Not many have heard about Eintracht Frankfurt striker Goncalo Paciencia, but Bundesliga is not all about Jadon Sancho and Kai Havertz.
This season, the 25-year-old Portuguese have been enjoying his best form in his career.
He scored 10 goals in all competition, 7 in Bundesliga and 3 in Europa League. That is more goals than experienced Eintracht striker Andre Silva and Bast Dost.
There’s a sense of a newfound believe for Paciencia, after he was forced to leave Porto two years ago, a club he joined since he was 8 years old.
“It’s my passion since I remember myself like five, six years old it was the thing why I would wake up.
“In the morning, I would wake up and I went to the school, but my first meaning was the half-time between the lunch and midday to play football with my friends in the free time.”
As much as playing well during the match, Paciencia believes it’s equally important to have a good atmosphere in a dressing room.
“I have this kind of way to look at life: Always making fun, always positive, always professional but always making jokes. So in the team we have a fantastic atmosphere also because we have a lot of jokers, a lot of people that create a good atmosphere.”
Three months after Paciencia joined Eintracht two years ago, he unfortunately suffered a knee injury which sidelined him for a few months.
It’s a tough road to recovery for Paciencia but when he returned to the team, he makes up for the lost time gloriously.
Paciencia form reach its peak as he scored when Eintracht beat Bayern Munich 5-1 at home.
“When you come out of the dressing rooms and you see these Eintracht supporters on your front and the ultras in the full stadium, this is like our vitamin. It’s our 12th player.
That’s fantastic. I think when you are born and you want to play football, you want to play football for these moments, to play in full stadiums and 100% it’s that at Eintracht.”