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English media reacts to Lucas Paqueta as West Ham United ace stars in Brazil win v South Korea
West Ham United maestro Lucas Paqueta played a major role in Brazil’s World Cup win over South Korea on 5 December, scoring his team’s fourth and final goal of the evening.
The game catapulted Paqueta and Brazil into the Quarter Finals of the tournament, where they will face a stubborn Croatia on 9 December.
Paqueta was a stand-out performer in a game full of Brazilian flair, magic and dance moves, but what did the English media make of the maestro’s outing?
The Evening Standard gave Paqueta a match rating of 9/10, describing the Brazilian’s performance as “excellent”.
Twitter football analyst Statman Dave highlighted the midfielder’s impressive game by numbers, claiming that the Hammers main man is “performing on the big stage”.
The Independent handed Paqueta a solid match rating of 8/10, admitting he was “generally impressive throughout”.
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The Times hailed Paqueta and Brazil’s “stylish” Pele-inspired performance against South Korea.
90min also gave Paqueta a match rating of 9/10, beautifully summing up his finish, “waltzing his way through to goal and caressing in Brazil’s fourth”.
Inspired.
Paqueta absolutely rinsing it for Brazil on the grandest stage of them all is some sight and shows the huge pulling power of West Ham United and the Premier League right now.
The maestro looks completely at ease surrounded by superstars like Neymar and didn’t put a foot wrong throughout the game against South Korea.
His performance highlighted all the great aspects of his game, the magic he can produce and the tireless work rate he puts in for his teammates.
Seeing the Brazilian performing like this though begs the question, is David Moyes utilising Paqueta to the best of his abilities at West Ham United? The answer is probably not.
Unfortunately, until a manager comes into the London Stadium who will give Paqueta more free reign over this Hammers team, we won’t see the best of him.
There have been glimpses here and there, but nothing to the standard he showed on 5 December for Brazil, this kind of outing desperately needs to be harnessed for the Hammers sooner, rather than later.