Paulo Gomes de Matos (born 25 January 1984) is a Brazilian former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Club career

On 19 June 2005, Matos debuted for

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

alongside future Brazil international

Hernanes Anderson Hernanes de Carvalho Viana Lima (born 29 May 1985), known as Hernanes (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a central or attacking midfielder. Hernanes began his career with São Paulo, where he won the Ca ...

, scoring in a 1–0 win against

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

. After his retirement, he would regard that moment as the best in his career.Herói do São Paulo em 2005, Paulo Matos virou assistente social e dono de loja
spfc.net On 26 November 2005, Matos played for Náutico in that year's Série B promotion play-off final against Grêmio; the match was dubbed the ''

Batalha dos Aflitos The Batalha dos Aflitos (English: ''Battle of the Afflicted'') is a name used by the Brazilian press to refer to a memorable Campeonato Brasileiro Série B play-off match played on Saturday, 26 November 2005 between Náutico and Grêmio. The na ...

'', and was played at the

Estádio dos Aflitos Estádio Eládio de Barros Carvalho, also known as Estádio dos Aflitos, is a football stadium located in Recife, Brazil. The stadium was built in 1939 and is able to hold 20,000 people. Estádio dos Aflitos is owned by Clube Náutico Capibaribe. ...

. During the match, Náutico received two penalties, and Grêmio had four players with red cards, yet Gremio won 1–0. After that game, Matos became depressed, barely slept or ate, did not speak to anybody for two weeks, and vowed to never to go near that stadium again.Momento de torcedor: ex-São Paulo, atacante recorda fase no time de 2005
globoesporte.globo.com

References

External links

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Paulo Matos
at playmakerstats.com (English version of ogol.com.br) 1984 births Living people Association football forwards Brazilian footballers Estrela do Norte Futebol Clube players Al Ansar FC players Associação Desportiva Confiança players Paraná Clube players Goianésia Esporte Clube players Lebanese Premier League players Brazilian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Lebanon Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Lebanon {{Brazil-footy-forward-1980s-stub