Richarlison calls out Liverpool rival for ‘ignoring the pigeon’

Joe Williams
Richarlison Everton Liverpool
Richarlison Everton

Everton forward Richarlison has called out Liverpool midfielder Thiago Alcantara for ignoring his apology for a tackle earlier in the season.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s header salvaged a 2-2 draw for Everton in a controversial 237th Merseyside derby at Goodison Park in October, which saw the Brazilian sent off late on.

Everton had already escaped a red card and a penalty for goalkeeper Jordan Pickford early in the first half for a knee-high challenge on Virgil Van Dijk, which ended the Holland captain’s afternoon, but there was no VAR reprieve for the Brazilian’s lunge on Liverpool midfielder Thiago.


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The tackle left the Spaniard with no serious damage but the injury was bad enough that he didn’t play for Liverpool again until December.

And now Richarlison has claimed that Thiago ignored his apologetic messages on Instagram after the incident.

“The last game I made that challenge on Thiago and got sent off. My goodness,” Richarlison told Brazilian YouTuber Pilhado.

“Then I went on Instagram to apologise and such. He only saw it. I said ‘I’m going to delete this message too, since he doesn’t want to reply’.

“Then I went there and deleted it. He didn’t answer, no.”

Richarlison scored the opening goal in the return fixture in February as the Toffees ran out 2-0 winners at Anfield but the 23-year-old claims the pair avoided looking at each other.

Richarlison added: “Then there was the derby now, at their home, he didn’t look at my face, I didn’t look at him, either. The game goes on. He ignored the pigeon.”

Speaking about the incident at the time, Liverpool legend John Aldridge claimed that a red card “was not enough” for Richarlison.

Aldridge said: “That tackle was disgraceful, there is no other word for it. He has gone over the top of the ball and that is the kind of tackle that can end a career.

“Thiago is 29 and if he breaks his leg badly there, he might struggle to get back to his best. So the red card was not enough for Richarlison.

“That should not be a three-game ban, it needs to be much more than that and if Thiago has got away with it, he is very lucky.”