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Football

28th Aug 2022

“What do you expect him to do?” – Jamie Carragher defends foul on showboating Richarlison

Patrick McCarry

“He just winds people up… he winds me up.”

Moments after he set up Harry Kane for the game-clinching goal, Richarlison decided to rub it in at the City Ground.

The Brazilian came on as a second half substitute as Tottenham beat Nottingham Forest to continue their promising start to the season. Harry Kane scored both Spurs goals, either side of having a penalty saved by Dean Henderson.

Antonio Conte’s side were full value for their 1-0 lead but had struggled to deliver the knock-out blow until Richarlison helped settle matters with a sublime, outside of the boot assist.

Brennan Johnson clatters Richarlison

In the final minutes of the Forest vs. Spurs encounter, Richarlison received a pass, over on thew left wing, and proceeded to flick the ball up before doing some volleys and passing it off to a teammate.

He then received a return pass and was clattered by Forest’s Brennan Johnson, with Neco Williams landing on the former Everton striker in a bundle, for good measure.

Up in the Sky Sports gantry, Jamie Carragher said he could not condone such a brutal foul, but he could see why it had happened.

“He just winds people up,” said Carragher. “He winds me up… you can’t be showboating out there, like that.”

Johnson received a yellow card for his transgression and the Brazilian was booed every time he touched the ball, in those final few minutes.

He had a chance to make it 3-0, but Henderson denied him with a smart save.

This is not the first time Carragher has been openly critical of the Brazilian. Earlier this year, he said the then-Toffees star went down far too easily under contact.

“The problem with Richarlison is, it’s not even the going down, it’s pretending to be hurt when you’re not,” said the former Liverpool defender. “Holding your face when someone hasn’t hit you in the face,” Carragher continued.

“He did it twice [against Liverpool], and on the third one, I should have waited for the replay, because it looked like nothing to me.”

Following the Spurs win over Forest, though, the pair seemed to be on friendly enough terms:

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