Paulinho: The ‘all-terrain’ midfielder leading Guangzhou’s bid for ACL success

He stands 90 minutes away from completing an unusual set. The Copa Libertadores medal was achieved three years ago. The Club World Cup gold followed the same December. Then came a triumph in the Confederations Cup and the expensive transfer across the Atlantic Ocean.

On Saturday, Paulinho can add to that set of honours an Asian Champions League.

What is missing? Given the status the midfielder once enjoyed, there are two major gaps in what is still a considerable range of elite prizes – he has domestic titles, too, from Brazil and China – and gaps that would slightly puzzle several of the leading coaches who have admired the Brazilian midfielder over the course of a career whose latest stop-off is Guangzhou Evergrande.

For a player who has been employed at three different European clubs, in three different countries, the absence of a medal from that continent looks conspicuous.

Eighteen months ago, the idea that Paulinho would be employed in the Far East would have seemed quirky. But he has been a key ally for Guangzhou manager Luiz Felipao Scolari in his short spell in China so far.

The relationship between the two goes back. Paulinho emerged as a trusted, senior, versatile international during Scolari’s second stint in charge of the Brazil national team in the build up to the 2014 World Cup.

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He rose with Scolari; and he also fell with him. The high points? The goal against Uruguay Paulinho scored in the close semi-final of the 2013 Confederations Cup, pushing Brazil into the final where they defeated Spain comfortably.

The lows? The World Cup the following year. Paulinho came under harsh criticism in the group phase of the tournament, deemed emblematic of a lack of dynamism in Brazil’s football. His last match for his country would be the third place play-off against the Netherlands, a defeat. He had lasted 45, poor, overrun minutes of the notorious 7-1 defeat in the semi-final in Belo Horizonte against Germany.

Paulinho is only 27, and should be at his peak, even after a long, varied senior career putting in the kilometres as a midfielder who at his best fits the description of “all-terrain”.

He has the physique and athleticism to impose himself as a marker and ball-winner, and passer from deep positions; he has the knack of goals, too, when his confidence is high, and of timing his runs into menacing areas.

Scolari, going into the second leg of a final that remained stubbornly goalless for its first 90 minutes in theUAE, will be inclined to remind Paulinho of his habit of match-shaping strikes on big occasions.

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On his debut for Corinthians, for instance; in a knockout tie against Vasco de Gama on the way to the Copa Libertadores triumph; the strike against Uruguay; the one in a South American “superclasico” against Argentina.

Scolari also has faith in Paulinho’s determination to uplift himself, even after setback. He did so as a teenager, when an expedition to Europe to explore opportunity left him lonely and hearing regular racist abuse while playing in low-key Lithuania.

A gig in Poland was no more fulfilling. He had to return home to Brazil, and work his way up from the fourth tier to show his true potential. He did, becoming a driving force, and a popular figure at Corinthians.

The next episode of his club career would be, well, enigmatic. Tottenham Hotspur invested around €20 million (Dh78.5m) in him in 2013, and he had his moments, enough of them for his World Cup starting XI place to be maintained, but the work-rate, and the goalscoring instincts were glimpsed too rarely.

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“People don’t realise how hard it is for South Americans to adapt to the Premier League,” he told compatriot reporters.

Changes of manager at Spurs did not help, and one of the three he worked with, Tim Sherwood, singled him out for a perceived lack of application. Scolari, who he rejoined in China in August, would struggle to recognise that in his midfielder.

Paulinho hopes, by the end of Saturday’s final, the skills that once had him recognised as one of the very best midfield players of a country that produces more good ones than anywhere else will have been acknowledged across Asia, at least.

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