Defender leads Corinthians in defensive stats in the 2026 season | OneFootball

Corinthians ended up losing to Santos FC, 1-0, on the afternoon of last Sunday (30), at Neo Química Arena, in a match valid for the 25th round of the 2026 Brazilian Championship. The defeat kept the team in 10th place with 32 points — eight wins, eight draws, and nine losses — with 26 goals scored and 25 conceded.

Despite the negative result, during the derby, center-back Gabriel Paulista reached the mark of 300 defensive actions. Against the team from Baixada Santista, he recorded seven defensive interventions and now has 305 defensive actions this season. The statistic was published by the Fiel Imprensa profile on X, formerly Twitter.

Photo: Rodrigo Coca / Corinthians Agency

Wearing the No. 3 shirt, among all Corinthians players this season, he trails only Gustavo Henrique, who has 318 defensive actions — and is also Timão’s second-highest scorer this year with six goals. As for Gabriel Paulista, the defender has been an undisputed starter since arriving in January. With his signing, André Ramalho, who had been a starter until then, began appearing on the bench.

Developed in the youth academies of Taboão da Serra and Vitória, Gabriel Paulista left the northeastern club in 2013 to build his career in European football. On the old continent, he played for Villarreal (Spain), Arsenal (England), Valencia (Spain), Atlético de Madrid (Spain), and Beşiktaş (Turkey) before arriving at Corinthians. After two seasons in Turkish football, he terminated his contract to return to Brazil.

Since joining Corinthians, he has scored two goals in 39 matches (37 as a starter), with 17 wins, 10 draws, and 12 losses — a 52.1% success rate. In addition, he was part of the squad that won this year’s Supercopa do Brasil against Flamengo at Mané Garrincha Stadium in Brasília, with a 2-0 victory. Gabriel Paulista, in fact, scored the goal that opened the scoring.

Suspended for accumulation of yellow cards, the center-back will miss Corinthians’ match this Sunday (6), at 7:30 p.m., at Neo Química Arena, against Chapecoense, for the 26th round of the Brasileirão. On the other hand, he will be back for the first leg of the Copa Libertadores quarterfinals against Estudiantes-ARG, away from home, next Wednesday (9).

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.