Former Arsenal defender, Gabriel Paulista, finally managed to find the net for Valencia on Friday night but ended the game being stretchered off.
Gabriel joined Valencia in 2017 for a fee of £9.9m after failing to settle in London. Now reportedly worth £19.8m, despite being 31-and-a-half, he opened the scoring against Atletico Madrid in what ended as a 2-2 draw in their La Liga match.
While at Arsenal, the powerful defender found the back of the net just once (with one assist) in 64 games. That was against Bournemouth in the league in 2016. So, we know he’s not exactly a prolific defender when it comes to scoring, having scored only one other professional goal in his career before Friday night.
He did find the net for Valencia against Barcelona but the referee disallowed the goal.
GABRIEL PAULISTA consiguió ayer marcar su primer gol con la camiseta del Valencia.
Ya había marcado contra el Barça pero el árbitro le robo el gol. pic.twitter.com/rpIoskGAG6
— Valencia CF (@ValenciaCF_GO) February 15, 2020
Finding the back of the net after 40 minutes to draw Valencia level following Llorente’s opener, Gabriel left the pitch on a stretcher in the 94th minute with what is believed to be a sprained ankle.
It is not yet clear how long he will be sidelined for but is expected to miss at least the next two games for Valencia.