Brazil’s WC exit in Qatar has hit Richarlison hard. The Tottenham Hotspur striker still cannot properly look at the images of the quarter-final loss against Croatia after penalties and even compares the feeling to losing a loved one.
Brazil dreamed of winning the sixth world title but was already stranded in the last eight. Neymar saw his probably last chance for World Cup success go up in smoke, but the defeat also hit his teammates hard. “It was a blow, I don’t know how to describe it. I think it was worse than losing a family member,” Richarlison expressed his disappointment to ESPN in a remarkable way.
Richarlison still gets sad when he sees images of the game against Croatia, which equalized just before the end of extra time and then was too strong in the penalty shootout. He mentioned, “Brazil’s WC exit was difficult to get back together, but we have to keep going. I am young and still have one or two World Cups to go. Our goal was to become champions. I scored a nice goal, but we went there to take the cup.”
The derby chaos
In the meantime, Richarlison has had to turn the switch again. Club football has continued at full speed. Last Sunday, the Brazilian came on as a substitute in the derby between Tottenham and Arsenal (0-2), in which Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale was attacked by a Spurs fan afterwards . Shortly before, Richarlison had already sought confrontation because Ramsdale provoked Tottenham fans by kissing the Arsenal logo.
“I didn’t like that their goalkeeper celebrated the victory in front of our fans. That’s pretty disrespectful to our fans,” Richarlison said. “He has his own fans, he needs to celebrate with them and not be nice to our fans. You have to show respect for other teams. He showed a lack of respect at that moment and that’s why I confronted him.”
Richarlison also clashed with compatriot Gabriel Martinelli during the North London derby. “I want to apologize to him. He held out his hand and I didn’t. Like it or not, he’s still my teammate at Brazil. It’s part of a derby that tempers rise,” a post on Instagram shows that the two Brazilians have now made up with each other.
