Brazil came to the Parc des Princes to show its talent against the Tunisians in a match the Brazilians won by 5-1 which is a crushing defeat for the Africans indeed.
But the highlight of the evening was not the might of the Brazilians but the horrible treatment metered against the Tottenham Hotspur’s striker Richarlison as he ran towards the corner flag to celebrate scoring for his side (the second goal for Brazil).
The incident marred the celebrations as a spectator threw a banana at Richardlison while footage of the incident shows Manchester United midfielder Fred kicking the banana away, while other objects were thrown onto the pitch.
It is not unexpected for fans of some clubs or nations to throw stuff on the pitch but it is not a good thing to target players individually.
Such acts goes against the spirit of sportsmanship and spectators should also participate in the good running of matches.
However, prior to the game, Brazil players posed for photos with an anti-racism banner that read, ‘Without our black players, we wouldn’t have stars on our shirts.’
The Brazilian Football Federation later issued a statement on Twitter condemning Richarlison’s abuse and demanding harsh punishment.
Richarlison’s goal put Brazil back in front after Montassar Talbi equalised Raphinha’s opener. After Tunisia’s Dylan Bronn was sent off, Neymar added a penalty, Raphinha added his second, and Pedro completed the scoring for a big win for Brazil.
Racism and Social Media
According to some media, social media is one of the main sources of bigotry against players.
Last year, after England’s defeat in the final of the EURO 2020 against Italy.
Three English players who missed penalty kicks in the Euro 2020 final were racially abused online.
They were Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka. Racism is a growing problem both online and in football stadiums.
Richarlison who recently had a banana thrown at him in a form of racial abuse during a match with Tunisia. There was an alleged level of animosity from their opponents supporters and were the host of the match.
The team immediately felt something was not right once the crowd started booing them along with swearing. In the most unfortunate manner possible, the players were shown to be correct. One of the many items thrown into the field during Brazil’s 5-1 victory celebration by Richarlison included a banana that was plainly visible dropping in front of him from the upper deck.
Even though a measure of footballing justice was administered in the final margin of victory, it paled in contrast to the price that those who bring racism into sport and society should be made to pay.
“The punishment needs to be more severe,” Richarlison stated. “When that person threw the banana there, I ended up leaving it to the side and celebrating the goal with my teammates. I left it there and kept my focus on the pitch. But, as I said, this type of thing needs to be punished so that other people don’t do the same.”
Social media response towards the situation
"I'm still dreaming of the day when racism ends." @SpursOfficial's Richarlison offers an emotional, powerful response after reading a letter from supporter and fellow Brazilian Vinicius following the racist abuse he suffered during Brazil's match against Tunisia in Paris. pic.twitter.com/Ccab4LEh3T
On the Premier League’s official Twitter account, a quote that read “I’m still dreaming of the day when racism ends,” was the first sentence. Most netizens supported him as racism in football is a thing that should not be tolerated.
Players are meant to play a match and win for their respective teams. The racial background or the colour of a player’s skin should not be the determining factor of liking them or not. Netizens stated their pieces saying that people like that should be educated properly at a young age.
“I once dreamed of a world were there is no violence, theft and murder and everyone loves each other but then grew up and accepted that it’s just a kid’s dream,” a powerful quote by a football fan on Twitter.
Other comments about Richarlison
£60m Richarlison has scored ZERO league goals in TEN matches for Spurs. Spursy 🤮 pic.twitter.com/enettOOzEt
As a player for Tottenham, the expectations for him to score is quite high, especially by the team’s fans. He was apparently bought for £60 million and has not scored a single goal according to a Twitter post.
Comments defending him stated that he scored during the previous Champions League. Netizens are trashing Tottenham stating that great players like Richarlison scores in the Champions League not the Europa League which is a considerable downgrade compared to the latter.
Raphinha, whose full name is Raphael Dias Belloli, is a Brazilian professional soccer player known for his impressive skills as a winger. Born on Dec 14, 1996, in Porto Alegre, Brazil, Raphinha began his football journey in the youth ranks of various Brazilian clubs before making his professional debut with Avai FC in 2015.
His exceptional performances quickly caught the attention of European clubs, leading to his move to Portugal’s top-flight league, Primeira Liga, where he joined Vitória de Guimarães in 2016. Raphinha’s dynamic playing style, pace, agility, and technical ability, made him a standout performer for Vitória de Guimarães.
Raphinha, a winger for Barcelona, expressed his admiration for Vinicius Junior of Real Madrid. During Los Blancos’ most recent 1-0 loss to Valencia at the Mestalla, Vinicius was the target of abhorrent racist taunts from the crowd.
