By Richard Parks
Tottenham fans have taken to Twitter to react humorously to Paulinho’s performance in Barcelona’s 1-1 Champions League draw against Chelsea on Tuesday night.
The Brazilian was selected in the starting XI for the Catalan giants in the first leg of the last-16 clash at Stamford Bridge and played 63 minutes before he was replaced by Aleix Vidal.
Paulinho has been scoring regularly for Barcelona since his shock arrival from Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande last summer but he struggled to make an impact on his return to London.
For many Tottenham fans on social media, that was a familiar sight as they do not look back especially fondly on the two years that the 29-year-old spent at their club from 2013 to 2015.
They posted some cheeky and witty messages as they delivered their verdicts on Paulinho’s performance against their bitter rivals.
Here is a selection of their messages on Twitter:
After watching Chelsea Barcelona and reminded of how awful Paulinho is, do Barca want to cut out the Chinese middle man and just take Mousa Sissoko from us in the summer #COYS
— Stephen White (@Steveo28288) February 21, 2018
The elephant in the room…..
I’m watching Paulinho playing for Barca….. still can’t believe it#COYS #THFC
— In POCH we trust (@BenHotspur) February 20, 2018
I still can’t quite believe that Messi and Paulinho are playing for the same team ???? #THFC #COYS
— Andy K (@AndyTHFC14) February 20, 2018
Imagine Paulinho scored the winner v Chelsea… just imagine… #COYS
— EL FLOREZ (@EL_FLOREZ_) February 20, 2018
I still dont believe how on earth paulinho is playing for Barcelona??? gives any decent player in the premier league hope I guess ????????????#coys #thfc
— Paul Naudo (@NaudoPaul) February 20, 2018
When Paulinho scores against Chelsea tonight #THFC #COYS #CHEBAR pic.twitter.com/VOSFTilW7t
— simfy (@simfyspurs) February 20, 2018
The Spurs Paulinho has been found!
— THFC1976 (@THFCsince76) February 20, 2018
Paulinho was signed from Corinthians in the summer of 2013 for around £18million and was a regular under Andre Villas-Boas before slipping down the pecking order, first under Tim Sherwood and then Mauricio Pochettino.
The midfielder scored 10 goals in 67 appearances for Tottenham during his two seasons at the club.
In other Tottenham news, it can be exclusively revealed by Football Insider that a flying forward has agreed the terms of an out-of-window contract with the club.
Don’t miss out on breaking and exclusive Tottenham news by clicking here for our brilliant 24/7 updates on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.