Gonçalo Paciência


Gonçalo Mendes Paciência is a Portuguese footballer who plays for German club Eintracht Frankfurt as a centre forward.

Club career

Porto

Born in Porto, Paciência joined FC Porto's youth system at the age of only 8. He made his senior debut on 12 January 2014, starting for the B-team in a 2–0 home win against Portimonense S.C. for the second division championship. He scored his first goals in the competition on 22 March, helping to a 2–2 away draw against C.D. Feirense.
Paciência first appeared in competitive games with the main squad on 21 January 2015, again acting as starter in a 1–1 draw at S.C. Braga for the Portuguese League Cup. He netted his first goal in the same competition, in a 4–1 home victory over Académica de Coimbra that took place the following week.
On 29 July 2015, Paciência joined Académica in a season-long loan. On 31 August 2016, still owned by Porto, he moved to Olympiakos FC. His spell at the latter club, which was undermined by heart problems, was concluded in December.
Paciência continued to be loaned in the following seasons, to Rio Ave F.C. and Vitória de Setúbal. On 25 August 2017, while at the service of the latter club, he scored an own goal in an eventual 1–1 away draw against C.F. Os Belenenses, coached by his father; on 27 January 2018, he netted early into the final of the League Cup and also converted his penalty shootout attempt, in a loss to Sporting CP after a 1–1 draw in regulation time.

Eintracht Frankfurt

On 12 July 2018, deemed surplus to requirements as practically all Portuguese players by manager Sérgio Conceição, Paciência signed a four-year contract with German club Eintracht Frankfurt. He made his debut on 18 August in the first round of the DFB-Pokal, in which he came on as a late substitute and scored a consolation in a 1–2 loss for the holders at Regionalliga team SSV Ulm 1846. In September, he suffered a knee injury in training which sidelined him for several months.

International career

Paciência earned 51 caps for Portugal at youth level. His first for the under-21 team arrived on 5 March 2014 at the age of 19, when he started and missed a second-half penalty in a 2–0 home win against Macedonia for the 2015 UEFA European Championship qualifiers. Selected for the finals in the Czech Republic, he collected three substitute appearances for the runners-up, scoring in the 1–1 group stage draw to Sweden and converting his shootout attempt in the final against the same opponent.
Paciência was part of the squad at the 2016 Summer Olympics, netting three times in the group phase in an eventual quarter-final exit. He first appeared with the full side on 14 November 2017, coming on as a 46th-minute substitute for Gelson Martins in a 1–1 friendly draw to the United States. In his second match, exactly two years later, he played the entire 6–0 rout of Lithuania in the Algarve for the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying stage, scoring the fourth goal.

Personal life

Paciência's father, Domingos, was also a footballer and a forward. He too was groomed at Porto.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
114 November 2019Estádio Algarve, São João da Venda, Portugal4–06–0UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying

Honours

Club

Olympiacos
Porto