Road to 1000 goals: Life of a Striker

[Sammuthegreat]

Still crazy. This kid is the mutt's nuts.

 

[kandersson]

[FONT=&quot]International debut

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]It took a while but finally Paulista made his debut for Brazil in a World Cup qualifier against Paraguay in october 2023.

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[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Of course he scored a brace in his international debut, a penalty (that he won) and a beautiful solo goal in a 3-0 win against a solid Paraguay side. And yeah, those are 137 goals so far this season

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[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Paulista missed two games for River to have his elusive international debut and actually got injured while playing for Brazil (bruised head, out 4-5 days), though in the end it felt the right thing to do for both the kid and the country. Paulista, 19 years old, 1 cap, 2 goals for Brazil![/FONT]​

 

[kandersson]

[FONT=&quot]Just completed another intense season for River and Paulista, and the artist formerly known as Rodrigo was absolutely on fire. New record of goals in a Copa Libertadores edition:

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[/FONT][FONT=&quot]24 goals (in 13 matches), smashing the old record of 17. Paulista led River to another successful campaign in the Copa, and eventually to a Club World Cup final against a star-studded Manchester United side. José Mourinho seemed to have a plan:

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[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Did it work then?

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[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Nope. Paulista scored a brace in a narrow 2-1 win (an early red card for our star midfielder Reyes didn't really help), leading River to another title with 5 goals in the tournament - obviously he was Best Player and Top Scorer of the competition.

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Up next: a more detailed look at Paulista's season (hint: those 160 goals mentioned in the last screenshot aren't a bug...)[/FONT]​

 

[kandersson]

[FONT=&quot]Paulista: Year 2023

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Paulista broke any kind of goal scoring record this year, as he once again led River to success in every competition they played: Campeonato Piauiense, Copa do Brasil, Recopa, Série A, Copa Libertadores and Club World Cup. Paulista won every kind of individual accolade as best player, best striker and top scorer (basically every possible award except those concerning Copa do Brasil as he missed a few games in this competition). The cold numbers:

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[/FONT][FONT=&quot]160 goals in 74 appearances for the club (72 as a starter), plus two goals in his debut match for Brazil. This has to be the most impressive individual season I've ever witnessed in my long CM/FM career. 68 goals in the weak state championship were once again a great platform, though 55 goals in Série A (new league record) and 32 in continental/intercontinental competitions are an incredible result considering the standard of opponents. Paulista was able to smash his previous record of 128 goals thanks to a series of factors:

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• A more favorable scheduling: 2022 was a World Cup year, so the league took a break in June/July which resulted in a nightmare of congested fixtures especially September-December. 2023 was non-stop action from early January to late December, which gave me the opportunity to micro-manage Paulista's personal schedule and playing time. Paulista eventually played 74 of a possible 82 matches for the club, plus one game for Brazil.
• Almost no injuries: Paulista managed to stay healthy most of the year, as he only suffered a few minor knocks that cost him just a couple of games.
• Development: 19 years old Paulista is now playing at close to his full potential according to my staff. He's faster, stronger, tougher than last year, simply put he's a better player.
• Teammates development: same goes for Paulista's teammates. The core of River first team made of potential wonderkids has also developed at excellent rate, so those hot prospects have now developed into bona fide young superstars. The group of playmakers and supporting strikers is particularly impressive, all these players are generally great, creative passers who have a great connection with Paulista and have also been trained to feed him relentlessly (most have PPM's like 'Try killer balls', 'Look for pass instead of shot' etc).
• Penalties: we had A LOT of them this year and of course Paulista was undisputed first choice taker. He converted at sub-par rate actually (19/28), which is weird as he seemed to do better when his Penalty Taking attribute was much lower (he has 13 now, started at 6 I think). Still 19 extra goals from the spot are always a bonus for a goalscorer.

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot]And finally, a screenshot of the glorious Paulista as of 25th December 2023. Merry Christmas!

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[/FONT][FONT=&quot]493 goals (491 with River, 2 with Brazil) at the age of 19!

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]This is most likely the end of this story unless next patch can fix a few game breaking bugs as I had already written previously. This last season was a bit like testing a Ferrari and push it to the limit, well I think the limit is 160! Feel free to request other stats or screenshots if you like![/FONT]​

 

[Sammuthegreat]

Absolutely insane. It's fair to say he'd have absolutely obliterated Pele's record by the end of his career, so as a proof of concept this story has already served its purpose. Awesome stuff man, I've enjoyed reading every update. Long live Paulista!

 

[kandersson]

Absolutely insane. It's fair to say he'd have absolutely obliterated Pele's record by the end of his career, so as a proof of concept this story has already served its purpose. Awesome stuff man, I've enjoyed reading every update. Long live Paulista!

Thanks mate, I appreciate your comments!