Tottenham Hotspur‘s summer recruit, Richarlison, faced racism while playing for his country, Brazil, in the International friendly match against Tunisia.
The Selecao players easily defeated the weaker side, 10-men Tunisia with a 5-1 scoreline.
Raphinha scored twice in the game and Richarlison, Neymar and Pedro also joined him on the scoresheet.
But the on-field experience was not easy for the Samba players, as they faced a lot of racism and Richarlison was one of their primary targets.
Tottenham Hotspur’s Richarlison After Facing Racism
During the match, Richarlison scored the second goal in the 19th minute of the game. While he was celebrating, the Tunisia supporting fans were throwing bananas at him. This is a clear act of racism, and many big stars have criticised this activity with a demand for more strict rules and punishments.
The 25-year-old was not aware of what happened at the match, but he later stated his thought. During the post-match talks with Sky Sports, the Tottenham Hotspur forward said: “I think that god did not allow me to see that because I don’t know what I could have done in the heat of the moment. May this fan be identified and punished.”
He also talked about how his fellow countryman Vinicius Jr. was racially abused in Spain. Richarlison also posted on his Twitter and criticised higher authorities for not properly punishing them.
Support From Ferdinand and Kane
After this incident, Rio Ferdinand also supported Richarlison and heavily criticised football authorities. He told in his FIVE YouTube channel: “Football can play a good part in highlighting issues and standing together, standing strong and standing unified to make the authorities and powers that be put things in place to protect people, but it ain’t happening. It’s disheartening.”
He also talked about the incident of Vinicius Jr. Richarlison also thanked the Manchester United legend on his Twitter post, as he wrote: “Thanks for your support, Rio!” He also agreed with Ferdinand’s opinion.
Tottenham Hotspur also showed support for their player on Twitter and expressed their “disgusted” feeling about this incident. Spurs’ England superstar, Harry Kane, also spoke about it.
He spoke: “I haven’t seen [Richarlison] and had a chance to talk about the racism that he suffered against Tunisia. I think FIFA have said they are going to investigate and find out what happened, but normally, that kind of thing is unacceptable.”
Richarlison on “Professor Conte”
Richarlison is expecting to appear in the North London derby for Tottenham Hotspur against Arsenal for the first time. He talked about how Antonio Conte changed his game.
The former Everton striker spoke to ESPN Brasil: “I’m on the right track. Of course, I still need to improve things, and Professor Conte will fix my mistakes there”. He also defended himself against the criticism from the pundits from Brazil, as he added: “Every time I come here, I score goals”.
