game late on at 2–2; the sides would finish level on this same scoreline. In the opening group match on 15 June against Japan, Paulinho scored Brazil’s second goal in a 3–0 victory.In the semi-final round against Uruguay on 26 June, Paulinho netted in the 86th minute to give Brazil a 2–1 win and book the host country a spot in the final. In the final, Brazil outclassed Spain, beating the World and two-time defending European champions by a score of 3–0. For his efforts throughout the tournament, Paulinho received the Bronze Ball as the competition’s third best player.
In the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup Paulinho scored his first ever career hat-trick in a match away against Uruguay. Brazil had initially gone behind but came back for their first time anyone had won in Uruguay since the qualifying round had started. In May 2018 he was named in Tite’s final 23 man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Paulinho opened the score sheet in the first half, and Thiago Silva scored in the second to set up a date with Mexico in the round of 16. Serbia had to draw to have a chance to move on, while a win would have secured a spot in the round of 16.Brazil won Group E at the World Cup after defeating Serbia 2-0 on Wednesday in their final group stage matchThe goal from Paulinho came 36 minutes in as the Barcelona midfielder lofted the ball over the goalkeeper with class.