Sebastien Haller’s loss will bring Goncalo Paciencia and his Porto past to the fore in the match of harmony against Benfica. The Portuguese centre striker’s hope for the first leg was against his rivals, who had already suffered from his father’s illness.
At Eintracht Frankfurt, the group of female followers who are enthusiastic about Goncalo Mendes Paciencia is expected to grow even faster than the number of members. Big, strong stature, brown complexion, full hair and an always friendly smile – such a Beau is predestined to make women’s hearts beat faster. And someone who’d rather stay at home than move around the houses. “I’m a man for the sofa. I’m usually at home watching movies or reading books,” the 24-year-old once revealed. Sounds down-to-earth.
Many in Frankfurt already call him the king of the air. The 83-kilo, 1.84-meter tall center forward seems weightless for a short time when he attaches his headballs with pinpoint accuracy. He has now scored five cross-competition goals for die Hessen – the first shortly after his substitution in the DFB Cup at the Pokalblamage at SSV Ulm (1:2) – and all according to the same knitting pattern. Flank, header, goal. In the recent defeats of the truncated Adler against FC Augsburg (1:3) and Benfica Lisbon (2:4) he scored one goal each in this way.
His head kick in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-finals after 72 minutes to the final kept hopes of progress alive. In the second leg against the Portuguese record champion (21 Uhr bei DAZN und in LIVE-TICKER), a strong Paciencia is needed, because the long seeded centre attacker Sebastien Haller suffers from a persistent abdominal strain. The Portuguese gladly accepts the role as bearer of hope against his compatriots.
“I will show that I can still do it with my foot. Of course he prefers to do it on Thursday,” he said Monday in a press conference. “It will be a great challenge for both teams. But we’ve got a big chance: two goals to catch up.”
Last week there were strong whistles against him in the Estadio da Luz. He has no antipathy for Benfica, which is a “great team with great history” hätten, Paciencia explains. But their supporters knew that he and his father Domingos Paciencia had stormed Porto FC. He himself started with Benfica’s archrivals at the age of eight. His father won seven championships with Porto, scored more than 100 goals and achieved legendary status. Curious: His brother Vasco has just changed from Porto to Benfica in the U23. “For my father and me, that was a strange feeling at first,” Paciencia admits.
So he was born with a certain talent, even if his famous dad didn’t give him that much: “My father and I don’t have much in common in football. It’s a little smaller and also slimmer. I, on the other hand, am technically stronger and more robust due to my size.”
The Filius played 57 junior internationals, hatte but only one mission for the A-Team – on 14 November 2017 against the USA. Paciencia was a rare regular at FC Porto. There he was denied a breakthrough, even though the club specializes in the training of talents.
“During my time in Porto, as a young player, I saw little perspective. That’s why I was looking for new challenges in Portugal to collect minutes of play. Thus altogether four borrowing business came off ?, explained it in Klubmagazin Eintracht of Main . Three times within his homeland at Academica Coimbra, Rio Ave FC and Vitoria Setubal and one at Olympiakos Piraeus. Looking back, he considers the Greece station in particular to be an important experience: “At the age of 19, it was a bit difficult for me to live alone at first, but it was still a valuable time.
When the offer was presented to his consultant from Frankfurt last summer, he did not think long about it: “It was simply time to leave postage”. So the move to Germany should finally help him achieve his breakthrough. Eintracht is convinced of the three-million-euro purchase, which signed a four-year contract. Nevertheless, the versatile attacker, who was also technically strong, was long regarded as the number four striker because the newcomer had been out of action for months after a meniscus rupture. During his absence, the so-called buffalo herd with Ante Rebic, Luka Jovic and Haller chased one record after another.
“Paciencia is – like the other strikers – a goalgetter. He is always in a position to score goals”, lobt Adi Hütter in an exclusive conversation with Goal und DAZN. Paciencia’s “momentum” and his “incredible header strength”, which make him particularly outstanding in comparison with the other SGE attackers, also speak in favour of Paciencia. “I am very satisfied with its development and quality. That’s why I’m sure he can help us against Benfica,” the coach said.
In the second half of the season, Hütter used the Monday match at Fortuna Düsseldorf (3-0) to put Paciencia in the starting eleven for the first time, where he scored his second Bundesliga goal. The goal premiere of Frankfurt number 39 should have been an unforgettable goose bump moment before, when the Joker against 1899 Hoffenheim (3:2) after 95 minutes and 33 seconds headed the ball into the net. No SGE player had ever struck since the data collection in 2004. The arena in the city forest turned into a madhouse at that time. The same would happen again if Paciencia were to shoot the Eintracht ins Europa League semi-final. No matter whether with head or foot.
