Childhood & Early Life
Paulo Bruno Exequiel Dybala was born on November 15, 1993, in Laguna Larga, Cordoba, Argentina. He was raised by his parents, Adolfo Dybala, and Alicia de Dybala. Paulo has two elder brothers, namely Gustavo Dybala and Mariano Dybala. While Gustavo is an entrepreneur, Mariano is a gymnast. His brothers live in Argentina.
Paulo was born into a middle class family. Interestingly, his father predicted that one of his sons will become a famous football player even before Paulo was born. Though his father never persuaded him to become a footballer, Paulo shaped his destiny exactly how his father had predicted.
His love for football was apparent from a very young age. He never missed an opportunity to play the game and his father supported him in every way possible.
Paulo has always been grateful to his father for believing in his dreams. When he started playing the game, his father would always accompany him to the field and would make sure his son practices without any hindrance.
Sadly, his father passed away in September 2008 and could not see his son’s amazing achievements in the world of football. Paulo was just 15 years old at the time of his father’s death.
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Early Career
Paulo started making news at the age of 14 with his football skills. People were in awe of his technique and were impressed with the way he controlled the ball. Those who watched him play, quickly realized that he had a natural flair for the sport.
In 2011, he joined the club ‘Instituto de Cordoba’ and made his professional debut in the ‘Primera B Nacional.’ He scored 17 goals throughout the league, becoming the youngest player to beat the record set by Mario Kempes.
He was also the first player to score two hat-tricks in a season. He played 38 consecutive matches in the professional league and became the first player in the league to score in six consecutive games.
On July 20, 2012, he was officially signed by the Italian football club ‘Palermo.’ On November 11, 2012, he scored his first goal for the club and followed it up with his second goal in the same match. His goals contributed to his team’s 2-0 win against ‘U.C. Sampdoria.’
He scored ten goals in the first half of the 2014-15 ‘Serie A’ season. His partnership with fellow footballer Franco Vazquez earned him a lot of attention from other football clubs. By the end of the season, he had scored 13 goals, becoming the top player of the league.
Paulo spent three seasons with ‘Palermo,’ during which he made 89 appearances and scored 21 goals for the Italian football club.
Career
On June 4, 2015, he signed a five-year contract with the famous Italian club ‘Juventus F.C.’ He was reportedly signed for €40 million. Since he had replaced Andrea Pirlo, who left the club that summer, Paulo was assigned number 21 shirt, previously worn by Pirlo.
On August 8, 2015, he made his debut for the club against ‘Lazio’ at the 2015 ‘Supercoppa Italiana.’ He scored a goal and contributed to his team’s 2-0 win.
He scored six goals and helped in two assists during his first 16 appearances of the season. His biggest achievement while playing for ‘Juventus’ came in December 16, 2015, when he scored his first goal at ‘The Coppa Italia.’ He also scored a goal in the ‘UEFA Champions League’ against ‘Bayern Munich.’
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On April 21, 2015, he scored two goals in his team’s 3-0 win over ‘Lazio’ and took his goal tally to 20. He became the top scorer of his club with 23 goals across several tournaments. He also scored 19 goals in ‘Serie A,’ helping his team to a ‘Serie A’ title victory.
When Paul Pogba left ‘Juventus’ to join ‘Manchester United’ in the summer of 2016, Paulo was offered the number 10 jersey, but Paulo turned down the offer, preferring to keep the number 21.
He scored his first goal of the season in September against ‘Dinamo Zagreb’ in the ‘Champions League.’ His goal helped his team secure a 4-0 win against the Croatian football club.
His first ‘Serie A’ goal came in October in his team’s 3-0 win over ‘Empoli.’ His other notable goal came in the first leg of ‘Champions League’ when ‘Juventus’ secured a 3-0 victory over ‘Barcelona’ in their quarter-final fixture.
In the 2017 ‘Champions League’ final, ‘Juventus’ was defeated by the defending champion ‘Real Madrid.’ In August, 2017, he changed his shirt number to 10.
In August 2017, his team suffered a loss against ‘Lazio’ at the 2017 ‘Supercoppa Italiana.’ Despite scoring two goals in the match, he couldn’t save his team from a 2-3 defeat. In the same month, he scored a hat-trick in ‘Serie A’ in a win against ‘Genoa.’
He made his 100th appearance for ‘Juventus’ on September 17, 2017, and scored his second hat-trick, contributing to his team’s 3-1 victory against ‘Sassuolo.’
He also scored his 100th career goal against ‘Udinese’ in ‘Serie A.’ ‘Juventus’ won this match by 2-0.
During the ‘XVI Pan American Games,’ he was asked to be a part of Argentina’s under-17 team, but he did not participate. On October 13, 2015, he made his international debut in a ‘FIFA World Cup’ qualifying match against Paraguay.