In that game, he was also dismissed, a choice that has subsequently been reversed. How the young player was treated during the game shocked the football community. Raphinha has now sided with his fellow countryman.
It is bad that such treatment is being meted out to a skilled attacker like Vinicius. One can only hope appropriate steps will be taken to stop such events.
Despite Real Madrid and Barcelona’s rivalry, racism is a problem that goes beyond football. When discussing the Vinicius scenario in his pre-game press conference versus Real Valladolid, Xavi expressed a similar viewpoint.
The Spaniard asserted that football is the only occupation in which insults are tolerated. He further asserted that such events call for the suspension of matches.
Xavi mentioned, “Yes, matches should be stopped. It is the only profession in which insults are accepted. I don’t see any baker or teacher being insulted at work. All this has to be stopped. Try insulting a building worker. I’m sure a brick will fall on your head.” (an article on sportskeeda reported)
He further added, “It doesn’t matter what shirt you wear. Vinicius is a person before he is a footballer. We have to defend the football professional. I don’t understand as a person, as a citizen, that you have to put up with insults.” (an article on sportskeeda reported)
Tottenham boss, Antonio Conte fought back against fans that booed at the team at halftime during their 2-1 loss against Liverpool. Tottenham were forced to reap what they sowed as they had a slow start before an intense second half.
Their performance gain during the second half however, was not enough for them to win the match though. Liverpool won their first away game this season, and this is thanks to Mo Salah.
Regardless of the loss, Conte was still satisfied with their performance. He claimed that the Spurs deserve a point and that fans have to understand that the team is still a work in progress.
Conte then stated, “First of all, I think that we have to show in every moment a great respect to our fans because they are our fans.”
He then added, “they pay for their tickets. At the same time, if you ask me if I was happy or disappointed, yes.
“I continue to repeat since from the start of the season that we have just started a process and I think after one year we made a lot of improvement. If someone thinks we are already ready to win, I have to be honest and tell you it will be really, really difficult because when you start a process you need time and patience.”
Regardless, Tottenham fans need to understand what the team is going through, and as previously discussed, many are still unsatisfied with Son Heung-Min being in Tottenham.
Many regard that Son’s full potential in his football career is wasted in the Spurs and that he will definitely grow in another team such as Real Madrid or Liverpool. It seems that they do have qualified players, but it is unsure why these players aren’t really given the spotlight.
Netizens claim that Tottenham is one of the funniest teams out there. “They act like they’re playing with their lives but always never win.” A response to that statement was another person placing a screenshot regarding the battle of Mid.
It’s probably referencing the quick defeat of the Japanese forces against the American forces whom the latter was severely outnumbered. That battle lasted for four days.
Fans further criticised Tottenham stating that they tried to beat Morton and Milner (Liverpool’s midfielders) last season and still didn’t win after “playing with their lives.” It is surprising to see a team’s very own fanbase making fun of them, when usually they would defend their preferred team to the end.
This other tweet that captured the boos in the stadium garnered a little attention and Tottenham fans commented that they wholeheartedly agreed with the fans in the stadium. Many criticised Conte’s strategy on the field, especially when against Liverpool.
The netizen stated “the Conte way. Play the game with one attacker and have 10 defensive players against a team that has been terrible defensively.” They went on adding that Conte’s strategy is “anti-football” and that they’re now sick of it.
Roberto Firmino, the Brazilian in Liverpool has not been selected to join the Brazil team for the World Cup. This must have been a blow for the 31-year-old player, and he has been dubbed as a creative player and has worked well with his Premier League manager Jurgen Klopp.
A Facebook post with netizens’ reaction towards the whole ordeal garnered over 1000 likes and 100+ comments. Netizens generally agree with the decision to not take Firmino in as they prefer the likes of Antony and other younger players to participate in this year’s World Cup.
Others are saying that he is not as good as the other players that were selected to join Brazil this year. Jokes were surfacing about his closeness to Liverpool’s manager, Jurgen Klopp and they claim that he’d definitely be selected to go on holiday with the Premier League manager.
Further remarks about his age have been brought up as stated earlier he isn’t as young as Antony or Roger Ibanez.
However, there were multiple fans that supported him and claimed that Brazil is making a huge mistake for not taking him in. They claimed that he helped Brazil qualify for this World Cup and sadly his talents are not appreciated in his own country.
More Firmino supporters claimed that Brazil will suffer this World Cup without him. Even Manchester United fans expressed their support for the player stating that he is a remarkable footballer.
“Liverpool happened to him,” is what they’re all saying on social media. Some are accusing Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp to be the exact reason why Firmino is not selected. It could be that he might prioritise the English club more than his own country’s national team.
