Paulinho's goal against Ecuador helped him to move into the list of 10 top scorers in South American World Cup qualifying. Not only has he now scored more than Messi, but no other Argetinian can compete with Paulinho's tally, with Messi's four goals the most mustered by any Argentina player in the 15 qualifying games so far.
His fifth goal in qualifying moved Paulinho ahead of Josef Martinez, Gabriel Jesus, James ORodriguez and Paolo Guerrero in the rankings, with only Edinson Cavani (9), Felipe Caicedo (7), Alexis Sanchez, Arturo Vidal and Neymar (all 6) boasting superior tallies.
His goalscoring streak has been so impressive that only Brazil, Uruguay and Chile have players with more goals than him. The 29-year-old has matched the tallies logged by Peru (Guerrero), Venezuela (Josef Martinez) and Colombia's (James Rodriguez) top scorers and has rgistered more goals than the players with Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia's best tallies.