Barca fans owe Paulinho an apology

(Baonghean.vn) - The Brazilian midfielder is gradually proving his ability at Camp Nou after excellent performances. The Cules no longer doubt the effectiveness of the contract worth 40 million euros.

Dark days

As soon as information appeared related to Barcelona approaching midfielder Paulinho of Guangzhou Evergrande Club (China), Cules expressed their disappointment and anger at the actions of the team's leadership.

They do not accept a player playing in a low-quality league (Chinese Super League) wearing the Barcelona shirt. They think that recruiting Paulinho is nothing more than an insult to the reputation of the Catalan team when looking at the reputation of the club he is playing for and forgetting that Paulinho is one of the important factors helping the Brazilian team fly high under coach Tite, no less than Neymar or Coutinho.

Finally, what Barcelona fans did not expect happened. The Camp Nou team's management agreed to spend 40 million euros to get Paulinho's signature.

At this point, the Cules could not bear it any longer, especially when information was revealed: Bartomeu bought Paulinho as a move to help his company win the bid for a huge project in China. A wave of protests against Bartomeu took place loudly on the internet and outside the Camp Nou stadium.

As planned, on August 18, a few hours after Barcelona's 0-2 defeat to Real Madrid in the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup, Paulinho's debut at his new team took place amid the indifference of the media and the coldness of the Cules.

Only a few people attended the 100,000-seat Camp Nou stadium. This scene was in complete contrast to the presentation ceremony of Neymar (Paulinho's compatriot) in 2013, when nearly 60,000 Barcelona fans eagerly came to the stadium to welcome him.

Camp Nou stadium was deserted on the day Paulinho was officially introduced. Photo: Internet

Therefore, the fact that Paulinho did not appear for a single minute in the match Barcelona - Betis (2 - 0) did not bother anyone. In the few minutes he appeared in the 3 matches: Alaves - Barcelona (0 - 2), Barcelona - Espanyol (5 - 0) and Barcelona - Juventus (3 - 0), Paulinho did not leave any special impression.

The Brazilian player became redundant the moment he appeared at Camp Nou. Everything in front of Paulinho was just a gray color.

"Carp turns into dragon"

Things suddenly changed in an unexpected direction. The turning point was the match between Barcelona and Getafe at the Coliseum in round 4 of La Liga.

Entering the field in the 77th minute (replacing Rakitic) when Barcelona was being held to a stalemate by the home team Getafe, it only took Paulinho 7 minutes to score with a neat control, a neat dribble and an accurate diagonal shot, bringing home 3 valuable points for coach Valverde and his team.

As a reward for that "golden" goal, Paulinho was named by coach Valverde in the starting lineup to welcome opponent Eibar. Not disappointing coach Valverde's trust, the former Tottenham midfielder had an extremely impressive performance with 1 goal and 1 assist for Messi to score.

The high jump header that scored against Eibar in the 38th minute made the fans at Camp Nou extremely excited, because goals from aerial duels have become a luxury at Barcelona after Puyol retired.

Paulinho (middle) celebrates his goal against Getafe. Photo: Internet

Besides his formidable goal-scoring ability, the player born in 1988 also left a strong impression in the role of a central midfielder.

Possessing a strong physical foundation, a fiery playing style and the technical qualities of a player from Brazil, Paulinho helps Barcelona's midfield have more steel in one-on-one battles as well as counter-attacks from the opposing team. His range of activities is quite wide, especially when penetrating the penalty area, which brings surprise to the opponent.

With Paulinho on the pitch, Busquets has another man to share the defensive burden, Rakitic has another man to share the creative fire, and Messi has another supporter on the front line...

In the situation where Iniesta is old and cannot play at high intensity and high frequency, Rakitic has declined, and backup option Gomes has not improved his performance, Paulinho is no different from a gift from God to coach Valverde.

Statistics show that: After 122 minutes on the field for Barcelona, ​​Paulinho has scored 2 goals and contributed 1 assist. Putting these numbers next to the achievement of 3 goals after 1603 minutes of midfielder with a transfer value of 35 million euros (plus 15 million euros in additional fees) - Andre Gomes, it is enough to see the value that Paulinho is bringing to Barcelona.

The Cules owe the Brazilian player an apology./.

Thanh Hung