However, the fact remains that the Premier League club is the one footing all their players’ bills. The national teams are taking players in through the good graces of the European football clubs.
Gabriel and Firmino
Gabriel Magalhães and Roberto Firmino were not selected for Brazil's World Cup squad ❌🇧🇷
Furthermore, it was said that Gabriel Magalhaes was also not selected to be in Brazil’s squad. Magalhaes received harsher criticisms when compared to Firmino. “Gabriel doesn’t deserve to be in Brazil’s team anyways,” said a netizen.
Other fans claimed that both Brazilians should have been able to make it into the team, especially when compared to Raphninha and Dani Alves. Unfortunately, these other players are playing in different positions when compared to the first two. Netizens are saying that they can’t be compared to each other.
Criticisms against Richarlison on being selected to join the Portuguese speaking country came about. He is currently being criticised for never having scored for the Premier League while the Liverpool player has.
Arguments about the two Brazilian footballers became a topic under the tweet and netizens were finding statistics and facts to counter attack one another. One posted that the Liverpool player has more scores and games attended on his list, however the latter has more scores for Brazil instead of the Premier League.
Apparently Richarlison has been “killing” it in Brazil’s team. “He always turns up for Brazil,” that is one of the popular opinions on why he was selected instead of Jurgen Klopp’s favourite Brazilian player.
There will be more controversies to come after other countries deciding who is in their team and who is out of their team. We might be surprised later on if another prominent player is not selected on their respective home team. Of course there will be debates among netizens about it.
However, the teams have to decide their lineups quickly as the World Cup is only a couple of days away. Furthermore, the Premier League and Champions League will be wrapping up soon on the first half of their games.
Just after a story on Ronaldo and his sisters defending him against Ten Hag for making bad decisions of the world renown player, new drama has happened between the two. It has been a long sad story that many fans have observed as it is quite obvious that Ten Hag does not favour Ronaldo.
Cristiano Ronaldo stormed down the tunnel before the final whistle for Manchester United’s victory over Tottenham on 19th October. Erik Ten Hag, United’s questionable manager, claimed that he would “deal” with the all beloved star.
United has defeated the title contenders at their home base, and it’s thanks to Bruno Fernandes and Fred. Ironically, the duo was recently criticised massively among United fans. Popular opinions over this duo are not favourable regardless of their recent win.
Ronaldo has been benched for most of the games, which includes this last game against Tottenham. He has only scored two goals for the Premier League all year. It appears that Ten Hag either has a vendetta against him or that he does not know how to utilise a well prized asset in his team.
Marcus Rashford took his position in the front, and United went on to produce their strongest effort under Ten Hag. Regardless of their victory, Ronaldo for obvious reasons stated above, was not happy and left the field in the 88th minute.
Video footage showing Ronaldo walking down the sidelines while keeping track of what’s happening behind him, he removed his bib and long-sleeved training top.
It appears in the footage that Ronaldo left the field quietly with dignity and grace, regardless of feeling anger and disappointment. Ten Hag was squandering and did not know how to respond to the situation other than informing the press that he will personally speak to Ronaldo on his own.
“He was there, I saw him but I didn’t speak. I will deal with that tomorrow, not today. We’re celebrating this victory and now we have to recover and play another big game on Saturday, Chelsea. The Premier League, so exciting,” Ten Hag told the press.
“I think you see today we developed and you can see in the last weeks we are growing in the season and becoming more proactive in and out of possession. First you get organisation in and out of possession, then you dictate the intensity and that is what we did today.
“To be fair, I did not expect it before because Spurs have been solid this season, it was a magnificent performance and I hope we set a new base for the season. There were so many things that were good, but in possession, the switch of play and how we dictated the play and created chances.”
Netizen’s reaction towards the Ten Hag and Ronaldo drama
Netizens have a wide variety of opinions when it comes to this whole ordeal. One stating that Ronaldo is bigger and better than Manchester United. This angered hardcore Manchester United fans as they claimed that no player is bigger than a club.
Ronaldo fans criticised Manchester United fans as he turned down the offer to play for Man City only to be underutilised and gawked at by fans. “Respect and loyalty doesn’t mean anything in today’s world.” This statement is nothing but the truth, even for the world outside of football.
“This is where pure loyalty gets you, Ronaldo does not deserve this.” Some are criticising Ronaldo for his age and competition with Lionel Messi. They claim that at age 37 he should back down and play less intensive games, however, at that age he is still winning awards regardless of him being clamped down.
Some United fans are not happy that Ronaldo got the most attention for leaving early when the team played well. In fact that statement alone proves that sometimes, especially in the media, a player can be bigger than a team.
